Title: Duffy and the Devil: A Cornish Tale.
Author & Adaptor: Harve Zemach (Harve Fischtrom, 1933 – 1974)
Illustrator: Margot Zemach (Margot Hatfield, 1931 – 1989) — Caldecott Medalist
Genre: Children’s Folklore / Cornish Myth & Fables / Caldecott Award Literature
Edition: First Edition, Second Printing (1974 — Caldecott Stamped State)
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York
Aesthetics: Vibrant turquoise blue cloth cover boards and illustrated dust jacket with lively watercolor and ink illustrations.
"Squire Lovel of Trove had no wife. His housekeeper, Old Jone, did the cooking and the cleaning for him. But the sharpness had long since gone out of her eyesight, so she couldn't do fine chores any more, like spinning and sewing and knitting. After a time the squire's clothes got so rough and ragged that he thought he'd better go find a maid to be Jone's helper.
"With that in mind he rode up to Buryan Church town one fine morning. ..."
Rooted in the rich oral traditions of Cornwall and famously performed throughout the nineteenth century as a celebratory Christmas play, Duffy and the Devil delivers a humorous and distinctively regional variation of the classic Rumpelstiltskin myth. The narrative tracks the charmingly lazy Duffy, who finds herself in the employ of Squire Lovel after a series of innocent exaggerations regarding her mastery over spinning, weaving, and knitting. When the devil seizes the opportunity to strike a bargain, Duffy enters a high-stakes, three-year game of wits to uncover his secret name before her time runs out.
Harve and Margot Zemach, a husband-and-wife team, collaborated on several books, often adapting folk tales from different cultures.
Harve Zemach (the pen name of Harve Fischtrom 1933 – 1974) was an American author and social scientist who specialized in translating regional European oral histories into captivating children's texts. Tragically passing away in London the year Duffy and the Devil received the Caldecott Medal, his precise narrative pacing and dry, rhythmic wit laid the perfect narrative foundation for his wife's exuberant artistic styles.
Margot Zemach (1931 – 1989) remains celebrated as one of the most influential forces in twentieth-century picture book history. Born in Washington, D.C., she developed a distinctive "ragamuffin" aesthetic that prioritized human expression, motion, and raw texture over sanitized perfection. Her career received critical acclaim, capturing two Caldecott Honors (for The Sun Is a Golden Earring and Mazel and Shlimazel) before winning the Caldecott Medal outright for Duffy. She represented the United States as the official nominee for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award, cementing her stature as a global master of folklore layout.
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Condition: Fine/Very Good. Dust jacket: Light edge wear; on the front, small closed tear, top right; crease along leading edge of back flap; lightly bumped at corners. Turquoise blue cloth cover boards. Pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.
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