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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New Haven: S. Babcock, (c. 1840). 48mo. 16pp. Seven full-page illustrations of elephants. An naturalistic and moral introduction to elephants, including their habits, environments, and uses, with unsubtle scoffs toward animal cruelty. Minimal expected wear, else fine in yellow printed wrappers. More
(N.p. c. 1850). 24mo. (8)pp. Illustrated in black & white throughout. The intrigue of this booklet originates from its likely pirated content. The engravings are eclectic—an image of a rabbit is accompanied by the British royal seal and the seal of the Ancient Order of Foresters—and poorly printed. Also included..... More
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
New Haven: S. Babcock, 1850. 16mo. 16pp. Illustrated with wood-engraved title-page vignette and fifteen additional images throughout. The cries of various tradespeople that were once heard around London—from the seller of cat and dog meat, to the dustman—illustrated, and accompanied by a short verse about that person's trade. One of..... More
Jaffna: Strong & Asbury Printers, 1873. 48mo. (8)pp. Illustrated with a woodcut title-page decoration, plus two others in the text. An American-style chapbook, entirely in Tamil. Printed at what was formerly a print shop belonging to missionaries, but which by about 1855 was owned and operated by native Sri Lankans..... 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
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
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: J. Babcock, 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
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
Troy, NY: Merriam & Moore, (1851). 24mo. 12pp. Illustrated with wood engravings throughout, six of which are by Alexander Anderson. An installment in Edgeworth's series of stories about Frank, a naive, occasionally mischievous boy, who learns with each episode a new moral. Here, Frank encounters his bereaved cousin, and comes..... 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
(Easthampton, MA): Cheloniidae Press, 1986. Octavo. (54)pp., frenchfold. One of 231 copies, signed by Alan James Robinson. The alphabet and the Latin and common names of the birds are printed in two colors after lettering by Suzanne Moore. The opening text is from "Animate Creation," a popular edition of "Our..... 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
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
(France): Ceux de la Résistance, 1944. Folio. (57)pp. A children's picture book that follows two demons who escape Hell, help a battalion of French Forces of the Interior (F.F.I.), and make trouble for the Nazis. Eventually the demons and their companion, a small flame, assist the F.F.I. in the liberation..... 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
(London): Dean & Son, (1860). Octavo. (6)ff. A collection of hand-colored engravings accompanied by rhyming stories about fictional people. Each story adopts a humorous tone, though some also bear moral lessons. Throughout its nineteenth-century lifespan, the publishing firm of Dean and Son specialized in innovative printing processes used in the..... More
Boston: Carter, Hendee, and Co., 1833. 24mo. viii, 138pp. With nine engravings depicting Washington at various moral and heroic high points, such as his decision to tell the truth to his father despite potential consequences, his survival of falling off a raft into icy water, and his now-famous stance by..... More
Concord, NH: Rufus Merrill, (c. 1840). 64mo. 16pp. Engraving on title page, plus twenty-six more to illustrate the alphabet. A standard primer of letters, numbers, spelling lessons, and several moral poems. Bound in pink wrappers, front cover fairly sunned, near fine. Together with an ALS from a soldier, Joshua Bogarts..... More
London: J. & J. Wood, c. 1845. Octavo. (8)pp. (first and last text pages glued to wrapper). With cover illustration and two frontispiece engravings by W.D. Hornsby. This primer was issued as part of Wood's Juvenile Library, and contains two pages of alphabets and numbers, followed by 26 short lessons..... More
London: Dean and Son / W. Kent & Co., (c. 1860). Octavo. Three volumes in one. (24); 30; (32)pp. A collection of three illustrated children's books published together by Dean and Son under the name Dean's Coloured Picture Book: The Home First Book. The titles herein are "The Nursery ABC..... More
Derby: (John Drewry), (1790). 32mo. 24pp. Twenty-four woodcuts scattered throughout illustrate a variety of rebuses and lyrical puzzles. Decorative borders adorn the title page and the beginnings of each of the book's sections: riddles, "several comical Questions," and "merry Tales and comical Jests." An impressive and entertaining compendium, suitable for..... 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
London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1867. Small quarto. (36)pp. Illustrated with thirty-two chromolithographs, each with verse or prose captions. The book is divided into four subjects: Sunny Days, Home for the Holidays, Right and Wrong, and Picture Rhymes of Happy Times. Most of the scenes take place on farms and..... More
