1457200 1931 Clare Turley Newberry. Herbert the Lion.

 

Newberry, Clare Turlay. Herbert the Lion. [New York]: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1931. Oblong quarto, measuring 9.25 x 11: [44]. Original blue cloth spine, color pictorial paper boards, green and lavender pictorial endpapers. Color illustrations throughout text. Corners bumped, light rubbing and soiling to boards, occasional faint mark to text.  First edition of Newberry’s first book, the story of a little girl who receives a lion cub as a pet. Sally’s early days with Herbert, a civilized routine of picnic lunches and sunbaths at the seaside, come to a predictable end: Herbert grew, and Grew and GREW. . . At last Sally’s father said Herbert would have to go and live at the zoo. Happily for all, a compromise is negotiated.   Newberry published the book as a means of raising enough money to return to the United States from Paris, where she had been studying art. She went on to become a four-time Caldecott Honor recipient for her picture books about cats and kittens. Amusingly, at the end of Herbert the Lion, Sally’s parents give her a very small kitten as consolation, pointing the way to Newberry’s signature subject. In 1939, Newberry’s new publisher Harper reissued Herbert the Lion in a redesigned format; this first edition is quite scarce, and was issued without a dust jacket. A very good copy of a fragile book.