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[25] pp. Illustrated in color throughout. (Oblong 4to) original pictorial cloth, pictorial dust jacket. First Edition. 

First edition, first printing of this high-point of 20th century children's picture books. Complete number-line on copyright page, number A3450 at lower corner of rear cover. With a first or early issue dust jacket, the front flap clipped at top and bottom removing original printed prices. The correct price is still subject to debate, with no known copy in an unclipped jacket confirmed as a first issue yet recorded. The author's own copy, exhibited in the Grolier Club "One Hundred Books Famous in Children's Literature," is clipped at the corners. The front flap with two paragraphs, the first a synopsis of the book, the second describing the design of the volume. The rear flap with a photograph and two paragraph biographical sketch of Carle, mentioning only his first book, "1,2,3 to the Zoo," identification number A3450 repeated at lower corner. The story of the caterpillar's journey toward metamorphosis traveling through a series of die-cut holes in six of the leaves (four of which are trimmed to shorter lengths) suggesting the caterpillar's hungry journey tunneling through various pictured fruits before constructing his cocoon and emerging a butterfly. Very rare. Grolier Children's 100, No. 99.