Count Silvernose, a Story from Italy by Eric A. Kimmel, 1996 first edition.

Retold by Eric A. Kimmel. Illustrated by Omar Rayyan. First edition, 1996. Holiday House, New York.

Count Silvernose is based on an Italian folk tale, How The Devil Married Three Sisters, first published in 1866 in German. There are several regional versions throughout Italy.

"Once upon a time three sisters lived with their mother, an old washerwoman. The two youngest, Carmela and Maria, were empty-headed creatures with no more sense than a flock of sheep. They were forever prattling about fine clothes and handsome princes carrying them away to a castle where they would never have to scrub laundry again. The third sister, Assunta, knew that no prince would ever carry her off. She had broad shoulders and big feet. Her face was as ugly as a barn door. If that weren't enough, she had a wart on her nose and a glass eye. However, whatever Assunta lacked in beauty, she made up in cleverness. Above all, she loved her two foolish sisters and watched over them like a mother cat guards her kittens."

One day, Count Silvernose arrived at their door, and he took one sister as a servant, and she went willingly, starry-eyed to be carried off by a nobleman. The Count returned for the second sister, claiming the first had died. She too went willingly. When he came for Assunta, claiming the second sister had also died, she leaped up on the horse behind him, as her sisters had, and rode off to their rescue.

Eric A. Kimmel (1946 - ) is an American author of more than 150 children's books, with a special interest in different cultures and their folklore. He is a five-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award. He has been awarded the Sydney Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

Omar Rayyan, a Jordanian-born artist, has illustrated for Simon & Schuster, Random House and Hyperion/Disney, specializing in children's and young adult magazines and books.

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Condition: Fine/Very Good. Dust jacket: Light shelf wear; light wear along upper and lower edges; surface scratch below title, on the front. Quarter-bound red/tan cover boards: Very light shelf wear along lower edge. Name neatly penned in upper right corner of front fly leaf else pages are clean, undamaged, and complete.