"Gus Was a Friendly Ghost" by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Seymour Fleishman, Weekly Reader Children's Book Club Edition published by William Morrow, New York, 1962. First Edition.

Illustrated hard boards [a little wear]; 7.1/2" x 9.1/2"; illustrated endpapers; unpaginated, 32 pages, fully illustrated, a little soiling, very good condition.

"There was once a friendly ghost, by the name of Gus, who lived in an old house in the country. Mr. and Mrs. Scott and their twins, Susie and Sammy, lived there too during the summer. Then autumn came and the Scott family left. Which meant Gus had nothing to do but sit around.

One day, during a walk, he met Mouse, who was cold and hungry. "Come spend the winter at my house!" cried Gus.

Thus begins an unlikely but heartwarming friendship. First published in 1962, children have delighted in this story and other Gus the Ghost books for over fifty years. Seymour Fleishman's sweet, nostalgic illustrations bring Gus, the Scotts and Mouse to life."

Seymour Fleishman [1918-2012] American author and illustrator. He graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in Australia and New Guinea, working as a cartographer and sometime illustrator of newsletters and officers' menus. After the war, he became an artist in the promotions department of the Chicago Sun newspaper. A few years later, he became a freelance illustrator. He did the drawings for almost 100 books, about 80 of them for children including "The Blueberry Pie Elf" and the books starring Gus the ghost written by Jane Thayer. He wrote and illustrated several books including Where's Kit, Four Cheers for Camping, and Gumbel, the Fire-Breathing Dragon.

US: Priority (c.2-4 days) --------- $12.50
Canada: 1st Class (c.2-4 weeks) -- $28.50
World: 1st Class (c.2-5 weeks) --- $42.50