Here is the account of how Maurice came to give these to Ted Hake. In the late 1960s, Ted met Maurice and began to help him build his collection of 1930s Mickey Mouse objects. Maurice and Mickey both came into the world in 1928. Maurice also wanted advertising pin-back buttons for reference in creating (following "Where The Wild Things Are") what he told Ted was the second part of his trilogy, "In The Night Kitchen," published in 1970. Sendak surprised Ted by including "Hake Coffee" among the Night Kitchen city buildings. Ted continued to help Maurice build his Mickey Mouse collection until just a few years prior to his death on May 8, 2012. Several times a year Ted would visit Maurice at his home in Ridgefield, CT. During his June, 1981 visit, Maurice explained that "Outside Over There" completed his trilogy and was inspired by his fear, at the age of four (in 1932), of being kidnapped as was the son of Charles Lindbergh. Maurice related that he was too young to understand that kidnapping poor Jewish children from the streets of Brooklyn would not be profitable for anyone. However, his obsession only deepened w/the sensationalism surrounding the 1934 Hauptmann trial. In fact, Maurice told Ted during his visit that among his top wants was one of the miniature souvenir wooden ladders created and sold by an enterprising Flemington, NJ. local to the trial visitors looking for a souvenir. It took Ted 29 years, but Maurice got his ladder in 2009. Maurice's personal version of the famous ladder used in the Lindbergh baby kidnapping is shown on the opening pages of "Outside Over There" being carried and used by the goblins. (Related items from the 1934 Hauptmann trail, including stationery of Hauptmann's attorney, which pictures the ladder used in the crime, are included in this auction, see item #926.) Following their discussion, Maurice went to a closet and produced a roll of three large sheets, his personal set of printer proofs for his book. He signed one side of each sheet and gave them to Ted. The set consists of three large 23x38" double-sided sheets. Images are both right side up and upside down w/a color bar down one margin. All text and every illustration in the book (but not the dust jacket) is included on these sheets plus one sheet has identical images of each side. Counting illustrations that continue across two pages in the book as one illustration, there are 27 different illustrations on five sides of three sheets plus seven duplicates all on one side of the one sheet. On one side of each vertical sheet, on a white area at one end, Maurice signed in blue ink "Maurice Sendak June '81." Each inscription is about 3" in length. The sheets have been stored flat for decades and are essentially Mint as made. To the best of Ted's knowledge, this is a unique set signed by Maurice. From the Hake Collection and comes with Hake's COA. For additional insight into Maurice's obsession w/the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and his inspiration for "Outside Over There," see the 2009 documentary "Tell Them Anything You Want" where Maurice was interviewed by Spike Jonze, who also directed the film based on Maurice's book "Where The Wild Things Are." In the interview, (Chapter 8 - The Lindbergh Baby) Maurice states that in "Outside Over There" "There Is One Picture In The Book That Is A Portrait Of Charles Lindbergh Jr." He then shows the picture to the camera. The picture (see our photo) is on the left side of a two-page spread w/text that begins "If Ida Backward In The Rain..." See Sendak book and ballet promotion buttons #1274-1275.