James and the Giant Peach. by Dahl, Roald; Illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert - 1961

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1961. First edition of this Dahl classic. Octavo, original cloth, beautifully illustrated, many full-page and in color. Boldly signed by Roald Dahl on the front free endpaper and also signed by the illustrator, Nancy Ekholm Burkert on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine dust jacket with a touch of rubbing. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box made by the Harcourt Bindery. An exceptional example, most rare and desirable signed by both the author and the illustrator. In 1953 Dahl married the actress Patricia Neal; they had three children, to whom he began to tell bedtime stories. James and the Giant Peach, the first of these to reach print, is a comic fantasy about a small boy who travels the world inside a huge peach, in company with several giant insects. Like most of Dahl’s children’s books, it first appeared in print in the United States (Carpenter & Prichard). It was made into the 1996 film produced by Tim Burton and Denise Di Novi, directed by Henry Selick, starring Paul Terry as James. "When Tim Burton approached Roald Dahl's widow about his plan to make a film of James and the Giant Peach, she asked him why he wanted to do it. Burton's answer clinched the deal: 'It's the only book that ever gave me any hope when I was a child" (D is for Dahl, 68).