1962 Tasha Tudor First Illustrated Edition - The Secret Garden by F. H. Burnett
The true 1962 first Tasha Tudor illustrated edition of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved classic, complete with its original floral dust jacket and eleven enchanting full-page colour illustrations.
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett. Illustrated by Tasha Tudor.
Title: The Secret Garden.
Publisher: Philadelphia and New York: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1962.
Edition: First Tasha Tudor Illustrated Edition, First Printing, without an ISBN on the rear panel of the original dust jacket.
Language: English.
Pages: 256 pages.
Size: 8.5 x 6.5 inches.
Binding: Near fine original publisher’s rose-red cloth binding, with an elegant gilt floral tree motif on the front board and gilt lettering and floral decorations on the spine. The binding is exceptionally well preserved, with bright gilt and only minimal signs of wear. Complete with the very good original illustrated dust jacket, featuring Tasha Tudor’s delightful portrait of Mary Lennox surrounded by a delicate border of climbing pink roses. The jacket displays light rubbing, minor edge wear and small areas of wear at the spine extremities, as shown. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Near fine content, bright, clean, tight and beautifully preserved throughout. A handwritten gift inscription appears on the first illustrated endpaper, and a small bookseller’s label is affixed to the upper corner of the rear endpaper, as shown. Otherwise, the pages are exceptionally fresh and well maintained. Complete with all illustrations.
Illustrations: Beautifully illustrated by Tasha Tudor with eleven full-page colour plates and numerous delicate black-and-white chapter illustrations. Her finely detailed artwork brings to life the characters, English countryside and enchanting gardens of Burnett’s classic. The book also features Tudor’s charming floral decorations on the title page, pictorial endpapers printed in pale green and the original fully illustrated dust jacket.
Estimate: $225–275 USD.
The book:
First published in 1911, The Secret Garden is one of the great classics of children’s literature, a deeply moving story of loneliness, friendship, renewal and the restorative power of nature. It follows Mary Lennox, a neglected and disagreeable young orphan sent from India to live with her reclusive uncle at Misselthwaite Manor on the Yorkshire moors. There, she discovers a mysterious walled garden that has been locked and forgotten for years. With the help of Dickon, a boy who possesses an extraordinary affinity with animals and the natural world, and her sickly cousin Colin, Mary gradually brings the garden back to life. As the neglected flowers begin to bloom, the children themselves undergo a remarkable transformation.
This desirable 1962 edition marks the first appearance of Tasha Tudor’s illustrations for the novel and remains one of its most beloved visual interpretations. Her gentle watercolours, delicate pencil drawings and exquisite floral decorations capture the quiet beauty of the Yorkshire countryside and the emotional warmth of Burnett’s story. The original rose-red cloth binding and beautifully illustrated floral dust jacket make this edition particularly appealing. A lovely, well-preserved example of a timeless classic, combining the literary achievement of Frances Hodgson Burnett with the unmistakable artistic charm of Tasha Tudor.
The author:
Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849–1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright celebrated for her enduring contributions to children’s literature. Born in Manchester, England, she emigrated to the United States with her family in 1865 and began writing to help support them. She achieved international success with Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886), followed by A Little Princess (1905) and The Secret Garden (1911), works that have remained beloved across generations.
Her writing frequently explores the lives of children confronted with adversity, emphasizing imagination, compassion and the possibility of personal transformation. In The Secret Garden, Burnett drew upon her lifelong love of gardening and her belief in the beneficial influence of nature to create a story that continues to resonate with readers more than a century after its original publication.
The illustrator:
Tasha Tudor (1915–2008) was one of America’s most cherished illustrators and authors of children’s books, renowned for her delicate watercolours, nostalgic rural scenes and deep appreciation of nature. Her artistic career spanned more than six decades, during which she illustrated nearly one hundred books and received two Caldecott Honors. Inspired by the traditions of nineteenth-century life, Tudor developed a distinctive style characterized by soft colours, intricate botanical details and an extraordinary ability to evoke the warmth and innocence of childhood.
Her illustrations for The Secret Garden, first published in 1962, are among her most admired achievements. Drawing upon her intimate knowledge of plants, flowers and the changing seasons, Tudor gave Burnett’s fictional garden an almost tangible beauty. Her sensitive portrayals of Mary, Colin and Dickon complement the novel’s themes of renewal and discovery, making this illustrated edition a particularly treasured interpretation of Burnett’s masterpiece.