Publisher’s dummy for this award-winning if controversial children’s book in which Babette Cole ‘unleashes her endearingly loony sense of humor on the subject of the birds and the bees, and the result is, as expected, hilarious’ (Publisher’s Weekly). In the book a couple of parents attempt to explain the facts of life to their two children, who respond to their apparently ignorant parents by explaining matters to them - with stick-figure illustrations. This is a full length ‘dummy’ of the book prepared by the artist and submitted along with accompanying correspondence to her (legendary) publisher at Jonathan Cape, Tom Maschler. A fascinating insight into book making.
DESCRIPTION: Case-bound quarto manuscript (26x25.5cm); upper cover with pencil design by Cole and overlaid with laminate to protect the manuscript. 32 pages of manuscript ‘scamps’ or rough designs for the final book. The text of Cole’s dummy is similar to the printed version, apparently dating from late in 1990 when the book had already undergone substantial development and would continue to evolve subsequently. There are significant changes to the title page; ‘The stork delivers them’ design was wholly changed in the printed version to to a Dinosaur delivery of babies. The baby ‘squidging’ double page spread in the dummy is reduced to a single page; whereas the exploding egg goes from one to two pages in the evolution of the book. The most anxiety-inducing double spread for the publishers in which ‘Mummies and daddies join together’ is substantially revised between dummy and printed version - alongside the dummy is an A3 pencil sketch of the revised design for this opening with its accompanying letter from November 1990. Provenance: from the estate of Tom Maschler to whom the book is co-dedicated. A copy of the UK 1st from 1993 accompanies the dummy.
ADDITIONALLY: 3 autograph letters from Cole to Maschler, April 30, 1990-November 1990: these mention the ‘A/W’ for the revised ‘Mummies and daddies join together’ page and presenting ‘the revised dummy - I’ll await your comments. I think it works pretty well now, there’s more “child involvement”! The Americans will love it! Please forgive scrappiness of it and not very good drawings but it is hard to draw lying down with your leg in the air!’ Two cards thanking ‘Tom and all at Cape’ for a Harrods parcel.
