Sendak’s monsters in the book were inspired by his own relatives who used to visit him in Brooklyn and pinch his cheeks (“All crazy – crazy faces and wild eyes”). During his lifetime, he was flooded with letters from young fans all over the world – but one in particular stood out:

“A little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it,” the late, great author once said. “I answer all my children’s letters—sometimes very hastily—but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, ‘Dear Jim: I loved your card.’ Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, ‘Jim loved your card so much he ate it.’

“That to me was one of the highest compliments I've ever received. He didn't care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

Presto and Zesto in Limboland will be published in autumn 2018.

Images: Rex Features/ Maurice Sendak

Buried treasure: lost manuscript discovered in the home of Where The Wild Things Are author