The Secret of the Ancient Oak

London & Glasgow: William Collins Sons, 1945. First London Edition. Small 4to. 38 pp. Color and black & white illustrations by the author. Turquoise cloth with black illustration & lettering to front board; illustrated endpapers; in publisher's color illustrated dustjacket. A very good copy (some loss of color along upper front board and lower spine; small previous owner name) in good dustjacket (chips, wear and tears to dustjacket extremities, with loss to spine ends). A charming tale of Ilgamoot the groundhog and of his fellow animal friends - the busy woodpeckers and squirrels, the orioles and the family of fishing raccoons, and the wild honey-bees - who live in an ancient oak tree. Tarrux, a savage and wicked black beaver, has destroyed all the trees on his side of the pond, and proceeds to gnaw on the old oak tree. The animals pay little attention to the beaver until it is almost too late to save the tree. They enlist the help of the deaf, old owl and the story concludes with a happy ending. Wolo (1902 - 1989) immigrated the United States fleeing Nazi Germany and ultimately lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where he wrote and illustrated his five childen's books.