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COLLECTION Identifier: TypDr 970.B247.61j

Nancy Ekholm Burkert's drawings for Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach

Overview

Illustrations, sketches, correspondence, clippings, and other materials pertaining to Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.

Dates

  • Creation: 1959-1973

Creator

Physical Description

In good condition.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

.2 linear feet (2 boxes)

The archive consists of 103 original drawings and sketches for the illustrations to James and the Giant Peach, with correspondence and other materials related to the publication of the book.

Other material includes letters from Dahl to Burkert; correspondence between Burkert and Virginie Fowler (editor at Borzoi Books for Young People/Knopf); and additional correspondence, including letters of Tere LoPrete (Knopf), Harold Mobius, and Sheila Saint Lawrence (A. Watkins, Inc).

Biographical / Historical

Nancy Ekholm Burkert was born in Sterling, Colorado in 1933. Burkert illustrated many children's books during her career. James and the Giant Peach was her first published work. Her illustrations for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1972) won several awards and are her most celebrated works.

Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach was published in New York by Alfred A. Knopf in 1961. The book was Dahl's first foray into children's literature.

Arrangement

The original works fall into the following series: 1. Jacket art illustrations (nos. 1-4). 2. Illustrations (nos. 5-67). 3. Preliminary sketches (nos. 68-103). Other materials fall into the following series: 1. Works by others, 2. Correspondence and materials related to publication and 3. Clippings and articles

Immediate Source of Acquisition

97HDr-1. Purchased from the Tory Folliard Gallery with the Hofer Trust fund and the Betty B. McAndrew fund, 1997 July 7.

Separated Materials

Illustration for page four is not represented in this collection. Illustrations for James and Centipede (p.32), Peach and Clouds (plate facing, p.82), and James and Friends II (p.96) were reported stolen at exhibition prior to Houghton's acquisition of the material.

Processing Information

Processed by Katherine Gaburo, 2024.

Title
Burkert, Nancy Ekholm. Nancy Ekholm Burkert's drawings for Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach, 1959-1973 (TypDr 970.B247.61j): Guide.
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University.
Date
2024 January 12
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
hou03648

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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