A Library of Mischief and Magic. Sixteen First Editions, including The BFG, Matilda and The Witches, in Dust Jackets

Dahl, Roald

Published by Various publishers, including Jonathan Cape, George Allen & Unwin, Century and Alfred A. Knopf, Various publishers, 1972

About this Item

DAHL, Roald. A Library of Mischief and Magic: Sixteen First Edition, First Impression Books, including The BFG, Matilda and The Witches. Various publishers, 1972-1991.

Sixteen volumes, comprising first edition, first impression copies of many of Roald Dahl's best-loved later books for children, together with his two autobiographical works. Published by various imprints, including Jonathan Cape, George Allen & Unwin, Century and Alfred A. Knopf. Illustrated principally by Quentin Blake, with The Minpins illustrated by Patrick Benson and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator illustrated by Joseph Schindelman.

The collection comprises: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator; Danny the Champion of the World; The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More; The Enormous Crocodile; The Twits; George's Marvellous Medicine; The BFG; The Witches; Boy: Tales of Childhood; The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me; Going Solo; Matilda; Rhyme Stew; Esio Trot; The Vicar of Nibbleswicke; and The Minpins.

A joyful and highly appealing library of Dahl's imaginative world, bringing together giants, witches, mischievous children, marvellous medicines, airborne adventures, crocodiles, tortoises and small people living in a forest, alongside the autobiographical books in which Dahl drew on his own childhood and early adult life. The group includes several of the defining books of modern children's literature: The BFG, published in 1982; The Witches, 1983; and Matilda, 1988, all preserved in their familiar Quentin Blake illustrated dust jackets.

Particularly attractive as a collection is the breadth of Dahl's later writing represented here. It includes children's novels and stories, the comic verse of Rhyme Stew, the story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, and the autobiographical sequence Boy and Going Solo. The earliest title in the group is Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, 1972, while The Vicar of Nibbleswicke and The Minpins, both 1991, bring the collection to the final phase of Dahl's published work.

Quentin Blake's illustrations give much of the collection its immediately recognisable visual identity. Their collaboration is represented from The Enormous Crocodile, the first Dahl book illustrated by Blake, through many of the most celebrated jacket designs of the 1980s and early 1990s. Patrick Benson's richly atmospheric illustrations for The Minpins and Joseph Schindelman's illustrations for Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator broaden the visual range of the collection.

All sixteen volumes are present in their original pictorial dust jackets. Some jackets are neatly price-clipped; there is light rubbing, minor creasing, handling wear and occasional age-related marking across the group, as expected for books originally intended to be read and enjoyed. Overall, a very attractive, colourful and coherent collection, with The BFG, Matilda, The Witches, Danny the Champion of the World and Boy presenting especially well.

A substantial gathering of Roald Dahl first editions in original jackets, offering many of the books through which his imaginative universe became part of modern childhood. Offered together as a single collection and not sold separately.

Seller Inventory # ABE-1779806829439

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Library of Mischief and Magic. Sixteen First Editions, including The BFG, Matilda and The Witches, in Dust Jackets
• Publisher: Various publishers, including Jonathan Cape, George Allen & Unwin, Century and Alfred A. Knopf, Various publishers
• Publication Date: 1972
• Language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Blake, Quentin; Benson, Patrick; Schindelman, Joseph
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good