Author: Munro Leaf
Illustrator: Robert Lawson
Title: The Story of Ferdinand
Publisher: Viking Press, New York
Edition: Eighth printing, September 1937
Signature: Signed by Munro Leaf on the title page
 
Early signed printing of this classic children’s book published the same year as the first edition. Illustrated throughout by Caldecott and Newbery Award–winning artist Robert Lawson. In 1938, Life magazine hailed Ferdinand as “the greatest juvenile classic since Winnie the Pooh,” noting that most adult buyers purchased it for their own enjoyment.
 
Details: 8vo (approx. 8.25 x 7 in.). Unpaginated; 70 pages with 34 full‑page black‑and‑white illustrations. Publisher’s original tan cloth‑backed red pictorial boards with red lettering and illustrated endpapers. Corners and spine tips bumped and rubbed; Sunning to the back boards with some light staining to the cloth, and a small stain at lower spine end; light edgewear with some chipping to the outer edge of the rear board. A 1938 magazine clipping and a photograph of Munro Leaf lecturing to college students are affixed to the blank prelims, along with a “Christmas 1937” gift inscription.
 
Dust Jacket: Original early jacket with the $1.00 price is present, but tattered and torn, in two pieces. Repairs to a few tears on the verso with document repair tape. (see photos) Ferdinand dust jackets are rarely encountered in any form.
 
A desirable signed early printing of one of the most beloved children’s books of the 20th century, complete with remnants of its scarce priced jacket and appealing period ephemera.