Most people, when asked about their favorite book, will invariably include a book they read as a child. Hemingway famously proclaimed that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". Twain's book, like its predecessor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, were books whose intended audience was young readers. Such books speak to us on multiple levels. As literature, they are well-crafted and clever with memorable characters and conflicts, but they matter to us for more than these reasons because we discovered them at a formative period of our lives. Their ideas helped to form our own, and so they are more personal ...
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London: MacMillan, 1895. Octavo. xxxviii, 260, (4)pp. With Frank Calderon's ten black & white plates, and many smaller illustrations in the text. Introduction and notes by Joseph Jacobs. In an attractive publisher's binding of blue cloth, liberally gilt-stamped with a picture of the fox and some chickens among twining Art..... More
(Moscow: 1929). Six pen-and-ink drawings colored with watercolor, with an expressionistic look, each measuring 7 3/4 by 6 1/2 inches. These delicate, stylized illustrations are tinted with shades of orange, purple, and green. The first drawing has the title and illustrator’s name, Ausbrey, below it in Russian. The images recount..... More
London: David Nutt, 1889. Two small octavo volumes. xx, 283; (v), 322pp. One of 550 copies. Frontispiece engravings preface both volumes, the first of which discusses the history of Aesop's Fables, and the latter of which contains the text, after William Caxton's edition of 1483. Both bound in plain wrappers..... More
(c. 1970s-80s). Pictorial Arabic alphabet poster, each letter of which is presented beside an image of an object beginning with that letter, with the full word beneath. The full word is written with the harakat or tashkil phonetic aids, which provide the correct pronunciation for children who are learning to..... More
(N.p. c. 1845). Set of twenty-six cards, each of which has been printed with a lithograph of a flower according to each letter of the alphabet. The set encodes an interdisciplinary course of learning, probably for a young girl, teaching her the English alphabet along with the identification of common..... More
(Mandalay: c. 1920). Small folio. (32)pp. A delightful and informative rhyming alphabet, hailing from the the era in Myanmar (then Burma) when it was a colony of the British Empire. Wheeler Cuffe's twenty-six watercolors, reproduced here as chromolithographs, portray various aspects of Burmese life in sumptuous color and studied detail..... More
Two modern posters, with alphabet themes, containing: "Jerry Pallotta's Alphabet Books." Watertown, MA, Charlesbridge Publishing, (early 1990s). An advertising poster for artist Jerry Pallotta's alphabet books, measuring 24 1/2 by 19 1/4 inches (622x489mm) and showing the full cover for "The Extinct Alphabet Book," published in 1993. A list of..... More
Philadelphia: American Sunday School Union, 1827. 48mo. 16pp. Engraved frontispiece and title page, as well as several devices in text. A moral tale told through the nature of snow-drop flowers, the lesson providing greater resolve in Christ's provision and righteousness. The final two pages rephrase the lesson into a poem..... More
NY: American Tract Society, (n.d.). 32mo. 16pp. Engraving on the title page and full-page engraving on the title-page verso. A narrative following the persistent purity and faith of Mary Jones throughout her life, with firm encouragements that readers adopt a similar devotion. Crisp in engraved paper wrappers with repair work..... More
NY: Viking Press, 1933. First edition. Inscribed by the illustrator, Boris Artzybasheff, to Dorothy Lathrop. Twenty of Artzybasheff's inventive, cartoonish wood engravings illustrate ninety of Aesop's famed fables. Artzybasheff's work, both in book illustration and commerical art, adopted the graphic and the grotesque, imbuing humanity, both in implicit emotion and..... More
New Haven: Babcock, Sidney, (c. 1845). 16mo. 16pp. Illustrated with title-page vignette of the Crucifixion and seven wood engravings. A collection of seven stories from the Old and New Testaments, retold for children: Moses Viewing Canaan; Samson Carrying Away the Gates of Gaza; David and Goliath; John Baptizing Christ; Water..... More
