1912 Rare First Edition - The Rocket Book Illustrated by Peter Newell

Author: Peter Newell.
Title: The Rocket Book.
Publisher: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1912. First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9" x 7".
Pages: Unpaginated.
Binding: Attractive and very good publisher’s original pictorial boards in blue cloth with colour-illustrated front cover depicting children watching a rocket’s trail. Plain blue cloth back board and spine (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing, staining and toning - as shown, old but neat reinforcement to the inner hinge - as shown). The pages are remarkably clean and crisp, with the distinctive die-cut “rocket hole” perfectly intact throughout, demonstrating the trajectory of the rocket as it blasts through each floor of the building.
Illustrations: Illustrated throughout with Newell’s distinctive color plates, each paired with rhyming text printed in black and red. Each page features a central circular die-cut that represents the rocket’s path through successive floors—an inventive design patented by Newell on June 4, 1912.

Estimate: (USD 200 – 400).

The book: First edition, published in October 1912, of Peter Newell’s most famous and technically innovative picture book — The Rocket Book. A mischievous boy lights a rocket in the basement, and the story follows its chaotic journey upward through a New York apartment building, interrupting the lives of the tenants on each floor. Each scene humorously integrates the same “rocket hole” as it pierces the pages, a concept so original that Newell patented the design.

This work is a landmark in early 20th-century American book design, combining Newell’s playful verse with his ingenious integration of mechanical elements and visual storytelling. The humor, engineering precision, and narrative flow exemplify Newell’s inventive genius and make The Rocket Book one of the most collectible and enduring picture books of its era.

The author: Peter Newell (1862 – 1924) was an American illustrator and humorist celebrated for his inventive children’s books and witty visual gags. A regular contributor to Harper’s, The Saturday Evening Post, and Life, Newell was admired for his unique blend of clever mechanical innovation and gentle absurdity. His Hole Book (1908), Slant Book (1910), and Rocket Book (1912) pioneered interactive book design decades before the term existed, making him one of the true forebears of modern pop-up and kinetic book art.