The Return of Mary Poppins
The sequel to the 1964 Mary Poppins film that fans have been waiting more than half a century for is finally here, debuting in theaters across the U.S. this week. (I've seen it; it's fabulous.) Even better, it brings author P. L. Travers back into the spotlight. In a CBS Sunday Morning segment this past Sunday, the actress Emily Blunt, who portrays the spappy English nanny in Mary Poppins Returns, takes a trip to the New York Public Library to examine the first American edition of the novel, as well as some of Travers' mementoes, including her typewriter, a doll, and her parrot-headed umbrella.
A first edition also came up for sale very recently. In an online sale of English literature and children's books at Sotheby's that closed on December 10, Travers' Mary Poppins (1934) in its pictorial dust jacket sold for £2,750 ($3,450). Incidentally, a presentation first edition of the sequel, titled Mary Poppins Comes Back (not Mary Poppins Returns), published in 1935, sold for slightly less at £2,500 ($3,140). Travers inscriptions are quite rare.
