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: 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
Newcastle: Printed by S. Hodgson, for Emerson Charnley, and Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, London, 1820. Large paper edition. xl,332pp. Imperial octavo issue, with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Thomas Bewick by Charlton Nesbit, one of Bewick's students, after a portrait painted by Bewick's friend, William Nicholson, whose Bewick-designed bookplate is..... More
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
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
London: Heinemann, 1912. Quarto. xxx, 224pp. One of 1450 copies, signed by the artist, Arthur Rackham. Contains thirteen color plates tipped-in on brown paper, and 53 illustrations in black & white. Translated by V.S. Vernon Jones, with an Introduction by G.K. Chesterton. Bound in tan paper-covered boards backed with dark..... More
Budapest: Borda Antikvárium, 1997. Slim octavo. (18)ff. One of 70 copies, signed by Regina Szász, who designed, illustrated, and bound the book. A charming, bilingual edition, printed in brown and black on colored papers, with a fold-out illustration for each fable. The Italian text is printed in such a way..... 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
Milan: Danese, 1965. Folio. (6)ff. Third variant. This game without rules consists of six plastic-coated cards, measuring about nine by eighteen inches, and printed lithographically with twelve colors. Represented on the cards are 45 animals, the sun, the moon, a cage, an anthill, and more. Each card has two slots..... 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
(United Kingdom): Kate Holland, 2017. Octavo. (60)pp. One of 150 copies. Signed by both the artist and the author at the colophon. The reproductions of Martineau's paintings depict the exploration and bravery of girlhood through the alphabet, mirroring Bingham's sweet text with images of girls as musicians, painters, nurses, and..... 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
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
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
(Portland, OR): Chamberlain Press, 1985. (18)ff. One of 150 copies, signed by the artist. Illustrated by Sarah Chamberlain with sixteen wood-engravings. Bound by Barbara Blumenthal in marbled boards, with spine label. Fine. More
