Between the Covers

Hardcover. Hand-lettered and hand-illustrated draft of the title page and a hand-illustrated typescript first page of de Angeli's 1939 book, *Skippack School: Being the Story of Eli Shrawder and of one Christopher Dock, Schoolmaster about the year 1750*. Signature by the author. The two pages are in a contemporary frame whose cloth mat exhibits foxing; the backing of the frame is brittle and chipped; the manuscript pages appear to be fine. De Angeli wrote and illustrated dozens of books, including her 1950 Newberry Award winner *The Door in the Wall*. Two of her books were also Caldecott honor winners in 1945 and 1955. This title was based on the life of Mennonite educator Christopher Dock, who taught in Skippack, Pennsylvania. The title page here differs from the final published version in shape, this one being rectangular instead of square which necessitated the omission of the tiny log cabin, and also in color, with the birds and flowers in blue but here red and yellow. Likewise, while its companion sheet features the same opening text it has a differently illustrated ornament initial and the decorative floral vignette appears elsewhere in the book and only in black and white. From the collection of Mabel Zahn, longtime proprietor of Sessler's, the legendary rare book shop in Philadelphia. Accompanied by a first edition copy of the book.

Item #437272