The Magic Pudding. Being the adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff (first edition, second issue)

A$1,000 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Limited edition

Sydney : Angus Robertson, 1918. Quarto, black lettered quarter blue cloth over papered boards (a few small stains, rebacked, repairs to head and foot of spine), in original illustrated dust jacket (creased and town, paper repaired and replaced at spine and folds), plain cream endpapers, owner s name to endpaper, colour title page, 171 pp, illustrated throughout by Lindsay, an internally clean and well presented copy of the second state of the first edition in the original dust jacket. The Magic Pudding is without doubt the most famous Australian children s book ever published, and for nearly a century has never been out of print. The iconic characters of Bunyip Bluegum, Sam Sawnoff, Bill Barnacle and of course the Pudding have delighted children and adults for nearly a century. No matter how much the reader gets out of the story, there is, as with the Pudding itself, always something left ( National Treasures from Australia s Great Libraries , Canberra : National Library of Australia, 2005, p. 130). It is well documented how the idea of the Pudding was first cooked. Lindsay s friend and editor of Art in Australia Bertram Stevens claimed fairies were the most popular characters for children s books (an Outhwaite reference), while Lindsay thought characters based on food were more loved. To prove his point, he wrote the book and completed the 102 illustrations in 1917, and immediately upon publication in 1918 it was hailed a success, somewhat to the embarrassment of Lindsay. Pu

• Binding: Hardcover

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