The Elements of Style
New York: Penguin Press, 2005. Kalman, Maira. Tall octavo, original red cloth gilt with white lettering, printed "hello" and "goodbye" endpapers. No dust jacket, as issued. Lightest bumping to corners. Item #10040
First edition, later printing, of this whimsical illustrated version of Strunk and White's classic guide, with a foreword by Roger Angell, and an introduction by E.B. White. Cornell University professor William Strunk privately printed the first version of The Elements of Style for the benefit of his students, including E.B. White. Decades later, White wrote a feature for the New Yorker about his old professor's crusade for clarity and accuracy in prose, which generated new interest in Strunk's "little book." White edited Strunk's text to produce a bestseller, the concise writing manual known since 1959 as "Strunk & White": "A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." This edition is illustrated by artist and designer Maira Kalman, with paintings that bring out the inspiring and absurd in Strunk and White's examples. Signed by Kalman on the front free endpaper with a sketch of a pomegranate, a surprisingly scarce edition signed.
Price: $125.00