LOFTING, Hugh. Dr. Dolittle and the Secret Lake. J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1948.

Price: US$195.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo. Orange cloth with black lettering, extensive front board decorative rules and tipped-on color plate, pictorial dust jacket. xii, 366pp. Color frontispiece, color pictorial endpapers, numerous full-page line drawings. Very good/good plus. Head and foot of spine (only) faintly sunned, else tight and bright and internally fine; jacket edgeworn and a bit rubbed, with spine rather sunned and edge chips at corners and spine head/tail. Attractive, sharp first edition of the 18th title in this series, featuring Lofting's own charming, Thurberesque illustrations. Best of all, this copy bears choice autograph addition: Tipped to inner flyleaf is a fine, heavy stock 5" X 3" card signed large and bold in blue ballpoint by RICHARD FLEISCHER, who dates it 8 December 1971 at upper right. The 1967 comedy musical film "Dr. Dolittle" starring Rex Harrison was a mashup of several Dolittle titles, and Fleischer (1916-2006), one of the last of the "Golden Age of Hollywood" directors, is often remembered for directing this title, along with as string of other notable films. A most unusual copy.

Seller: Main Street Fine Books & Mss, ABAA, Galena, IL, U.S.A.