THE STORY OF A PUPPET, OR THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO

First edition in English. Publisher's original light grey cloth decorated and and with titles in blue. Small 8vo. All edges decorated blue. Illustrated with a tissue guarded frontispiece and drawings throughout the text by Enrico Mazzanti (mis-spelt as C. Mazzanti on the title page). Illustrated half title and title page printed in black and red. An excellent near fine copy, the binding firm with just minor rubbing to the extremites, the spine a little rolled. The cloth, with three small brown spots to the lower board is otherwise bright and fresh. The contents, with minor spotting to the endpaper and half title are otherwise clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Small paper flaw to the bottom of page 209 not affecting the text. A really quite exceptional example, in entirely original condition of a notoriously fragile production.

Issued in the publisher's 'The Children's Library' series, this is the first edition in English of a canonical work of children's literature. Translated from the Italian by Mary Alice Murray. "One of the best known fantasies, and the most popular children's book to come out of Italy. The story was written for a Rome children's magazine, the Giornale dei bambini, where the first instalment appeared on 7 July 1881. It was published as a book in 1883 under the title Le Avventure di Pinocchio: Storia di un burattino (History of a Puppet), and quickly became a best-seller. Lorenzini's publisher is said to have made a fortune out of it, but Lorenzini himself died too early to witness its international success. Almost nothing else in children's literature equals Pinocchio for wildness of invention" (Carpenter, Humphrey; Prichard, Mary: The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature).