THE ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL ELOISE

New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1999. First Edition, First Printing . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Hilary Knight (Illustrator). Text/As New. Illustrated boards/Fine. DJ/Fine. Collectible First Edition, First Printing. Red endpapers. 1955 marked the debut performance of Eloise, who says of herself succintly, "I am a city child. I live at the Plaza." Gifted with a inner resources, Eloise adores taking the elevator from the lobby to the top floor, takes the lift down a few floors, scurries down a few flight, hops back into the elevator, then stairs again, elevator again, back to the ground floor ... a fold out map helps us keep up. A young lady of six springs, the precocious and all accomplished Eloise, with a mannerly public persona and wild exuberancy in private, was created by dancer, singer, pianist, composer, and choreographer (and, with Eloise, an author) Kay Thompson to amuse intimate friends, and brought to visual life by the deft pen (with dashes of red and pink) Hilary Knight whose love for Eloise is a truth more than evident in his portraitures; a fold map explains how the elevator and stairs figure This delight volume is in three essential parts. First is the complete text of Kay Thompson's Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups; second, The Absolutely Essential Eloise Scrapbook by Eloise (with some rawther interesting new material and colorful comments) as Told to Marie Brenner; and, third, The Story of Hilary Knight: An Evolution in His Own Words and Pictures. A delightful three-books-in-one volume; an absolute essential for lovers of the irrepressable Eloise..