LAWSON, Robert. Ben and Me. A New and Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin as written by his Good Mouse Amos. Lately Discovered, Edited & Illustrated by Robert Laswon. Boston: Little, Brown, 1939. 8vo, x 114pp. Light brown cloth pictorially stamped in brown. Pictorial endpapers; 2 double-page, 6 full-page and numerous smaller b&w illustrations. Lower spine end slightly rubbed, else a fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket (price-clipped, slight edge wear along top).

First edition. The charming, fictionalized tale of how the celebrated American inventor and diplomat Benjamin Franklin got his most influential ideas – from his mouse friend Amos! Robert Lawson, the only person to ever win both the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and perhaps best-known for illustrating The Story of Ferdinand and Mr. Popper’s Penguins, brings humor and history to this lovely tale filled with intricately detailed and action-filled illustrations. The first of his four “biographies” of famous Americans as told by the animals who assisted them.