The Gremlins.: From the Walt Disney Production. A Royal Air Force Story.

New York: Random House,, 1943. First edition, first printing, of the author's first book. As noted by the original jacket blurb, "Everybody has heard about the gremlins, the fantastic Little People whose antics have become one of the great legends of the R.A.F." The book was written as a promotional device for a feature-length Disney animation that was never produced, partly because the studio could not establish firm copyright in the "gremlin" characters (Dahl claimed to have invented them, though they had been common currency in the RAF and had appeared in print at least once before) and partly because the British Air Ministry wanted final approval of the script and production. It was eventually agreed that royalties would be split between the RAF Benevolent Fund and Dahl. The book is described on the title and the front cover as being "From the Walt Disney Production"; the Disney studio wrote to Dahl in August 1943 after publication cancelling any further preproduction work. Quarto. Original illustrated boards, red cloth backstrip, spine lettered in black, yellow and red pictorial endpapers. Coloured illustrations throughout. Bookplate of one Roger Marchand to front pastedown, ownership ink stamps to front free endpaper and half-title. Some creases to spine, extremities a little worn with minor colour restoration: a very good copy.