1988 1st edition "First American edition published 1988" stated; illustrations by Quentin Blake; Viking Kestrel publishers, New York; hardbound in vibrant blue and red boards with gilt Matilda on cover and nice gilt lettering along spine; very good condition with unmarked pages; dust jacket very good.
description -
Matilda is a book by British writer Roald Dahl. It was published in 1988 by Jonathan Cape in London, with 232 pages and illustrations by Quentin Blake. It was adapted as an audio reading by actress Kate Winslet, a 1996 feature film directed by Danny DeVito, a two-part BBC Radio 4 programme starring Lauren Mote as Matilda, Emerald O'Hanrahan as Miss Honey, Nichola McAuliffe as Miss Trunchbull and narrated by Lenny Henry, and a 2010 musical.
In 2012 Matilda was ranked number 30 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily US audience. It was the first of four books by Dahl among the Top 100, more than any other writer. Worldwide sales have reached 17 million, and since 2016 sales have spiked to the extent that it outsells Dahl's other works.
Plot -
In a small Buckinghamshire village, Matilda Wormwood is a five-and-half-year-old girl of unusual precocity, but she is often ill-treated or neglected by her parents and older brother Michael. In retaliation, she resorts to pranks such as gluing her father's hat to his head, hiding a friend's parrot in the chimney to simulate a burglar or ghost, and secretly bleaching her father's hair. Matilda has read a variety of books by different authors, especially at the age of four, when she read many in six months.
At school, Matilda befriends her teacher, Jennifer Honey, who is astonished by Matilda's intellectual abilities. She tries to move her into a higher class but is refused by the headmistress, the tyrannical Miss Agatha Trunchbull. Miss Honey also tries to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood about Matilda's intelligence, but they ignore her.
Matilda quickly develops a particularly strong bond with Miss Honey and watches as Miss Trunchbull terrorizes her students with creative, over-the-top punishments. When Matilda's friend, Lavender, plays a practical joke on Miss Trunchbull by placing a newt in her jug of water, Matilda uses an unexpected power of telekinesis to tip the glass of water containing the newt onto Miss Trunchbull.
After Matilda reveals her powers to Miss Honey, Miss Honey confides...