first edition
1981 · New York and London
by Willard, Nancy; Provensen, Alice (illustrator); Provensen, Martin (illustrator); [Blake, William]
New York and London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981. First edition of the poet Nancy Willard’s dreamlike tribute to William Blake, illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen. Inspired by the childhood babysitter who recited “Tyger, Tyger” to her, Willard imagines Blake as an innkeeper with a staff of dragons and angels, and a tiger asleep on his hearth. “On windy days and moonless nights, / Blake wears a suit of shifting lights. / The tailor now has grown so clever / he stitches light and dark together.” A Visit to William Blake’s Inn won the Newbery Medal for 1982, and was named a Caldecott Honor Book that year as well: it remains the only book to receive both Newbery and Caldecott honors. A crisp near-fine copy. Slim quarto, measuring 10 x 8 inches: 45, [1]. Original beige cloth spine stamped in gilt over blindstamped terracotta boards, original clipped color pictorial dust jacket with no Newbery Medal or Caldecott Honor Seal, ivory speckled endpapers. Color illustrations throughout text. Lightest spotting to cloth spine. Original New York Times review by Donald Hall laid in.
(Inventory #: 1003242)