ELOISE

New York: Simon & Schuster, 1955. First printing. Very good.. First edition of the first Eloise book, gleefully conceived by "a true eccentric, the kind of woman who could waltz through ballrooms and turn every head" (NPR). ELOISE was not originally targeted to children, despite its 6-year-old heroine and picture book format. This first edition was instead marketed as a "book for precocious grownups," as printed on the top of the dust jacket. Little Eloise was the larger-than-life Thompson - a famous singer and Hollywood vocal coach for the likes of Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli, and Judy Garland - redirected into the form of a spunky, pampered little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel. But Eloise was so charming to girls of her own age that the Plaza was soon swamped by calls that Thompson, who herself lived there, handled - "until I realized Eloise was getting more calls than I was" (quoted in Irvin). 11'' x 7.75''. Original white cloth. In original price-clipped color pictorial dust jacket. Pictorial endpapers. Illustrated by Knight in color on every page including one fold-out illustration. 64 pages. Ink owner name to front endpaper. Jacket and book with some toning primarily to spine. Shallow edgewear to jacket; book with some faint dampstains around spine, spots of soil. Line of rubbing to front pastedowns from previously adhered element (no longer present). Interior clean.