Heidi Anniversary Mug: The 1922 Cover – Jessie Willcox Smith

In 1922 the Philadelphia publisher David McKay brought out a new American edition of Heidi with pictures by Jessie Willcox Smith, then the most sought-after children's illustrator in the United States. This is the vintage book cover readers saw first: the colour label on the blue cloth binding. Heidi leans against a tree on the mountain pasture, one arm round a white goat, with the Alps glowing pink behind her.

Above the picture the title runs in plain capitals between two small goat vignettes; Smith signed in the grass below. Inside the book she added ten colour plates and a vignette for each chapter. Those vignettes are on the other mugs of this series.

Johanna Spyri, the author of Heidi, was born on 12 June 1827, and her two-hundredth birthday in 2027 is the occasion for this anniversary edition. The cover has been digitally restored from a photograph of the 1922 binding.

Fine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The whole cover sits on the front of the mug; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

From the same series: Heidi Anniversary Set · Heidi Waving, 1922 · Heidi at the Table, 1922 · Heidi Reading, 1922 · Heidi with Two Kittens, 1922 · Heidi with Little Goats, 1922 · Heidi Picking Flowers, 1922 · Heidi and Grandfather, 1922 · Heidi and Her Friend, 1922 · Peter the Goatherd, 1922 · Two Goats with Pink Bows, 1922 · Heidi Hugging a Goat, 1922

Jessie Willcox Smith, Heidi, cover of the first American edition, 1922; colour-printed cover label on blue cloth, from Johanna Spyri, Heidi (Philadelphia: David McKay, 1922). Public domain.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.