James and the Giant Peach.

DAHL, Roald.

Item Number: 141480

New York: Puffin Books, 1978.

Paperback edition of this Dahl classic. Octavo, original illustrated wrappers, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author opposite the title page, “To Rebecca Love Roald Dahl.” In near fine condition.

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).