Babbitt's Books: On the 18th day of Christmas, Babbitt's Books gave to me . . .

Sunday, December 5, 2010

On the 18th day of Christmas, Babbitt's Books gave to me . . .

. . . a $50 signed first edition of Gregory Maguire's Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

Maguire is best known for his 1995 book Wicked, a revisionist telling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Most of you probably know that it has also been made into a popular musical by the same title. Wicked is told, of course, not from Dorothy Gale's point of view, but from the view of Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (1999) was Maguire's next novel and, in a similar vein, relates the Cinderella fairy tale not from Cinderella's point of view, but from the views of her two maligned stepsisters, plain-faced Iris and mentally handicapped Ruth. Très original!

Our particular copy of this book is in very good condition, with glossy, illustrated boards (not pictured) and a pristine interior. You might notice that is has been inscribed to a previous owner, as many used books often are. Babbitt's Books has devised a solution to this in the form of a bookplate, which we hope will go on sale soon. Written by Kathleen Kirk, the text of the bookplate is as follows:

Whose book this is, I think I know.
I don’t mind the inscription, though,
To someone else, for now it’s mine;
A book in the hand’s worth two in the snow.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

If you'd like to give someone the gift of Gregory Maguire this Christmas but don't think $50 is in your price range, we also have a first edition, hardcover copy of Son of a Witch (the follow-up to Wicked) for only $6 and a paperback copy of Confessions for $4.