Little Pancho

New York: The Viking Press, 1938. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/good. First printing, sixmo size, [41] pp., inscribed by Leo Politi. Leo Politi, born Atiglio Leoni Politi (1908-1996) was a renowned author and illustrator of mainly children's books; he won the Caldecott Medal in 1950 for his "Song of the Swallows". Leo Politi's art often reflected a multiculturalism that was unusual for the time.

"Little Pancho" was Politi's first book, the one which established him as an illustrator for children's books. This volume made incredibly special by Politi having hand-coloured four of the illustrations with original water-colours, the first of the four signed by him. In addition, Politi inscribed the book to "the little boy Paul", which may have been Politi's son by that name.

___DESCRIPTION: String-bound in illustrated paper over boards with "Little Pancho" on the front, white lettering and peach decorations on the spine, and with Pancho and his dog, Coco, on the back board, illustrated endpapers in peach and white, Politi's inscription on the verso of the front free endpaper ("to 'the little / boy' Paul / from Pancho / and Leo Politi") in black ink, year of publication ("1938") on both title and copyright pages, the four hand-coloured illustrations on pp. [7], [11], [22], and [34], many of the other pages with illustrations in brown, peach and white; sixmo size (6 1/8" by 5"), unpaginated with 20 leaves, [41] pp. With the dust jacket showing the correct price of $0.50 for the first printing, the jacket illustrations mirror those on the binding, short summary of book on front flap, author bio on back flap.

___CONDITION: Volume a solid very good, with clean boards, straight corners with minimal rubbing, a strong, square text block, the interior is clean and bright, with the colours on the hand-coloured illustrations deep and vibrant; light overall edgewear and a few stray marks on the boards, the book bound such that the endpapers are not a continuous sheet, the two endpapers at the front beginning to separate slightly (the string binding still strong) and with the stamp of a prior owner (name, title, school and city) on the verso of the front free endpaper directly beneath Politi's inscription. Dust jacket is good only, unclipped, all component parts present and attached; with a fair amount of overall wear including a closed tear approx. 3" diagonally down the front panel which a prior owner closed with cello tape on the jacket verso and did a bit of colouring on the verso, with old stains on the bottom portion of the front panel visible mostly on the verso, please see pictures and request more if needed. Even with its condition issues still a remarkably special book, unique in the marketplace.

___CITATION: Baumgarten, Artist, p. 159 (with DJ price of $0.50).

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

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