Jacob Have I Loved

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1980. First Edition. Hardcover. fine/near fine. First printing, no Newbery Medal on the dust jacket, octavo size, 224 pp. Taking its title from the Bible, "Jacob Have I Loved" is the story of twin sisters and their tumultuous relationship as the elder twin, Sara Louise, struggles for recognition in her family; it is a coming-of-age novel set in a small fishing town in the Chesapeake Bay. Katherine Paterson (b. 1932) creates a moving story of community and conflict; Paterson has written numerous children's books, most notably "Bridge to Terabithia", and has won many awards for her writing, including the Hans Christian Anderson Award, the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, the Newbery Award (twice), and the National Book Award (twice).

This volume is the first edition of Paterson's book, which won the Newbery Medal in 1981, the year after it was published. The dust jacket art is by illustrator and fantasy artist Kinuko Craft (b. 1940), who created designs for book jackets and covers for many works of fantasy, fairy tales, and classic mythology.

___DESCRIPTION: Quarter red-violet cloth with beige paper boards, illustration of a cluster of leaves blind-embossed on the front board, gilt lettering on the spine, blue endpapers; octavo size (8.25" by 5.5"), pagination: [i-viii] 1-216. In a pictorial dust jacket with wraparound colour illustration by Kinuko Craft, black lettering on the front panel, white and black lettering on the spine, a description of the book on the front flap, and a list of other books by the author on the rear flap; the dust jacket is not price-clipped, with the original price of $8.95 on the front flap; however, the bottom corner of the front flap is clipped, presumably by the publisher.

___CONDITION: A fine copy; the covers clean, the corners straight and unrubbed, the binding tight with solid hinges, the interior clean and bright, and free of prior owner markings; very slight soiling to the bottom edge of the front board, and faint sunning to the top edges of the boards, else fine. The dust jacket is near fine, not price-clipped, clean with bright colours, with very slight wear to the top edge, and faint off-setting to the verso of the spine.

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