A rare double signed copy of Thompson's second Eloise book, with whimsical illustrations by Hilary Knight. Slim quarto, original illustrated red cloth.  Signed by the author on the title page "Kay Thompson" and some years later, by the illustrator Hilary Knight, who adds above in a darker black ink "Hilary Knight / 2000." Wear to ends of spinein the original dust jacket, with small losses to the spine ends and rear upper edge.  A very good copy of a classic title rarely found signed by both of the creators.

This second Eloise book details the comic adventures of the young heroine on a trip to the French capitol, accompanied by her nanny, her faithful pug Weenie, and her turtle Skipperdee. 

Maurice Sendak called Eloise a "brazen, loose-limbed little monster" and anyone who has been introduced to the eccentric 6-year-old who spends her days at large in New York's Plaza Hotel pouring water down the mail chute and managing her self-imposed responsibilities can't help but be fascinated. “Eloise’s birth was unexpected. At rehearsals of her act with the Williams Brothers, Thompson [who was a professional singer] prized punctuality. Then one day she was late. In a high, childish voice that she had never used before, she made her apology. One of her co-workers said, ‘Who are you, little girl?’ Thompson replied, ‘I am Eloise. I am six.’ The others joined in the game, each assuming a juvenile identity, and it became a regular rehearsal pastime” (New York Times). That pastime became a book, with three more to follow in Thompson’s lifetime. “Eloise became an alternative persona for Kay Thompson, much as the dummy Charlie McCarthy was for Edgar Bergen? [allowing] Thompson to express contrarian thoughts and ideas. Eloise took form as a lonely and whimsical child who created her own world” (Marie Brenner).