The Rocket Book – Peter Newell 1912 | 1st Edition

$75.00

Author: Peter Newell
Publisher: Harper & Brothers, NY, 1912
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Size: 8vo
Attributes: First Edition, Illustrated

First edition, first printing. Board worn & faded, fraying at spine ends, binding tight, scattered foxing and finger smudges on page edges throughout. Wonderfully illustrated by Peter Newell. In Good condition.

Out of stock

The Rocket Book (1912) by Peter Newell is a whimsical and innovative children’s book that combines playful verse with a clever physical gimmick: a hole punched through every page to trace the chaotic path of a rocket fired by the mischievous Fritz, the janitor’s son.

The rocket’s journey begins in the basement of an apartment building and shoots upward, disrupting each floor’s residents—a pianist mid-concert, a haughty lady’s hat, a sleeping baby—before culminating in a grand finale. Newell’s rhyming couplets and cartoonish illustrations (reminiscent of W.W. Denslow’s work for The Wizard of Oz) amplify the humor, while the die-cut hole invites tactile engagement.

A precursor to interactive children’s books, The Rocket Book showcases Newell’s genius for merging storytelling with book design.

For fans of: The Hole Book (Newell’s companion work), Pat the Bunny (Kunhardt), or Press Here (Tullet).