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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NY: Baker, Crane & Day. 64mo. 8pp. A sweet collection of lyrics using a question-and-answer motif to laud the wonderful characteristics of the author's mother. Each stanza is headed by an engraving showing mother and child at progressive stages in the child's development, from sleeping in a bassinet to praying..... More
Fitchburg, MA: S. & C. Shepley, 1847. 24mo. 64pp. Frontispiece wood engraving shows a garden scene. What follows are two moralistic children's tales: that of Orphan Willie, a wandering minstrel, and that of a young girl's education in the nature and value of truth. Bound in full black cloth, with..... More
Fitchburg, MA: S. & C. Shepley, 1847. 24mo. 64pp. Frontispiece wood engraving shows a garden scene. What follows are two moralistic children's tales: that of Orphan Willie, a wandering minstrel, and that of a young girl's education in the nature and value of truth. This copy bound in blue printed..... More
NY: American Tract Society, (c. 1827-1833). 64mo. 16pp. Seven total engravings, including one on title page and two full-page. A familiar child's tale advocating for devotion, humility, and graciousness. Begins with a page of verse, summarizing the story's salient points. Mild edgewear and minimal, if any, internal foxing, else near..... More
London: A. Park, (c. 1810s). Octavo. (8)ff. Colored engravings illustrate this sometimes scientific, sometimes fantastic paternal account of the state of the Earth, and all its peoples and regions, and its moon. Bound in plain printed wrappers, which assign the book to the publisher's series of "Humpty Dumpty's Tales," the..... More
London: Dean & Son, (c. 1860). 32mo. 8pp. Engravings of bucolic English scenes adorn the prose tale of the pious Dutch farmer and his influence on British soldiers, and the following poem entitled "The Seed and the Prayer". Very rare, with no physical institutional holdings, and even rarer for its..... More
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. 1855). 64mo. 16pp. Five engravings throughout, four of them full page, illustrate scenes of wilderness adventure. The accompanying tale provides both suspenseful and moralistic overtures to keep the young reader hooked. Bound in gray wrappers, which identify the book as "Second Series. - No. 9"..... 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
Cincinnati, OH: Poe & Hitchcock, 1864. 32mo. 49pp. Engraved frontispiece, as well as engraved initials to begin each chapter. The chapters mark episodes in the young life of the titular Johnny, as he learns moral values and proper interpersonal relationships. The half-title ascribes the title to the series "Maple Grove..... 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
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
Boston: Munroe & Francis, 1847. Square 32mo. 168pp. Illustrations throughout - some of a stick figure in action, others more detailed and artful - provide visual aid to the various physical challenges the book advocates. Among these are such fabled activities as "Horse Exercise," "Leaping with the Pole," and "Giant..... More
(Andover, MA): American Tract Society, (1823). 16mo. 24pp. Frontispiece, text figure, and tailpiece from wood engravings. Two clergymen here, by way of an elogated and narrative bit of supposed reportage, tell of the tragic death of a boy, whose commitment to his young but fervent faith serves as a noble..... 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
