The Snail That Climbed The Eiffel Tower and Other Stories

[Paul] Odo Cross. With illustrations by John Minton.

John Lehmann. London. 1947. First edition. Hardback; illustrated paper-covered boards, backed with blue cloth, with title in black and gilt to spine, matching dust jacket. 86 pages. Illustrated boards, dust jacket, b&w endpapers, colour frontispiece, 7 hors-texte colour plates, 12 b&w head- and tail-pieces. English. 255 x 190mm. 0.35kg. . Near fine, in very good dust jacket; light wear to spine ends and forecorners with slight loss, small area of loss at head of spine, smaller area of loss at base of spine, slightly browning to spine, slight ruffling to top edge, price-clipped; slight rubbing to spine ends and forecorners of boards, very slight spotting to edges; a very well preserved copy.

A first edition of the 1947 children's book of stories with illustrations by John Minton. The Snail That Climbed The Eiffel Tower is one of six stories written by Paul Odo Cross and illustrated with Minton's delightful drawings. It was one of Minton's earliest collaborations with the publisher John Lehmann, for whom he illustrated and supplied dust jackets for several publications. Odo Cross was a wealthy ex-ballet dancer-turned-author, whom it is likely met Minton through Lehmann. Frances Spalding writes in her biography of Minton - 'It is one of Minton's most delightful books. His empathy with the childhood world of romance and humour creates instantly absorbing scenes, intricate but never over-ornate'. Scarce in the dust jacket.
 
[Spalding, Frances. John Minton. Dance Till The Stars Come Down. 2005. p. 108.]