GRAHAME, Kenneth (1839-1932). The Wind in the Willows. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908.

Fine first American edition of Grahame’s classic tale; published simultaneously to the first English edition. One of the most iconic children’s books of all time. Inspired by bedtime stories the author invented for his young son, this work was an immediate success with children around the world upon its publication. The Scribner archives list the exact publication date as 8 October 1908, the same day as the Methuen publication in England. Adult audiences, especially in the United States, had expected a novel closer in likeness to Grahame’s earlier work, The Golden Age and its sequel Dream Days. By 1909 however, The Wind in the Willows was praised by audiences of all ages. President Theodore Roosevelt wrote to Grahame about his experience reading the novel, “…at first I could not reconcile myself to the change from the ever-delightful Harold and his associates, and so for some time I could not accept the toad, the mole, the water-rat and the badger as substitutes … Then Mrs. Roosevelt read it aloud to the younger children, and I listen now and then. Now I have read it and re-read it, and have come to accept the characters as old friends; and I am almost more fond of it than your previous books.” (Peter Hunt’s The Wind in the Willows: a Fragmented Arcadia pp. 14-15). A lovely copy.

Octavo (186 x 125mm). Half-title. Title printed in red and black. Frontispiece by Graham Robertson. Original green cloth stamped in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed (touch of sunning to spine).