Last couple with slight 1/2' blue bleed from bottom also fairly faint bleed near gutter of lower exterior text block. Red metallic vignette of mouse about to feast on beans. Brilliant blue cloth boards, stylized red metallic spine titles, slight shelf wear. 'Roald Dahl,' 'Quentin Blake.'' Stated First American Edition, 1983, at copyright.

Beautifully signed by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake at limitation page: 'This edition of The Wtiches, signed by the author and the illustrato, is limited to three hundred copies, of which this is copy number '177'. Dahl's creation has also found itself taken off reading lists across schools in America for the possibility of turning kids to witchcraft with its perceived satanic themes and the fear of desensitising young minds to violence. But neither of them is half as dangerous as a REAL WITCH'. On the other hand, a ghoul is always a male. But the fact remains that all witches are women. Intriguingly, it has also found itself at one time or another banned for perceived misogyny, as Dahl states that only women can be witches: 'I do not wish to speak badly about women,' the author writes. Winner of the Whitbread Award for Children's Novel in 1983, The Witches was also successfully dramatised on several occasions, most famously perhaps the 1990 film featuring Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch, which featured a differing ending from that in the book (much to the author's chagrin).

A classic dark tale from a master of the genre, the macabre menace only slightly mitigated by the target audience being children. Page stock somewhat browned as usual, a little cocked but a very nice copy in the price-clipped dust jacket. First edition, first impression 8vo illustrations by Quentin Blake publisher's boards, dust-jacket with artwork by Quentin Blake.

The witches the graphic novel