Where the Wild Things Are.

SENDAK, Maurice.

Item Number: 88954

New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1963.

First edition of one of the scarcest and most desirable books in modern children’s literature. Oblong quarto, original cloth backed pictorial paper boards. Signed by Maurice Sendak on the half-title page. Fine in a near fine early dust jacket with the $3.50 price and the “40-80 1163” code. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

Hailed as "the Picasso of children's books," Maurice Sendak produced more than 85 books, of which Where the Wild Things Are is undeniably the most famous, being one of the ten best-selling children's books of all time. "Wild Things!' When Max's sojourn among them unfolded in kinematic splendor in 1963, adults trembled and children reveled. Reaching back into his own Brooklyn childhood, Sendak created the enduring child-hero Max, who overcomes his fears and achieves catharsis in a colorful fantasy tableau. The book was awarded the 1964 Caldecott Medal by the American Library Association" (NYPL Books of the Century 212). Basis for the 2009 film directed by Spike Jonze starring Max Records and features the voices of James Gandolfini, Paul Dano, Lauren Ambrose, Forest Whitaker, Catherine O'Hara, and Chris Cooper.