PIPPI LÅNGSTRUMP; PIPPI LÅNGSTRUMP GÅR OM BORD; PIPPI LÅNGSTRUMP I SÖDERHAVET. [English titles: Pippi Longstocking, Pippi Goes on Board, and Pippi in the South Seas].

First edition, first printing of the three Pippi Longstocking novels. Publisher's pictorial paper covered boards, grey or brown cloth spines with titles stamped in black. Illustrated with full page line drawings by Ingrid Nyman. A very near fine set, each volume in a remarkable, original state of preservation. The bindings with just mild rubbing and a few small scuffs to the extremities remain bright, square and tight. The contents, with the unavoidable toning to the cheap paper stock are otherwise clean throughout and without previous owners' marks. Very scarce thus.

A wonderful set of first editions in the eponymous series of children's books by the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. After being rejected by the publishing firm Bonniers in 1944, Lindgren's manuscript 'Pippi Långtrump' was accepted for publication by Rabén and Sjögren in 1945. The novel was an immediate success in Sweden, prompting two further titles in 1946 and 1948. By the end of the 1940s, 300,000 copies had been sold, saving the publisher from impending financial ruin. In January 2017 Astrid Lindgren was calculated to be the fourth most translated children's writer after Enid Blyton, Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm. In 2002 the Norwegian Nobel Institute listed the first novel as one of the "Top 100 Works of World Literature", based on polling one hundred authors from 54 countries. The Pippi Longstocking books form the basis of numerous film, television and radio adaptations.