Books

Walt Disney: The Gremlins
A Royal Air Force Story by Flight Lieutenant Roald Dahl

Information   Trivia   "Where can I buy it?"   Fun Stuff   Cover Illustrations   Complete Text   Sequels

Information

• Originally published:
  • Serialized in Cosmopolitan in 1942
• First editions:
  • Random House, 1943, USA.
    • Value (circa 1989) in Fine condition
      • $385-$465
  • Collins, 1943, Australia and Great Britain.
    • Value (circa 1989) in Fine condition
      • $310-$385 (no dustjacket)

Trivia

The Gremlins was Dahl's very first book for children. The story was originally intended for production as an animated film by Walt Disney, but the film was dropped before it was completed. Disney did, however, still publish the book that had been created as a tie–in with the movie's release. Fewer than 5,000 copies were printed worldwide, therefore copies of it are extremely rare.

"Where can I buy it?"

Your best best is probably eBay.com, although you might get lucky with a rare book retailer. Based on the copies I've seen for sale, I'd say that you shouldn't pay more than $250 for medium to poor condition and definitely no more than $500 for good. It really irks me when people try to take advantage of collectors and start out their auctions with initial bids of $800. I mean, that's ridiculous. I paid less than $300 for my copy and, if I ever sold it, I wouldn't raise the price much more than that. The way I figure, it's a story and it's meant to be ENJOYED. It's not the Holy Grail and you shouldn't feel compelled to pay outrageous amounts of money for it.

Fun Stuff

• Download Gremlin wallpaper!
• "Fifinella" Patch designed by Disney for the Women Airforce Service Pilots
• Theory that Dahl was working as a British Secret Service spy when he wrote the story

Cover Illustrations

Click on thumbnail to see the full–size version...

Complete Text

As many long-time visitors to this site know, I managed to locate a copy of "The Gremlins" on eBay in 1999. After I received it, I scanned in every page and made the entire book available in PDF format. Unfortunately this was way too large and the download time was staggering. Therefore I've gone to an images-and-HTML solution that should hopefully allow more people to read this wonderful story.

Please note: this book is copyrighted by Walt Disney Productions.

Click here to begin!

Sequels

The Walt Disney Company published several sequels in comic book form. These are from a 1987 reprint by Gladstone Publishing Ltd. (Thank you to Marvin Winitz for tracking these down for me!) Click on a thumbnail to see the full–size version...