DAHL, Roald.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Magic Finger. First UK edition, first impression. First published in the US in 1966, Dahl had originally begun work on The Magic Finger in 1962, under the original title of The Almost Ducks. In the story, an eight-year-old girl, who hates to see animals killed for fun, develops a special power, similar to that of Matilda.The book was part of a project in which a group of writers were asked to create a story for children using a limited vocabulary. Dahl, who was very much against animal cruelty, wrote this anti-hunting story against "all the brave deer hunters and duck hunters in the country". However, Macmillan, who had originally commissioned the story, refused it. Then Knopf, Dahl's regular US publishers, also turned it down. Both, it has been suggested, were wary of repercussions from the US gun lobby. Harper & Row was a new publishing firm for Dahl, and they responded with an attractively produced book. The UK edition uses the same setting of text as the US edition.

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