Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

Small 4to. Color illustrations throughout after H.A. Rey. Original pictorial red cloth stamped in black; dust jacket (some chipping to extremities with a few losses, light soiling and toning).

Early edition ("reprinted 1949"). INSCRIBED BY H.A. REY WITH AN ORIGINAL DRAWING on the title-page: "Here's one George to another, [drawing], H.A. Rey, 1949".

Curious George made his literary debut in 1939 in the French children's book titled Rafi et les 9 singes. The Jewish couple, originally from Germany, had been living in Paris when Nazi forces invaded in June 1940. With only hours to spare before the city fell, they fled on bicycles they had assembled from spare parts, carrying the precious manuscript and drawings of their mischievous monkey with them. Their escape led them across France to Spain and Portugal, and eventually to the United States later that year, where they settled in New York and completed arrangements for publication in 1941. Curious George Takes a Job, first published in 1947, is the second installment in the Curious George series.