Tove Jansson, Kometjakten, First Edition, 1946

Published by Söderström & Co in Helsinki in 1946. First edition and first printing. Softcover, bound in pictorial wrappers, with untrimmed edges. 179 pages, illustrated with line drawings and reproductions of Tove Jansson’s original watercolours. The artwork was reworked in ink for later editions.

Kometjakten was Jansson’s first full-length Moomin novel and was published in English as Comet in Moominland by Ernest Benn in 1951.

Jansson substantially revised the story during her lifetime, deleting scenes and changing the temperament and personalities of several characters. Most modern editions derive from the final revised Swedish text, Kometen kommer, published in 1968. This first edition preserves the story in its original, unrevised form, making it particularly interesting to scholars and serious Moomin collectors.

Very Good. A remarkably clean copy, free from spotting, staining, water damage, scribbling and ownership inscriptions. There are reading creases to the spine and intermittent creasing to the leaves. The text block is toned with age, with light tanning to the preliminaries, endpapers and wrappers. The binding remains fairly tight and square. The wrapper corners and foot of the spine are split, without discernible paper loss. A tidy, presentable copy of a genuinely rare book.