The Gremlins

DAHL, Roald. The Gremlins. From the Walt Disney Production. NY: Random House [1943]. 4to, [52]pp. Red cloth spine stamped in black with color pictorial boards. Pictorial endpapers; one double-page and 12 full-page color illustrations and b&w illustrations on every other page. Lower edge and corners lightly rubbed, small portion of upper edge of front board slightly sunned, else an internally clean, bright copy.

First edition. Roald Dahl’s first published book captured in wonderful illustrations by the artists of Walt Disney Studios. The story of Gus, a British World War II fighter pilot, who during the Battle of Britain turned to look out on the wing of his plane only to see an amazing sight: a little man, no more than six inches tall with horns growing from his head, drilling a hole in the plane's wing. Gus was the first man to ever see a Gremlin, and what happened after that would change the war, and the world, forever. Bought by Walt Disney to be produced as an animated motion picture, the project was ultimately shelved. Ironically, a Buggs Bunny cartoon with gremlins was released in 1943 as well.