Worzel Gummidge.

London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd.,, 1936. Rare in dust jacket First edition, first impression, of the first Worzel Gummidge book. The story of a scarecrow who can talk and walk, famously played by Jon Pertwee on television, was followed by ten sequels. The book was reprinted as the first fiction title published by Puffin in 1941. Barbara Euphan Todd (1890-1976) first developed her idea of a scarecrow for BBC radio's "Children's Hour" in 1935 and 1936. The book followed in 1936 and the jacket blurb notes that the "story.... has become universally popular since the B.B.C. gave it to a wide and enthusiastic public". The scarecrow, with his phrases of "Ooh aye!" and "Stands to reason", became famous to a new generation of children when the ITV series, written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, was broadcast between 1979 and 1981. A new series, for the BBC, was broadcast between 2019 and 2021. Octavo. Frontispiece and 5 full-page illustrations by Elizabeth Alldridge. Original red cloth, spine and front cover lettered in black, top edge red. With dust jacket. Contemporary gift inscription, dated 1936, together with later ownership signature to front free endpaper. Head and foot of spine slightly bumped, browning to free endpapers, minor foxing to edges; jacket slightly worn at extremities with some closed tears, adhesive tape repairs on reverse, unclipped: a near-fine copy in a very good jacket.