New Haven: S. Babcock, 1840. 32mo. 16pp. A moral chapbook with many engraved illustrations throughout. The titular explanations are told from a mother to her daughter. They primarily deal with the origins and uses of various textiles, but by the end of the story they encompass all living things designed..... More
Portland, ME: Bailey & Noyes, n.d. 64mo. 16pp. A moral tale of two orphaned children and the retribution of their wicked uncle, with six woodcut illustrations. The images show a depth of detail, with particular care applied to the leaves on the trees and the feathers on an angel's wings..... More
Portland, ME: Bailey & Noyes. 32mo. 16pp. Illustrated with woodcuts throughout. A volume filled with short, lyrical hymns aimed at simplifying and presenting moral lessons to children. The woodcuts emphasize this point of childhood learning; the largest of them, which occupies a full page, depicts a boy and a girl..... More
(N.p. c. 1886). A signed original drawing in ink over pencil by Birch, who is best known for illustrating Burnett’s classic work for children, Little Lord Fauntleroy, published in 1886. Fauntleroy is immediately recognizable in his plumed hat and lace-trimmed velvet suit, standing near a little girl in a costume..... More
Buffalo, NY: Breed, Butler & Co., 1863. 64 pp. One of six titles in the second series of miniatures authored by popular children's writer Barrow under the noms de plume Aunt Laura and Aunt Fanny. Noted by Bradbury as "high spots in any miniature book collection," the volumes offer children's..... More
Concord (NH): John F. Brown, 1837. 64mo. 16pp. Engravings throughout. Descriptions, with both moral and functional value, of various objects, including a windmill, a cannon, a tent, and a barge. In printed pale orange paper wrappers. Foxed, else near fine and very scarce. Signature of former owner on title page..... More
NY: Scribner's, 1886. Octavo. xi, 209pp., + (16)pp. ads. First edition, first printing. Includes twenty-six illustrations by Reginald B. Birch, twelve of which are full-page. Some rubbing to corners and spine, otherwise a near fine copy of this important children's classic. (PPP 80, BAL 2064). More
Canton, NY: Caliban Press, 2007. Square 24mo. (8)pp., accordionfold. One of 200 copies. The jumblies in their famous seive, with holes in the appropriate places, on a colored etching, which is printed on a movable piece of paper affixed to the fifth panel. With red paper covered and housed in..... More
Birmingham: C. Caswell, (c. 1870). (16)pp. Engraved frontispiece. A moral tale on the ills of covetousness and theft, and the corresponding rights of honesty and confession. Bound in yellow paper wrappers. Untitled hymn (first line: "Among the deepest shades of night") appears on lower cover. Scant foxing and creasing to..... More
(Easthampton, MA): Chamberlain Press, 1978. Octavo. (6)ff., frenchfold. One of 100 copies, signed by the artist. Designed, printed, and illustrated by Chamberlain. Lear's poem tells of an old man "who invented a purely original dress"; it was edible. Printed in two colors on beige Japanese paper and illustrated with two..... More
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1982. Small octavo. (20)ff. One of 125 copies, signed by the artist, Sarah Chamberlain. Contains eleven whimsical poems by Hilaire Belloc, illustrated with seventeen wood engravings cut and hand-colored by Chamberlain. Bound by Barbara Blumenthal in patterned boards, with a morocco spine stamped in black. Fine..... More
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1983. Octavo. (16)pp. From an edition of 125 copies, this is one of twenty-five deluxe copies signed by Chamberlain and with an extra signed print. This well-loved tale is designed, printed, and illustrated with ten delightful wood engravings by Chamberlain. The book is bound by Barbara..... More
London: Religious Tract Society, (c. 1865). Small quarto. 6pp., + 6 colored plates interleaved. This instructional volume parses the alphabet into six sets of four, with each head quartet accompanied by a short tale employing the four letters. Each text page also bears a border of four Biblical verses, so..... More
London: J. Harris, 1818. 32mo. 15pp., + 12 plates of engravings. Each illustration is fully colored and shows a remarkable depth of field and detail. These are not hasty sketches brushed by a disinterested hand; rather, they evince artful care and an eye for pleasing palettes. They grant a particular..... More
