Books

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1967. First printing. Near fine.. First UK edition of Dahl's escapist fruit adventure — a beautiful copy. Originally published in the U.S. in 1961 and newly illustrated by Simeon for this first British edition, JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was described in Allen & Unwin's foreword as Dahl's "first book for children" (somewhat accurate, if one disregards his earlier THE GREMLINS (1943), originally intended as the basis for a Disney film). Dahl's genius as a writer for all age groups lies in his refusal to strip his children's books of the pure, unadulterated nastiness at the core of his most memorable adult short stories; sex is absent, but the vulgarity and meanness in the darkness of the human heart is, if anything, greater and more fearsome here: for Dahl, hatred of injustice is born early in a child's spirit and festers until it finds some awful, Aunt-crushing catharsis. The gruesome revenges taken by the weak upon the strong are correspondingly…

James and the Giant Peach is a popular children's novel written by British author Roald Dahl. It was first published in 1961 and tells the story of a young English orphan boy who enters a gigantic, magical peach, and has a wild and surreal cross-world adventure with seven magically-altered garden bugs he meets along the way. The novel is known for its whimsical narrative, imaginative description, and creative characters.

One can determine if a copy of 'James and the Giant Peach' is a first edition by looking for the publisher's name and the original publication date on the copyright page, as well as identifying the presence of a specific cover design or illustrations that were unique to the first edition.