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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(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
(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
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
(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
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
c. 2014. Watercolor on paper measuring 8 1/4 by 11 3/4 inches (image area 4 1/8 by 3 1/4 inches). Matted. The illustration reproduced from this watercolor appears on page 45 of the printed work, accompanying the following text: "And some few small aunts, not wanted in the kitchen, nor..... More
Easthampton, MA: Warwick Press, 1989; 1978. One12mo. volume and one small 8vo volume. (68); 12pp. A Fowl Letter Book is one of 225 copies signed by the author/artist/printer, Carol J. Blinn. A Poultry Piece is one of 250 copies, likewise signed by Blinn, with four hand-watercolored line illustrations. The pair..... More
NY: Pierpont Morgan Library, 1975. Quarto. xxx, 263pp. Illustrated throughout with photographic replicas of title pages, covers, woodcuts, and engravings, in both black & white and color. Inscribed as a special copy to Gerald Gottlieb, the main author of the text. A wonderfully comprehensive and well-organized reference. Bound in blue..... 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
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
(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
(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
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
New York: American Tract Society, (c.1840). 16mo. 16pp. Title-page illustration, frontispiece, and two smaller text figures from wood engravings. Framed as a conversation between young George and his father, the text presents the life of bees as an extended metaphor for virtuous behavior. Despite the ubiquity of most American Tract..... More
Concord, NH: Rufus Merrill & Co., 1843. 48mo. 16pp. Illustrated with engravings of whales and a full-page image of whaling in practice to supplement brief scientific and historical text. Followed by a short account of a whaling ship, the Essex of Nantucket, and its encounter with a whale, after the..... More
Baltimore: William Raine, (c. 1840). 24mo. (8)ff. Hand-colored engravings on every page illustrate clever Jack Horner's tale of generosity and moral rectitude. Bound in pictorial yellow wrappers, with advertisements on the back cover. Light soiling to interior, some edgewear, else near fine. More
NY: John C. Totten, 1819. 24mo. 46pp. With an illustrated frontispiece, title page, and eight woodcuts. The story of Little Jack, a foundling adopted and raised by an old man, who grows up to become a soldier. Second Totten edition. Bound in original tan printed wrappers, with short split along..... More
(NY: American Tract Society, c. 1840). 64mo. 15, (1)pp. Thirteen illustrations (with a fourteenth on the title cover) decorate this selection of poetic moral reminders. In addition to the titular soliloquy are the Lord's Prayer and two hymns, one for the morning and one for the evening. Bound in plain..... More
London: Griffith and Farran, 1857. 24mo. (iii), 26, (2)pp. Frontispiece shows the titular Harry harangued by housing for his hen. The text within has six short stories, framed as the happenstance result of a hearty Aunt Hannah helping her H-less nephew with his handicapped pronunciation. A heartfelt and handy volume..... More
