You’re at a garage sale. You see it. That distinctive, moody jungle cover. You flip to the title page and there it is: 1963. Your heart does a little somersault because you think you’ve just found a five-figure treasure for fifty cents.
Honestly? You probably haven’t.
Identifying a true where the wild things are first edition is notoriously tricky, mostly because this book stayed in print basically forever without the publishers changing the copyright date. It’s a classic "trap" for new collectors. Just because it says 1963 doesn't mean it was actually printed in 1963. To find the "holy grail," you have to look at things like price codes and the presence—or total absence—of a certain gold sticker.
The Caldecott Medal "Kiss of Death"
Here is the weirdest thing about collecting this book: if it looks like a winner, it’s not the one you want.
In 1964, Maurice Sendak won the Caldecott Medal for this masterpiece. From that moment on, almost every copy of the book came with a gold seal printed right on the dust jacket. If your copy has that medal—or even a faded circle where a sticker used to be—it is not a first issue.
A true first printing was produced before the award was even a thing. Collectors want the "pre-medal" copies. They are the only ones that captures the book exactly as it existed when it first hit the shelves in November 1963.
How to Spot the Real Deal
You’ve got to play detective with the dust jacket. The jacket is where 90% of the value lives. If the book is "naked" (missing its jacket), the value drops from thousands of dollars to maybe a hundred or two.
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Check the front flap. You’re looking for two specific codes. In the upper corner, it should say $3.50. Down at the bottom, look for the numbers 40-80 and 1163. That "1163" is a date code for November 1963.
The Blurb Test
There’s another subtle "point of issue" on that front flap. In the very first state of the jacket, the text describes Maurice Sendak as the "author-artist of The Nutshell Library."
Later versions changed this. Once the book became a smash hit, the publishers swapped that description for glowing reviews from the New York Herald Tribune and other papers. If you see reviews on the flap instead of a mention of The Nutshell Library, you’re holding a later printing.
The Library of Congress Number
Open the book to the title page. A first edition must have the Library of Congress catalog card number: 63-21253.
Some early "pre-LOC" copies exist that don't have this number at all, and these are exceptionally rare. However, for most collectors, the presence of that specific number combined with the $3.50 price on the jacket is the gold standard for a first edition, first printing.
Why This Book Almost Failed
It’s hard to imagine now, but people kinda hated this book at first.
Psychologists in the 60s were terrified of it. They thought the "Wild Things"—which Sendak actually based on his loud, eccentric Jewish relatives from Brooklyn—would traumatize children. One prominent critic, Bruno Bettelheim, famously trashed the book in Ladies' Home Journal without even reading it, claiming it was too frightening for kids to handle.
Sendak didn't care. He knew kids. He knew they were often angry, bored, or rebellious. Max, the protagonist, doesn't apologize. He doesn't learn a "lesson" in the traditional, sugary sense. He just gets hungry and wants to go home to someone who loves him "best of all." This raw honesty is why a where the wild things are first edition is so culturally significant; it basically gave birth to the modern, psychologically complex picture book.
The Price of Monsters
So, what is it actually worth?
A pristine first issue with the $3.50 jacket and no Caldecott medal can easily fetch **$10,000 to $20,000**. If it’s signed by Sendak? You’re looking at $25,000 or more.
But condition is everything. These were children's books. They were chewed on. They had crayons taken to them. They were read until the spines literally fell apart. Finding one in "Fine" condition is like finding a needle in a haystack made of monsters.
- Ex-Library copies: Usually worth very little. They have stamps, pockets, and heavy wear.
- Later printings: If the price on the flap is $3.95, $4.95, or higher, it’s a later issue. Nice to have, but not a "rarity."
- Anniversary editions: The 25th-anniversary edition from 1988 is beautiful, but it's not the investment piece collectors hunt for.
Your Next Steps
If you think you've found a winner, do not try to clean it yourself. Don't use tape. Don't try to "fix" a torn page. You will destroy the value instantly.
Wrap the book in a pH-neutral archival sleeve (like a Mylar cover) to stop any further wear. Then, reach out to a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA). They are the pros. They can look at the "points" of your copy—the binding color, the endpaper patterns, and the typography—to tell you if you’re holding a piece of history or just a well-loved bedtime story. Even if it's not a first, keep it. It's still one of the greatest stories ever told.
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Check the front flap for the $3.50 price and the 1163 code right now. If both are there, you should probably find a safe place to keep that book until you can get it appraised.