STEIG, William. Shrek! (First edition)

New York: Michael di Capua Books / Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1990. First edition, first printing. Quarto. Pictorial glossy boards illustrated by the author. Endpapers, title and text with Steig’s trademark watercolour and ink illustrations throughout. In fine condition. First editions have become scarce, particularly in such fresh condition.

A fine, bright copy of Steig’s modern classic, the grotesque and comically subversive fairy tale that introduced the world to Shrek — a delightfully ugly ogre who “left his home to see the world, and what an ugly world it was.” Steig’s character would later inspire the phenomenally successful DreamWorks animated film (2001), but the original book retains the author’s darker wit and anarchic charm, full of sardonic humour and exuberant drawings.

A superb example of the true first edition of one of the defining picture books of the late twentieth century — an enduring work of children’s satire and self-acceptance from one of America’s greatest illustrators.

Condition: Fine copy, near pristine boards and clean pages.

[L2 11D]