Northern Lullaby; with: signed publisher’s poster

New York: Philomel Books, 1992. First edition, review copy, of Nancy White Carlstrom’s Alaskan bedtime story, richly illustrated with Native American imagery by Leo and Diane Dillon, accompanied by the publisher’s signed promotional poster. A sleepy young narrator bids goodnight to the Earth, each feature of the snow-covered landscape imagined as part of the family: “Goodnight Papa Star / Goodnight Mama Moon, / Bending your silver arms / down through the darkness.” Leo and Diane Dillon won numerous awards over the course of their long career, including back-to-back Caldecott Medals in 1976 and 1977, for Ashanti to Zulu and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears, the only consecutive medals given to date. They would win the 1992 Society Of Illustrators Gold Medal for the vibrant airbrush and watercolor images in Northern Lullaby. The publisher’s poster reproduces their two-page spread of the tree spirits Auntie Willow and Auntie Birch, “standing in long flannel gowns in the silence.” A near-fine inscribed copy of a stunning book, accompanied by a signed poster. Single volume, measuring 11 x 10 inches: [26]. Original black cloth spine lettered in silver, purple pictorial boards stamped in blind, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket, color pictorial endpapers. Color illustrations on every page. Inscribed “For Daniel,” signed, and dated 1993 by Dillons on title page. Publisher’s review slip laid in. Poster measuring 18.5 x 21.5 inches, signed at lower right. Lightest shelfwear to book, horizontal and vertical creases to poster from folding. (Inventory #: 1003919)