Between the Covers

Softcover. First edition, with publisher’s slip laid in. Quarto. [6], 62pp. Pictorial wrappers. Light bumping at the corners and a small tear at the top of the rear wrapper affecting the very top of a few pages, still very good or better. A cantata for a junior choir, narrator, and instruments, with optional mime. From the Gilbertson Collection with a slip of paper with a handwritten note stating this book is “No. 53.” The title page includes six lines of handwritten original verse by Hughes: “One thing only is it to sing / Quite another to talk and be sung / Swing a bell by the neck, to ring– / Saving a goose and it’s neck is wrung / A howl from the dog and a laugh from the cat– / And that is this, and this is that.” And beneath is an Inscription: “When Richard produces this, let the bankers throw down their heads and tails. Signed Ted Hughes.” There is also an added lyric on page 39 written in Ted Hughes’ hand, “and the moon and the cold have taken hold.” This cantata is Hughes’ adaptation for children of a classic Japanese folk tale.

Item #591234
ISBN: 0193356252