Madeline and the Bad Hat by Ludwig Bemelmans

Good hardback, First published 1958 by Andre Deutsch Ltd, 2nd imp 1967 This copy is the 3rd impression 1973. ISBN 0233955534

Some foxing, jacket has a piece missing from front and spine. It also is chipped and scuffed. Now protected in removable cover.

Every page has a large Illustration by the Author, with some text beneath. Some pictures in full-colour and others B&W.

One day the Spanish ambassador moves into the Parisian house next door to Miss Clavel, Madeline, and her 11 classmates. And, His Excellency has a boy! Pepito, as he is named, is not just any boy: according to Madeline, he is a "bad hat"--for starters, he's equipped with an irksome slingshot, he "ghosts," and he boasts. And when Miss Clavel gives him a box of tools to function as an "outlet for his energy," he makes a guillotine for the cook's chickens. ("He ate them ROASTED, GRILLED, AND FRITO! Oh what a horror was PEPITO.") Children will love Ludwig Bemelmans's jaunty rhymes and simple, evocative drawings, and the ferocity with which the feisty Madeline suspects, condemns, and rebuffs the boisterous new boy neighbor. In the end, however, everything comes out right, and we, along with Miss Clavel, can relax.