In 2008, Maurice Sendak told the NY Times about how the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, and the sensational trial that followed, freaked his 4-year-old self right out, and generated an anxious fascination with the incident for the rest of his life.
Sendak based his 1981 picture book, Outside Over There, on the Lindbergh case. And he spent decades searching for one of the little souvenir ladders sold outside the trial. Memorabilia auctioneer Ted Hake finally found him one. And now just a couple of years later, Hake is selling it, out of the late artist's estate.
Most of the rest of the Sendak's collection is early Mickey Mouse merch, if that's more your thing.
Item 1042: LINDBERGH BABY KIDNAPPING TRIAL SOUVENIR WOODEN LADDER, est. $1000-2000, bidding ends Mar. 19 [hakes]
Previously, 2008:
Related: Sendak talks about the Lindbergh baby in the context of the rest of the horror and terror of childhood in this 1989 Fresh Air interview, rebroadcast in 2007 [npr.org]
