STUART LITTLE

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1945. First edition. Fine in very good jacket.. First printing of White's first book for children, sold with an original pen-and-ink drawing by Garth Williams that appears on page 24 of the book. White's Stuart Little, like Thumbelina, is born to standard-sized human parents and takes his entitled place within his human family by right and without question, but suffers many tests and challenges as he makes his way in the world and works to thwart the family cat. Romance, or friendship, is short-lived, leaving the young mouse "alone with his broken dreams and his damaged canoe." The first of White's three great children's books, STUART LITTLE is a quest story, though not a quest with a traditional arc or dénouement. By the end of the novel, Stuart has done many deeds and surmounted any obstacles, but is not finished or at rest: "I rather expect," he says, "that from now on I shall be traveling north until the end of my days."
The pen-and-ink drawing features George sitting disheartedly on an old discarded rowing machine that he found while looking for the missing Stuart. The image is greatly reduced in the book. 8.25'' x 5.5'' (book); 6'' x 9'' (drawing). Original tan pictorial cloth stamped in green and white. In original unclipped ($2.00) color pictorial dust jacket. Green pictorial endpapers. Illustrated by Williams in black and white throughout. 131, [1] pages. Jacket with shallow chipping at spine head, overall a bit toned, with faint stain on rear panel: still presents well. Drawing: single sheet, drawing in black ink, pencil notations in the margins referring to the piece's placement in the book.