Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel.

BURTON, Virginia Lee.

Item Number: 99643

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939.

First edition of this children’s classic with the date of 1939 on the title page. Oblong quarto, original tan cloth, illustrated endpapers. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket with light rubbing, bookplate. A superior example.

Published in the midst of the Great Depression, Virginia Lee Burton’s classic favorite Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel ranks among the National Education Association’s “Teachers’ Top 100 Books for Children.” “Taking her cue from her small sons, Aristides and Michael, Burton chose subjects that would intrigue children... Mary Ann, the steam shovel (Burton’s books) have heroes and heroines children can understand and enjoy, ingenious and satisfactory endings and lively illustrations. The books survive because they exhibit so effectively the elements most basic to children’s literature” (Silvey, 109-10). The beloved story was adapted into a short animated film directed by Michael Sporn and aired for the first time on HBO in 1990.