Description
Hardcover. Small octavo, ~5x7 ½”, 150 pp. A very rare variant in the original acetate jacket. Binding tight, pages clean, gilt on spine bright. The glassine jacket is VG with only a small 1” tear at the bottom rear; the printed text is intact and clear. With the John Tenniel illustrations colored by Fritz Kredel.
It is speculated (Toledano) that the book was intended for the illustrated series but instead became a Book-Of-The-Month Club bonus, with the remainder trimmed to the Illustrated Modern Library format and given the acetate jackets. A portion of these copies (~1000) was distributed at a 1948 convention for electronics manufacturer Philco in Palm Beach, in a Philco slipcase; many of these copies may not have been preserved by their recipients. The rest likely went to department stores around the holiday—and as gifts to children, also not did not survive as collectibles.
Per Gordon Neavill, this edition “is not a ghost title … but it was a one-shot deal, published after new titles were no longer being added to the Illustrated ML, with the intention of turning a quick profit. It wasn't listed in ML catalogs, and if things went as Cerf and Klopfer hoped they probably disposed of their 3,000 copies within a few months.
The Illustrated Alice is far and away the scarcest ML title. I can't think of any other ML title sent out into the world in so few copies.”
