NY: Kiggins & Kellogg, (c. 1850). 48mo. Illustrated throughout with full-page black & white engravings and smaller vignettes. This near-miniature chapbook contains a tale about American colonization and independence, told to a young audience in order to explain the significance of the July 4th holiday. Fine in printed buff wrappers..... More
Boston: Taggard & Thompson, 1858. 16mo. 31pp. Nine full-page color engravings, illustrating key scene's in the titular fox's antics in his journey to find food for his family. He finds a farm, confounds the animals, and captures a goose, only to again resort to his cunning ways to escape the..... More
NY: Kiggins & Kellogg, (c. 1850). 8pp. A charming alphabet chapbook with a couplet for each letter, and each page illustrated with a single woodcut. Near fine in orange printed wrappers, mildly creased. More
Boston: Mayhew & Baker, 1858. Square octavo. (32)pp., including wrappers. One of the Fireside Picture Books. Illustrated with nine large engravings and two smaller vignettes by "Morte". Each illustration is accompanied by one of the nine verses from the Mother Goose nursery rhyme, "There was a Little Man, and he..... More
New Haven: Babcock, J., 1822. 16mo. 32 pp. Illustrated with eight plates, each bearing two engravings by Alexander Anderson. This is the first part of an abridged version of Hundred Wonders of the World, also published by Babcock, and for which an advertisement appears on the title-page verso. The text..... More
Boston: Degen & Estes, (1859). 16mo. 8pp. With frontispiece wood engraving by John Andrew, and unsigned engraved head- and tailpieces. A short, sentimental poem with religious undertones about the many interpretations of "home." This is the second title in "My Own Little Library" series, which also appeared under the Taggard..... More
Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager, 1832. 32mo. 32pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece and five engraved plates, all of which are hand-colored. The text of this moral tale in verse was adapted from the original French story written by Madame de Beaumont. Catherine Ann Dorset chose to write anonymously, even though she..... More
Philadelphia: John S. Cotton & Co., (c. 1860). 16mo. (16)pp. Every other page bears a full-page engraving, hand-colored, to detail the honorable naval escapades of the titular Fred Fearnought as he rises through the ranks and proves himself with suitable acts of derring-do. Bound in plain printed wrappers, with other..... More
London: Orlando Hodgson, (c. 1840). 16mo. 6ff., + wrappers. Each leaf presents the reader with a half-page illustration of activities suitable for the time of day described in the verse below them. The images are hand-colored in a variety of shades, giving them uncommon depth. The book weaves counting from..... More
New York: T. Mason and G. Lane for the Sunday School Union, 1837. 16mo. 26pp. Probable first American edition. Frontispiece and six small vignettes from wood engravings. First published in London in 1828, this tale of a rescued kitten who is eventually reunited with its mother by the title character..... More
Cincinnati: U. P. James, (c. 1860). 24mo. 31pp. Illustrated throughout with stock wood engravings to accompany alphabets, vocabulary lists, grammar lessons, and short poems and moral stories. Crisply printed and, save expected minor soiling to exterior, remarkably clean in blue wrappers. Fine. More
London: Harris, John, 1808. 32mo. (15)ff. Fourteen engravings, two hand-colored, mostly depicting the anthropomorphized characters from the lyrical tale for children. Butterfly's Ball has inspired several other works, including a 1973 picture book by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer, an animated short, a rock opera, an orchestral composition, and a...... More
(N.p.): Cheloniidae Press, 1991. Quarto. (89)pp. One of 210 copies, signed by both Robinson and McGrath at the colophon. Illustrated throughout with head- and tail-pieces by Robinson, as well as an example of calligraphy by Suzanne Moore and one by Elizabeth Curtis. A celebration of McGrath upon the fiftieth anniversary..... More
(Los Angeles): William Cheney, 1975. (30)ff. The famous verse from "A Apple Pie, B Bit It, C Cut It," etc. is illustrated with large calligraphic-style letters in this micro-miniature book. It is the smallest book printed in California and was executed by William Cheney for Dawson's Book Shop. A very..... More
Los Angeles: W. M. Cheney, 1953. Small octavo. xiv, 18pp. One of 100 copies. A satirically aloof academic text on Pig Latin. Fine in tan wrappers. More
(N.p.): Cherub Press, 1987. (8)ff., frenchfold. One of 100 copies. The legend of the creation of woman, printed on Rakusai paper toned in several colors, and with a hand-colored frontispiece by Kim Butcher. Sewn oriental-style into pale blue wrappers, and housed in a slipcase. Fine, with some edgewear to slipcase..... More
(Solihull, UK: Cherub Press, 1996). (10)pp., + 6 samples of Japanese papers. One of 95 copies. The paper specimens exemplify some of the major styles of Japanese papers, including Chiyogami, Suminagashi, lace-paper, and Kimburi Tairei paper. Butcher's text is a concise and accessible outline of the various methods employed in..... More
Shirley, Solihull: Cherub Press, 1986. 48mo. (14)pp. From an edition of 160 copies, this is one of 85 sewn into Strathmore covers with Roselle marbled endpapers. With two full page engravings by Renton capturing the romance of Keat's poem. Fine. More
Belgrade: 1978. Two volumes. 134; 134pp. One of 1000 copies. Full text in Hungarian, Russian, English, and German. The story of a suspenseful series of championship chess games, with a complete list of the moves and many photographs. The two volumes are identical, except that one is half the size..... More
Poughkeepsie, NY: Artists and Writers Guild, 1935. Square octavo. (14)ff., + opaque tissue sheets. A clever, interactive book calling on children to use scissors or a penknife to cut out the negative space in a printed image, and to fill in the then-missing background with colored paper so that, when..... More
Épinal: Pellerin et Cie. (c. 1870). 16mo. (24)pp, accordionfold. The book guides the reader along the busy city streets, navigating through and identifying the various sellers in alphabetical order, by way of hand-colored engravings. The alphabet, as typical for the language, omits "W;" and "X" and "Y" appear on the..... More
Paris: A. Bedelet, (1863). Oblong 16mo. (13)ff. After an engraved title page, which in twelve miniatures prefaces the inventions subsequently mentioned, and an alternate lithographed title page printed on the verso of the following sheet, each page shows two side-by-side tinted lithographs, with titles above and captions below. The twenty-two..... More
Moscow: Goznak, 1969. Oblong octavo. (40)pp. Mavrina's illustrations for this lush Cyrillic alphabet are at once delightfully couched in folklore and technically skilled in color and composition. The occasional letter receives a double-page spread, or highlight in metallic ink, and all suggest the drama and abundance of a stage production..... More
London: J. S. Publishing & Stationery, (c. 1860). 32mo. 8pp. Decorated throughout with borders and captioned engravings. The primer's eight pages provide a fairly comprehensive introduction to reading and rhetoric, beginning with the English alphabet (including dipthongs) and concluding with narratively coherent sentences. Bound in teal wrappers with printed covers..... More
Guildford, Surrey, England: Genesis Publications Limited, 1985. 48mo. xxviii, 160pp. A reduced facsimile of the edition published by J. Newbery, London, in 1766, illustrated throughout with numerous woodcuts. Carl Geri's Introduction to the text provides both bibliographic and literary context. Bound in full orange leather over boards with two raised..... More
