Dear Mili

New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1988 With many full-page color illustrations by Maurice Sendak. Translated by Ralph Manheim. First edition, first printing. Signed by Sendak in blue pen on half-title page. Publisher's blue-gray cloth, with front board decoration stamped in blind, spine stamped in gilt, and pink endpapers; in its original white dust jacket, with front panel lavishly illustrated by Sendak, featuring cherubs and flowers, lettered in brown. About fine book, with a hint of toning to board edges, pages crisp and clean; near fine unclipped dust jacket, with a touch of rubbing to spine ends, a small closed tear to bottom edge of rear panel, and very light spotting to rear panel. Overall, a breathtakingly illustrated work. In this moving tale, a widow sends her daughter into the forest to escape an encroaching war. After wandering fearfully through the woods, the daughter eventually comes across the home of Saint Joseph, and she spends three days with him. At the end of the three days, she returns home to find that, in fact, thirty years have passed. Dear Mili was composed by the great master of fairy tales, Wilhelm Grimm. The tale has a fascinating history - written in a letter by Grimm to a young girl in 1816, the story stayed in the girl's family for more than 150 years, only coming to the public's attention in 1983. Wilhelm Grimm, and his brother Jacob, popularized many of the best-known fairy tales in history, such as Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood. Maurice Sendak is regarded as one of the greatest children's book artists of the 20th century, whose books include Where the Wild Things Are (1963), In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside Over There (1981). . Inscribed by Illustrator. First Edition. Hard Cover. Near Fine/Dust Jacket Included. Illus. by Sendak, Maurice.