Category: Media

Sections: Information | Description | Reviews | Criticism and Analysis | Fun Stuff | Covers | Catalan, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, and Vietnamese Covers

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Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

• First editions:
  • Knopf, 1977, USA.
    • To identify: Used a number line, no pictures of the Mildenhall Treasure and published with a dust jacket priced at $5.95.
  • Jonathan Cape, 1977, UK.
    • To identify: Used a standard single statement and published with a dust jacket priced at £3.50.

• Contains:
  • “A Piece of Cake”
  • “Lucky Break”
  • “The Boy Who Talked with Animals”
  • “The Hitchhiker”
  • “The Mildenhall Treasure”
  • “The Swan”
  • “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar”
• Related books:
  • Roald Dahl Collection
• Audio Books:
  • The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More read by Andrew Scott
  • The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More read by David Suchet

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Description

People with peculiar and unlikely powers can be found throughout this extraordinary collection of seven short stories. A rich man who learns to see without his eyes, a giant turtle and a very special boy who can talk to animals, a cunning hitch-hiker and the curious driver who picks him up, and the very lucky ploughman who finds a fabulous fortune but loses a golden opportunity are only a few of the characters you’ll meet. The collection is a clever mix of fact and fiction and also includes the story of how Roald Dahl became a writer (and a wealth of tips for aspiring authors).

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Reviews

• “Dahl Contrives to Moralise” by Peter Monaghan from the April 8, 1978 issue of The Canberra Times – Canberra, Australia (read online)

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Criticism and Analysis

• “The Swan and the Wonderful World of Henry Sugar by Roald Dahl”
  • Article by Richard F. Abrahamson published in The English Journal 

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Fun Stuff

Sotheby’s Dahl Auction 1997

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Covers

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Catalan Covers

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Chinese Covers

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Czech Covers – Podivuhodný příběh Henryho Sugara a jiné povídky

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Dutch Covers – Het wonderlijk verhaal van Hendrik Meier

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French Covers – Coup de chance et autres nouvelles

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German Covers – Ich sehe was, was du nicht siehst

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Spanish Covers – Historias extraordinarias

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Vietnamese Covers – Câu chuyện kỳ diệu về Henry Sugar và sáu chuyện khác

Sections: Information | Description | Reviews | Covers

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Information

• First editions:
  • Viking Children’s Books, 1998, USA.
• Also published as:
  • The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories (in the UK)

• Contains:
  • “Katina”
  • “Man From the South”
  • “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat”
  • “Neck”
  • “Parson’s Pleasure”
  • “Royal Jelly”
  • “Taste”
  • “The Butler”
  • “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”
  • “The Landlady”
  • “The Umbrella Man”
  • “The Way Up to Heaven”
  • “Vengeance is Mine, Inc.”

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Description

This new selection of Roald Dahl’s short stories has been specially chosen as an introduction for teenagers into the adult writing of one of the world’s greatest storytellers. Subtle and bizarre, ironic and amusing, macabre and often grotesque, in every sense these tales provide a superb first step into the unexpected world of Roald Dahl.

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Reviews

• “Valley of the Dahls” by Brian Murray (The Weekly Standard)

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Covers

Sections: Information | Covers | Czech and German Covers

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Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

• Published in honor of Roald Dahl’s seventieth birthday
• First editions:
  • Viking, 1986, UK.
    • Illustrated by: Graham Dean
    • To identify: Used a limitation page stating the copy number of 300 copies and signed by the author. Published without a jacket and not priced.
  • Viking, 1986, UK.
    • Illustrated by: Graham Dean
    • To identify: Used a standard single statement and was published with a dust jacket priced at £5.95.
  • Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1986, USA.
    • To identify: Used a ‘First Edition’ statement and was published with a dust jacket priced at $12.95.

• Contains:
  • “The Princess and the Poacher”
  • “Princess Mammalia”

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Covers

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Czech Covers – Princezna a pytlák

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German Covers – Die Prinzessin und der Wilderer

Sections: Information | Covers

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Information

• First editions:
  • Michael Joseph Ltd., 1969, Great Britain.

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Covers

Sections: Information | Covers

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Information

• First editions:
  • Longman, 1979, Great Britain.

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Covers

Sections: Information | Covers

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Information

• First editions:
  • Penguin, 1997, Great Britain.
    • Special promotional edition for Tetley Tea

• Contains:
  • “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat”
  • “Neck”
  • “Nunc Dimittis”
  • “The Way Up to Heaven”
  • “Vengeance is Mine, Inc.”

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Covers

Sections: Information | Covers

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Information

• First editions:
  • Penguin, 1997, Great Britain.
    • Special promotional edition for Tetley Tea

• Contains:
  • “Dip in the Pool”
  • “Lamb to the Slaughter”
  • “My Lady Love, My Dove”
  • “Parson’s Pleasure”
  • “The Butler”
  • “The Hitchhiker”
  • “The Umbrella Man”

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Covers

Sections: Information | Description | Covers | Catalan, Czech, and Russian Covers

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Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

• First editions:
  • Random House/Vintage, 1979, USA.
    • To identify: Published in soft cover with a ‘First Edition’ statement and not priced.

