The Griffin and the Minor Canon

Frank Richard Stockton

Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963 - Juvenile Fiction - 55 pages

Through a two-year publishing program, we have been privileged to welcome back into print hardcover editions of twenty-one treasures from the Sendak backlist. The program has showcased Sendak's varied and distinctive styles, from the serious to the silly, the dreamlike to the dramatic.

In the program's final season, we are happy to reintroduce a book that uses all of those styles to explore the wonders of the most beloved verses and songs from childhood. Sendak created some of his loveliest and most endearing full-color art for this book, which is perfect for bedtime or any time at all.

Contents

• Section 1: 7
• Section 2: 25
• Section 3: 50

About the author

Frank Richard Stockton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 5, 1834. In 1868, he started working for the magazine Hearth and Home, where he wrote fairy tales as well as stories and articles on a variety of subjects for adults. In 1874, he became the assistant editor of Saint Nicholas Magazine and worked there until 1878 when he was forced to resign due to failing eyesight. He continued to write by dictating to his wife or a professional secretary. His first fairy tale, Ting-a-Ling, was published in The Riverside Magazine in 1867 and his first book collection was published in 1870. His works include The Lady or the Tiger, The Griffin and the Minor Canon, The Bee-Man of Orn, The House of Martha, and The Lost Dryad. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 20, 1902 at the age of 68. Maurice Sendak was born on June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York. While in high school, he worked part time as an illustrator for All-American Comics adapting the Mutt and Jeff newspaper comic strip to a comic book format. His first professional illustrations were for a physics textbook, Atomics for the Millions, published in 1947. He later worked as a window-display director for F.A.O. Schwartz while attending night school at the Art Students League. In 1950, he illustrated his first children's book The Wonderful Farm by Marcel Aymé. He wrote his first children's book Kenny's Window in 1956 and went on to become a prolific author-illustrator. His works include Chicken Soup with Rice; In the Night Kitchen; Outside Over There; Higglety Pigglety Pop; The Sign on Rosie's Door; We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy; Brundibar; Bumble Ardy; and My Brother's Book. He received numerous awards including the Caldecott medal for Where The Wild Things Are in 1964, the Hans Christian Andersen International Medal in 1970, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the National Medal of Arts in 1996. Characters from two of his books were the basis of an animated television special, Really Rosie, which first aired in 1975. He was also the set designer and lyricist for a subsequent off-Broadway musical of the same title. He was the lyricist, as well as the set and costume designer, for the original production of an opera based on Where The Wild Things Are in 1980. In addition, he has designed sets and costumes for performances of operas by Mozart, Prokofiev, and other classical composers. He died due to complications from a recent stroke on May 8, 2012 at the age of 83.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Griffin and the Minor Canon; Volume 220 of Holt owlet books
• Author: Frank Richard Stockton
• Illustrated by: Maurice Sendak
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1963
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jun 23, 2011
• ISBN: 003086626X, 9780030866265
• Length: 55 pages
• Subjects: Juvenile Fiction / Legends, Myths, Fables / General