The "Wild Things" have come to Dartmouth. An early autographed edition of popular children's writer and illustrator Maurice Sendak's bestseller, "Where the Wild Things Are," is part of the Maurice Sendak collection which was recently donated to Dartmouth's Rauner Special Collections Library by local resident and former book collector Mort Wise. The book won the Caldecott Medal in 1964.
The collection of over 100 items contains the majority of Sendak's best-known children's books in first edition as well as pencil sketches, watercolors, letters, Christmas cards and other ephemera. Most of the books in the collection are "presentation pieces," which are books that are not only autographed but also contain original sketches by Sendak, according to special collections librarian Jay Satterfield.
Many of these inscriptions are personal messages to Wise and his children. Wise first began collecting second-hand leather-bound books and English children's books in the early 1970's as a middle-aged hobby, but did not come across Maurice Sendak until 1977 when he was introduced in London to a book dealer and friend of Sendak's who was selling a collection of about 40 first-edition Sendak books. Wise bought the collection and continued to add to it for the next 11 years.
Wise met with Sendak informally several times, although he said the Sendak collection was not the main focus of his book collecting. In 1986, though, when Wise sold off the rest of his book collection, he kept those by Sendak.
Wise first contacted the College in October 2003 about donating his collection, and Dartmouth was enthusiastic, Wise said, but due to a change of personnel, the process did not get finalized until last Wednesday.
"I began to think, 'what's going to happen?'" he said. "It's a nice collection. I didn't know the value of it, but I knew there was some significance to it."
"I wanted to keep it together as a collection as opposed to selling it piecemeal, and I have warm feelings towards Dartmouth," Wise added. "It was fun collecting, but at this point it gives me greater pleasure to share this."
Wise has been a past president of the Roth Center for Jewish Life and serves on Hillel's board of directors. The collection also commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Roth Center.
The collection fits in well with other collections at Rauner, like the Dr. Seuss collection, Satterfield noted.
"Maurice Sendak is somebody who was a major innovator in the way stories were told to children," he said. "He treated children as intelligent beings who can understand the absurdity of life and can revel in [the books]. And kids love it."
Rauner is slated to hold a Maurice Sendak exhibit in the main hall of Baker-Berry Library in early April.
"Where the Wild Things Are," the most renowned book of the collection, describes the adventures of a boy named Max who gets sent to bed without supper and creates a forest filled with wild mythical creatures. The book is being adapted into a live-action feature-length film with screenplay by Dave Eggers, Michael Goldenberg and Spike Jonze.
