London: Collins, 1968

Small 4to, unpaginated. Original illustrated boards, lettered in black to front panel and spine. Illustrated dust jacket replicating board illustrations. Front panel very slightly darkened and with a couple of very small and unobtrusive marks, corners and spine ends just a little bumped, but a near fine copy in a very good dust jacket with two thumbnail chips to lower edge of front panel and foot of spine, a 2cm closed tear to front panel near spine, and some edgewear to top edge and corners.

First edition of Kerr's first book, and a children's classic. INSCRIBED BY KERR TO THE FRONT FREE ENDPAPER: 'For Sophie, with love from Judith Kerr'.

The recipient of this copy was Sophie Miles, the daughter of the TV and film director Christopher Miles (The Priest of Love; The Virgin and the Gypsy) and his wife Suzy. Miles often worked with the writer Nigel 'Quatermass' Kneale, who was married to Judith Kerr, and the two couples were close friends. One afternoon in the early 1970s the Kneales came to tea. Kerr arrived with this copy of her book, and inscribed it that afternoon to the Miles' small daughter -- coincidentally called Sophie, like the little girl in the story.

Now one of the most popular and best-selling children's books ever written, The Tiger Who Came to Tea has been adapted for both stage and screen, most recently in the UK for Channel Four's 2019 Christmas offering, featuring the voices of Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo, Tamsin Greig, David Walliams and Paul Whitehouse, and has been published in foreign language editions all over the world.

The first edition is now rare, rarer still in dust jacket, and we can find no record of an inscribed copy ever having been sold at auction.