Mukerji, Dhan Gopal GAY-NECK: The Story of a Pigeon.

Name: GAY-NECK: The Story of a Pigeon.
SKU: 3346
Price: 1750.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Mukerji, Dhan Gopal

$1,750.00

New York: Dutton (1927)

First printing. The true first edition of this story of a young boy growing up in the jungles and village of India, and of the training of his homing pigeon, Gay-Neck, set against the backdrop of World War I, and told in both the voices of Ghond, the boy, and Gay-Neck, the pigeon.

While it is “as informative as it is lyrical and profound [with Mukherji tracing] the bird’s flight patterns and mating with exacting insight, in a deeper sense, the novel is a meditation on courage and redemption in a time of war. When Gay Neck and Ghond return to India after their military service, they are battle-scarred. ‘I need to be healed of fear and hate,’ Ghond says. ‘I saw too much killing of man by man.’ War leaves Gay Neck fearful and unable to fly. But with the help of the lamas in a Buddhist monastery deep in the Himalayas, the duo overcome their wartime fears and find inner peace.” ( Pooja Makhijani, The Atlantic}.

Strikingly illustrated with 3 black and white double page spreads, chapter headings and tailpieces by Boris Artzybasheff. Winner of the Newbery Medal for Children’s Literature awarded in 1928 – the first Newbery award to an Asian-American author (it was more 70 years before the second Asian American recipient. ) One of the hardest to find Newbery award winning first editions, especially in dustjacket (even back in 2015, there were no copies in dust jacket listed online) . Illustrated endpapers. 197 pp.

Very good in magenta cloth covered boards with gold lettering and a pigeon on front cover. A bit of rubbing to the spine, but a straight and tight copy. Sunning to the spine of the dust jacket extending onto the covers, some minor edgewear and offsetting from the boards to the interior of the dj, but overall a complete and attractive copy of this very scarce dustjacket. #91945

Mukerji, Dhan Gopal GAY-NECK: The Story of a Pigeon.

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