The Iron Man; A Story In Five Nights. Hughes, Ted (Author). George Adamson (Illustrator).

London; Faber And Faber. 1968. 8vo. Original coral pink pictorial boards printed pictorially in black, white and two shades of blue, preserved in repeat pictorial dustwrapper; pp. [x], 11-59; illustrated with 5 black-and-white drawings by Adamson; a fine sharp, and uninscribed copy protected by a near fine, unclipped, dustwrapper (13s 6d) with very mild dust-marking and fading to spine, 2 short are barely noticeable closed tears (8mm and 5mm) to top edge of upper panel and a negligible short ruck to bottom edge of lower panel; increasingly scarce. First edition. This copy is sold with an autographed note signed by Ted Hughes addressed to Ms. Margaret Higgins, Curledge Street County Primary School, Paignton, Devon TQ4 5BA, on both sides of a note card and complete with the original mailing envelope: "I have no objection to your making The Iron Man more accessible to 'special needs' children! But my publishers might know of some regulation - simply to protect their authors (and themselves). The tendency - as you'll easily understand - is for worksheets etc. simply to displace the book. Of course, it's a matter of numbers and degree. But I hope you won't mind if I pass your letter on to my editor". A wonderful children's fable, originally composed for the author's children, and recently made into a successful animated feature film released in 1999.