.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This is the original, iconic artwork for the 'New York is Book Country' festival in 1988. It is a loving tribute by Maurice Sendak to New York's bibliophile roots and the legacy of the Fourth Avenue booksellers of his youth.
Who knew that a Wild Thing could read Italian? The character that Sendak later called Bernard is shown reading Primo Levi and cradling two more volumes in his elbow: works by William Blake and by the Brothers Grimm. He is wearing a crown that resembles the top of the Chrysler building and sits wedged into the middle of Book Row on Fourth Avenue, with his elbows resting atop the buildings on either side of the street. By 1988 Book Row was already mostly a memory. Argosy and Weiser's are depicted as well as the sole current survivor in lower Manhattan: the Strand Bookstore. The Strand's awning bears the inspirational message: 'Empty your Purse into your Head. We Buy & Sell Good Books.'
Who knew that a Wild Thing could read Italian? The character that Sendak later called Bernard is shown reading Primo Levi and cradling two more volumes in his elbow: works by William Blake and by the Brothers Grimm. He is wearing a crown that resembles the top of the Chrysler building and sits wedged into the middle of Book Row on Fourth Avenue, with his elbows resting atop the buildings on either side of the street. By 1988 Book Row was already mostly a memory. Argosy and Weiser's are depicted as well as the sole current survivor in lower Manhattan: the Strand Bookstore. The Strand's awning bears the inspirational message: 'Empty your Purse into your Head. We Buy & Sell Good Books.'