The Little House

A rightly famous and coveted book in the US, where it won the Caldecott Medal - awarded to the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children" - in 1943.
The story centres on a house built far out in the country in 1900 America. The house watches the seasons pass, and wonders about the lights of the city, which grow ever closer... Eventually, year by year, the city encroaches on the countryside and eventally the little house is surrounded by tenements, apartments, an elevated railroad, skyscrapers... The house is sad because she misses being on the small hill in the countryside and that her exterior looks shabby due to no one living in her and the city's environment thanks to urban sprawl and poor planning...(don't worry, there is a happy ending!!)

Unfortunately, the copy here is not in great shape. The spine has been strengthened by a very large piece of tape which encroaches 8cm+ across the boards, partially obscuring the cover artwork. At least the colour matches. The front board is partially detached from the binding for the bottom 5cm or so. The binding is weak in places and two pages have been taped in (with the tape now discoloured). There is a neat inscription to the front endpaper. There are no scribbles or doodles... EXCEPT the final illustration which has been embellished by childish colouring in (in, I think, chalk). Fortunately, most of this has erased, and the colour of chalk used/remaining does appear to match the original illustration so it is not too invasive. I would grade the book as FAIR overall.

NB This appears to be a UK first edition as there is no date/edition stated other than 1946 - see photos. However, other UK firsts I have seen have a cloth cover. Certainly this copy can be no later than 1954, which is the date of the inscription.