DAHL, Roald (1916-90). The Gremlins, New York, 1943, 4to, illustrations, some coloured, original pictorial boards (edges rubbed, without the dust-jacket). FIRST EDITION. With another book by the same author. (2)

DAHL, Roald (1916-90).  The Gremlins. From the Walt Disney Production. A Royal Air Force Story. New York: Random House, 1943. 4to (278 x 215mm). Illustrations, some full-page and coloured (short tear to half title, some very faint marginal browning and staining). Original red cloth-backed coloured pictorial boards, pictorial endpapers printed in yellow and red (edges rubbed, without the dust-jacket). Provenance: "To David K. Spradling II from Florence Walker Clifton, Xmas 1943" (inscription on front free endpaper, with remnants of a Christmas sticker beneath). FIRST EDITION of the author's first children's book. His name is given as "Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl" and a printed note on the verso of the title states: "The R. A. F. Benevolent Fund will receive the author's share of the proceeds from the sale of this book." The illustrator of the book is not identified, either with a credit or signature, but they probably worked for Walt Disney studios, the illustrations undeniably having a 'cartoonish' appearance. The Disney film which was to be based on the book never materialised, and the film "Gremlins" produced by Warner Bros. in 1984 owed little to it apart from the character of its mischievously destructive creatures. With the same author's James and the Giant Peach (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1961, 4to, illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, original orange cloth, dust-jacket, torn and frayed at corners, FIRST AMERICAN EDITION of the author's second children's book). (2)