• Contains:
  • “Dip in the Pool”
  • “Edward the Conqueror”
  • “Galloping Foxley”
  • “Lamb to the Slaughter”
  • “Man From the South”
  • “Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat”
  • “My Lady Love, My Dove”
  • “Neck”
  • “Nunc Dimittis”
  • “Parson’s Pleasure”
  • “Royal Jelly”
  • “Skin”
  • “Taste”
  • “The Landlady”
  • “The Way Up to Heaven”
  • “William and Mary”

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Description

This collection showcases sixteen of Roald Dahl’s finest tales, taken from Kiss Kiss and Someone Like You. There are tales of the risk-takers, such as the man who wagers his daughter’s hand in marriage to a wine connoisseur, or the traveller who throws himself overboard on a cruise liner to win a bet. Here too is the understated cruelty of “Edward the Conqueror,” in which a mysterious cat seems to threaten domestic life, or the innocuous-seeming “Landlady,” whose guests stay for longer than they intend. Not forgetting the satisfyingly shocking tales of revenge, such as “Nunc Dimittis” or “Lamb to the Slaughter.”

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Covers

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Catalan Covers – Històries imprevistes

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Czech Covers – Příběhy nečekaných konců

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Russian Covers – Абсолютно неожиданные истории

Sections: Information | Reviews | Covers | Czech, Estonian, French, German and Russian Covers

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Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

• First editions:
  • Knopf, 1974, USA.
    • To identify: Used a standard ‘First Edition’ statement and has the Borzoi dog logo blind stamped on the rear board. Published with a dust jacket priced at $5.95.
  • Michael Joseph, 1974, UK.
    • To identify: Uses a standard single statement (‘Published in Great Britain’ followed by the date, no later dates or printing statements) and published with a dust jacket priced at £2.75.

• Contains:
  • “B***h”
  • “The Great Switcheroo”
  • “The Last Act”
  • “The Visitor”
• Related books:
  • Roald Dahl Collection
  • Selected Works of Roald Dahl
  • The Complete Tales of the Unexpected and Other Stories
• Audio Books:
  • Milostné rošády read by Jiří Ornest, Jiří Lábus, Lukáš Hlavica, Taťjana Medvecká and Michal Pavlata
  • Switch B***h read by Christian Rodska
  • Switch B***h read by Richard E. Grant, Derek Jacobi, Shane Rimmer, and Gillian Anderson

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Reviews

• “Short changed” by Peter Ackroyd from the November 30, 1974 issue of The Spectator (UK) (read online)

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Covers

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Czech Covers – Milostné rošády

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Estonian Covers – Külaline. Neli erootilist üllatust

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French Covers – La grande entourloupe

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German Covers – Kuschel muschel

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Russian Covers

Sections: Information | Reviews | Covers | Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Slovenian, and Swedish Covers

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Information

Information on identifying editions is from Richard Walker’s “Roald Dahl – A Guide to Collecting His First Editions”.

• First editions:
  • Knopf, 1953, USA.
    • To identify: Used a standard ‘First Edition’ statement and published with a dust jacket priced $3.50.
  • Secker & Warburg, 1954, UK.
    • To identify: Used a standard single statement and published with a dust jacket priced at 12s/6d. Note: Note: this edition was missing two stories contained in the Knopf edition: “Neck” and “The Great Automatic Grammatisator.”
  • Michael Joseph, 1961, UK.
    • To identify: Used a standard single statement that included the wording: ‘This revised and expanded edition…’ Published with a dust jacket priced at 15s net. Note: this edition restored the two stories missing from the Secker & Warburg edition, making its contents identical to the original Knopf edition.

• Contains:
  • “Dip in the Pool”
  • “Galloping Foxley”
  • “Lamb to the Slaughter”
  • “Man From the South”
  • “Mr. Feasey”
  • “Mr. Hoddy”
  • “My Lady Love, My Dove”
  • “Neck”
  • “Nunc Dimittis”
  • “Poison”
  • “Rummins”
  • “Skin”
  • “Taste”
  • “The Great Automatic Grammatizator”
  • “The Ratcatcher”
  • “The Soldier”
  • “The Sound Machine”
  • “The Wish”
• Related books:
  • Roald Dahl Collection
  • Selected Works of Roald Dahl
  • The Complete Tales of the Unexpected and Other Stories
• Audio Books:
  • Someone Like You read by Julian Rhind-Tutt, Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Greig, Derek Jacobi, Richard Griffiths, Willl Self, Jessica Hynes, Juliet Stevenson, Adrian Scarborough, Richard E. Grant

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Reviews

• “Books and Authors” in July 29, 1954 issue of Western Mail (read online) 
• “Collection of Curiosos” by William Peden in December 26, 1953 issue of The Saturday Review (read online) 
• “Reviews in Brief” in August 28, 1954 issue of The Sydney Morning Herald (read online) 
• “Short and Original” in June 12, 1954 issue of The Advertiser (read online) 
• “Subtle Bludgeoner” by John Barkham in November 8, 1953 issue of The Toledo Blade (read online)

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Covers

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Dutch Covers – M’n liefje, m’n duifje

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Estonian Covers – Keegi sinu moodi

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Finnish Covers – Joku Kaltaisesi

Note: this book contains eight stories from Someone Like You and three from Kiss Kiss.

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French Covers – Bizarre! Bizarre!

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German Covers – … und noch ein Küsschen!

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Russian Covers

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Slovenian Covers – Takšen kot ti

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Swedish Covers – Någon Som Du