Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

O'BRIEN, Robert

Publisher: Atheneum

Location: New York, NY

Date: 1971

Binding: Octavo, original full-bound tan cloth with purple illustration to front and title to spine.

Edition: FIRST EDITION

Printing: 2nd Printing

Description:

First Edition, Second Printing of Robert O'Brien's classic, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. A nice early example.

“A story that is as engrossing as it is unusual” (Kirkus UK). A National Geographic editor who wrote novels pseudonymously to that journal’s policy against extracurricular writing, O’Brien, in this, his second novel, “successfully combines an old-fashioned talking-animal story with futuristic scientific speculation… The material is fascinating and raises many questions about what constitutes intelligence and civilization. With its interesting plot and fine blend of scientific and nature writing, this unique fantasy would surely have built a large audience eventually, but it was helped immeasurably by winning the Newbery Medal in 1972. The book continues to be extremely popular with young readers and was the basis for an animated feature, The Secret of NIMH (1982)” (Silvey, 495). With charming illustrations by Zena Bernstein. Clute & Nicholls, 885.

Condition:

Binding tight with light slant. Original full-bound cloth boards present clean with original color and crisp illustration to front and title to spine. Edges and corners show mild shelf-wear and rubbing with no loss. Very light wear to head and foot of spine with a bit of fading. Light bump to front top board near hinge and extremely light crease to front top fore-edge corner. Text blocks bright and about clean with just a few scattered pen-sized spots. Internally bright with crisp text and clean but for light rub to top corner of front endpaper and bow to pages. Dust Jacket presents well. Several closed and open tears at edges with moderate loss, more so to rear panel and bottom of spine. Chipping to corners and head of spine with moderate loss. Age-toning, more prominent at edges. About two-inch mostly closed tear at top of front hinge and about one-eight inch open tear to rear creases. Flaps mostly clean with Original Price of $5.95 Not Clipped. A very nice early example.