The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
New York: The Bowen-Merrill Company, 1902. Clark, Mary Cowles. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fair / No Jacket. Item #2353322
First edition, first of two printings, with Contents page headings of Book First, etc. (Bienvenue pp. 200-202). Binder's copy: lacks 5 of the 20 illustrations called for, binding loose with title/copyright page and free endpapers missing, corners exposed, boards lightly soiled with stains on top edge of rear board, crayon scribbles on rear endpapers. Quite scarce in any condition, and priced to allow for the cost of restoration.
206 pp. Red cloth, white and black titles, image of Santa Claus carrying a sack of toys and climbing into a chimney on front board. Illustrations by Mary Cowles Clark. An origin story of Santa Claus, by the author of the Oz series. "Originally published in 1902, this fantasy imagines that Santa Claus was once a human foundling adopted by woodland fairies, who grows up surrounded by elves, Knooks, Ryls, and other "immortals" of the natural world. Santa Claus, as a baby, is found in the Forest of Burzee by Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World (a supreme immortal), and placed in the care of the lioness Shiegra; but thereupon adopted by the Wood Nymph, Necile. Upon reaching young adulthood, Claus is introduced by Ak to human society, wherein he sees poverty and difficulties. Because he cannot reside in Burzee as an adult, he settles in the nearby Laughing Valley of Hohaho, where the immortals regularly assist him, and Necile gives him a little cat named Blinky. The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a classic children's book, written by L. Frank Baum, the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Price: $250.00