William Roscoe
The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast, 1809
Philadelphia: B. C. Buzby
1709
32mo. 16pp. Nine engraved plates throughout, three hand-colored by a novice but proficient hand. A duplicate copy of the frontispiece is bound in at the rear. The book is cited...
32mo. 16pp. Nine engraved plates throughout, three hand-colored by a novice but proficient hand. A duplicate copy of the frontispiece is bound in at the rear. The book is cited as the first American edition of a British classic, oddly by a relatively obscure Philadelphia publisher, but no less keenly printed for it. Included, as is customary, the poem "A Winter's Day" by Mr. Smith, which receives its own engraving. The story has, since its inception, been adapted many times over in a variety of media, including pictures books, an animated short, a rock opera, and a miniature book. This copy from the collection of ephemera historian Bella Landauer, with the bookplate she made for her children, Beverly and Barbara, at the verso of the upper cover. Bound in plain printed wrappers. Trace staining to rear cover, spine rubbed but entirely sturdy, few motes of foxing. Near fine. Pencil inscription of former owner to front flyleaf, and another partially erased from front cover.