The Princess and the Pea, 606d, 1967 (scruffy)

The Princess and the Pea 1967.  This book, illustrated by Eric Winter, was the 9th book in the original series of 27 Well-Loved Tales books.  The text, as always in the books of this series, was written by Vera Southgate.

With illustrations by Eric Winter.  Many people have vivid memories of this story.  Images such as the vast pile of thin, stripey mattresses have lingered in the mind since childhood.  Many people too have wondered, as I did, why the Princess was so poorly educated as not to have told a polite white lie when asked if she had slept well.  But perhaps I was over-thinking.

This copy:

The Princess and the Pea 1967, matt boards. Illustrated by Eric Winter.  Although, as the pictures show, it is in far from ideal condition, it is still a decent copy of a much-loved and hard-to-find title.  There is heavy rubbing to the spine and some other marks to the cover (look carefully at the cover picture).  Inside, the front endpapers have a child’s name written untidily twice and, although the reading pages are generally in good shape, there is the odd foxing or grubby mark to them too.

It’s an early copy (though not a first) and dates to the 1960s, with the original price of 2/6 printed inside.