The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli - 1949

DE ANGELI, Marguerite. The Door in the Wall. Garden City, NY: Doubleday [1949]. 8vo, 112pp. Light blue cloth pictorially stamped in silver. Pictorial endpapers; numerous b&w illustrations. Spine ends and corners lightly rubbed, spine sunned, else an internally clean, bright copy in original color pictorial dust jacket (cracking and chipping around folds and edges, 1.5" x 1.5" section of front rubbed off – possibly from a former owner removing the award medal).

First edition. 1950 Newbery Medal Winner! Robin, child of Sir John de Bureford, has always expected to be a knight like his father. But when he falls ill and loses the use of his legs, his life takes a drastic turn. Fearing a plague, his servants abandon him. Left alone, Robin is rescued by a monk named Brother Luke who takes him to the hospice of St. Mark's. There he learns woodcarving as well as patience and strength. As Brother Luke tells him, "Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it." And when the great castle of Lindsay is in danger, Robin discovers his door and that there is more than one way to serve his king.