A Pair of Fragile Items

As I wind up 1973, I have a couple very fragile items to show. The first is Jack the Giant Killer, published by Scholastic Books (the same publisher of the American printings of the Harry Potter series today). This small accordion fold pamphlet is only 2.5" x 3.5". Because the paper used is very thin, this item is easily damaged. The copy I am showing has been signed by Mr. Gorey.

Around this time, Edward Gorey appears to have illustrated a small handful of fairy tales. Starting in 1972 with Red Riding Hood (authored by Beatrice de Regniers and published by Antheneum), and followed by Jack the Giant Killer (no author credited), and Rumpelstiltskin (also Scholastic, authored by Edith H. Tarcov).

To accompany Rumpelstiltskin, Scholastic published the extremely fragile Lucky Little People. This fold out sheet contains several sets of cut-out finger puppets which can be punched out and turned into toys. The folded card of cut-outs is quite large and is protected by a single folded sheet of paper on which the title and printed instructions appear. The instruction sheet claims that this is to be set #1 of a series, but no other cut-outs were produced, and this appears to be the end of Edward Gorey-illustrated fairy tales for children.