Where the Wild Things Are by SENDAK, Maurice

New York: Harper & Row, 1988. One of 220 Copies Specially Bound and Signed by Maurice Sendak
With an Original 'Wild Thing' Pen & Ink Drawing

SENDAK, Maurice. Where the Wild Things Are. Story and Pictures by Maurice Sendak. New York: Harper and Row, 1988.

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition. Limited to 220 copies (of which this is No. 85) signed by the author on the half-title and additionally a signed original drawing of a 'Wild Thing'.

Oblong quarto (8 15/16 x 9 7/8 inches; 227 x 252 mm.). [40] pp.

With an original pen & ink drawing measuring 6 x 5 inches; 151 x 126 mm. of a 'Wild Thing' signed and dated Oct. 1988.

Publisher's full blue morocco, front cover decoratively stamped in yellow, spine lettered in yellow, multi-patterned end-papers, all edges gilt. Housed in the original purple felt-lined, cream buckram clamshell case with color plate on front panel (similar to the color illustration on page [33]), and rectangular limitation label with "85" written in black ink on inside. A very fine copy.

Where the Wild Things Are is a 1963 children's picture book by American writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), and was originally published by Harper & Row. The story of only 338 words focuses on a young boy named Max who, after dressing in his wolf costume, wreaks such havoc through his household that he is sent to bed without his supper. Max's bedroom undergoes a mysterious transformation into a jungle environment, and he winds up sailing to an island inhabited by malicious beasts known as the "Wild Things." After successfully intimidating the creatures, Max is hailed as the king of the Wild Things and enjoys a playful romp with his subjects; however, he decides to return home, to the Wild Things' dismay. After arriving in his bedroom, Max discovers a hot supper waiting for him.

The book has been adapted into other media several times, including an animated short in 1974 (with an updated version in 1988); a 1980 opera; and a live-action 2009 feature-film adaptation, directed by Spike Jonze. The book had sold over nineteen million copies worldwide as of 2009, with ten million of those being in the United States.

Sendak won the annual Caldecott Medal from the children's librarians in 1964, recognizing Wild Things as the previous year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It was voted the number one picture book in a 2012 survey of School Library Journal readers, not for the first time. This 25th Anniversary edition had the color reproductions done to Maurice Sendak's exact specifications.