KEWPIES THEIR BOOK by O'Neill, Rose - 1913

New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1913. Near fine in good jacket.. First edition - in the rare original dust jacket - of this early Kewpie book with numerous illustrations depicting the adventures of the beloved Kewpies, among the best known US cartoon characters of the early 20th century. One of the biggest fads in comics and children's books before World War I, the Kewpies combined the cherubic aesthetic of cupid figures with the rambunctious, fun-loving character of brownies as popularized by contemporary authors like Palmer Cox. Today copies are exceptionally difficult to find with the original dust jacket. 10.75'' x 7.75''. Original brown paper boards, large color pictorial paste-on, spine lettered in dark brown. In original color pictorial dust jacket. Pictorial endpapers. Illustrated throughout with single color images. viii, 80 pages. Scarce jacket with large sections missing (top inch+ of rear panel, 2'' corner of front panel and head of spine, a few other chips), rear panel detached… Read More

New York: Frederick Stokes, 1913. Near fine.. First edition of this early Kewpie book - with the rare boxed set of 3 Kewpie handkerchiefs. 10.75'' x 7.75'' (book); 10.75'' square (handkerchiefs). Original boards with pictorial paste-on. Red pictorial endpapers. Illustrated by O'Neill with 2-color illustrations on every page. viii, 80 pages. HANKIES: silk screened with color images of the Kewies; in pictorial publisher's box. Book with rear hinge cracked before fly leaf, still firm; boards with slightest bit of rubbing and bumping. Hankie box with strengthened along joints.