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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Boston: Lee & Shepard, 1885. Octavo. (xii), 373pp. Illustrated throughout with black & white plates. An adventure tale of a Vermont man's shipwreck and survival on a Pacific island. Bound in illustrated light brown cloth, gilt-decorated to spine. Spine slightly cocked and some light edgewear, else about fine. More
Kansas: 1898-1899. Oblong octavo. (19)ff. A double accordion-fold album of thirty-one woven paper designs in brown and coral. Included in this group are two weavings with movable elements, and one in the form of a frame with an image in the center. These examples of a popular kindergarten activity were..... More
Paris: Chez Tous les Libraires, (c. 1841). Duodecimo. 40pp., + 20-panel leporello. Beginning with Charlemagne and closing with Napoleon, the folding tableau contains lithographed portraits of the kings of France, as well as illustrated scenes depicting historically significant events that occurred during their reign. The text in the accompanying booklet..... More
Paris: Librairie Gründ, 1950. Quarto. 237pp., + 48 plates, nine of which are in color. One of 700 copies. This authoritative text and bibliography on the French “Game of the Goose” and its derivatives is illustrated throughout with images relating to the game, including many whimsical geese. The plates are..... More
Figbash stands (if he could stand) about six inches tall with an armspan of about 19 1/2 inches. Hand-sewn by Edward Gorey himself in a scarlet fabric with gold brocade. With the original tag reading "Designed life-size and sewn by hand and filled with rice by Edward Gorey." "Edward Gorey"..... More
(NY): Random House, 1982. First edition. A macabre pop-up book, in which the family MacFizzit sets out "to visit the varied distractions of Hickyacket Hall." No price sticker, else fine in illustrated paper over boards. (Toledano A83a). More
c. 1964. Four sheets, three of which measure 8 1/2 by 11 inches; the single sheet of text is smaller, measuring 8 by 6 inches, and is on blue paper. The pages reveal the unfolding of Gorey's creative process in developing the story and preliminary illustrations for his book, The..... More
NY: Young Scott, 1967. First edition. Signed by Gorey. A lively retelling of some of the most well-known fables from the American South. Spot of soiling to spine, else near fine in illustrated library binding, as issued. (Toledano B31a). More
NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1968. Square octavo. (88)pp. First edition. Inscribed by the author/illustrator, Hardie Gramatky, on the title page, with an ink drawing of Little Toot. Third in the series of children's books that started with 1939's Little Toot, Little Toot on the Grand Canal tells the story of..... More
NY: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1973. Square octavo. (88)pp. First edition. Inscribed by the author/illustrator, Hardie Gramatky, on the title page, with an ink drawing of Little Toot. Fourth in the series of children's books that started with 1939's Little Toot, Little Toot on the Mississippi tells the story of the..... More
NY: E. P. Dutton and Company, (c. 1870's). 16mo. (62)pp., including illustrations and advertisements. Part of the "Our Boy's Little Library" series. Copiously illustrated with nearly forty black & white engravings and sixteen three-line initials. Artists include noted English engravers Kate Greenaway, Robert Paterson, William Luson Thomas, and George Pearson..... More
NY: McLoughlin Bros. Octavo. (34)pp. A collection of uncolored images, two to six per page, which a child is invited to paint with watercolors. The interior of the front cover lays out the purpose of the book, along with a list of suggested colors and tools, and offers instructions for..... More
London: Routledge, 1882-1895, 1897. Fourteen 24mo. volumes. All in first issue bindings with the following exceptions: 1884 is the fifth variant; 1886 is the third variant; 1888 is the seventh variant; 1893 is the second variant. Each volume is illustrated throughout with full-color images by Greenaway, many of which are..... More
London: Max Parrish, 1953. Small quarto. (36)pp. First edition. Publisher’s production file copy, as noted in ink on the front endpaper and the upper front panel of the dust wrapper. At the top of each page, the color register is written out with a double set of check marks. The..... More
(New Haven): Gillett Good Griffin, 1951. Oblong 16mo. (16)ff. Unknown limitation. Printed as Griffin's dissertation for his BFA from Yale. Cleverly illustrated with the mouse's adventures integrated into the book's typography, including a cut doorway on the front flyleaf that opens to reveal the mouse on the title page. The..... More
Worcester, MA: J. Grout, Jr., (c. 1840). 32mo. 24pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece, title-page vignette, four woodcuts, and a tailpiece. Bound in green printed wrappers illustrated with a small vignette to the front cover, and a larger woodcut of a man herding cattle to the rear cover. Corners of covers..... More
Worcester: Jonathan Grout, Jr., (c. 1840). 32mo. 24pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece, title-page vignette, six woodcuts, and a tailpiece. Bound in green printed wrappers, illustrated with a small vignette to the front cover and a larger woodcut of a man next to a stream to the rear cover. Gift inscription..... More
Bern & Biel, Switzerland: Ernst Kuhn, 1920. Square 16mo. (45)ff., printed on rectos only. First issue. A striking picture book in the Swiss dialect, illustrated with forty-two brightly colored full-page woodcuts by Erna Haas in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte. The scenes depicted in the woodcuts are charming and..... More
London: Dean & Son, (c. 1910). Tall quarto. 12ff. First edition. Illustrated throughout in color and black & white by Gladys Hall and Eugenie Richards. A series of poems that follow the activities of the cherubic Peggy and Teddy. The artwork by Hall and Richards is dramatically similar to that..... More
London: Laurie & Whittle, 1807. 1ff. Framed engraved writing sheet with a mirror over the blank area in the center usually reserved for examples of penmanship. The mirror is near-contemporary to the writing sheet, and together they create an attractive piece that perhaps could have served as decoration in a...... More
London: J. Harris, 1815. 24mo. 64pp. Second Harris edition of the text. Illustrated throughout with wood engravings. The good fortune of an industrious, upright boy is contrasted with a horrid fate met by his less virtuous counterparts. This edition also includes "The Children in the Wood," and the final two..... More
London: J. Harris, 1806. 32mo. (16)ff. First edition, Moon's fourth state with 1806 date on front wrapper, but with SMC initials on the earliest-state engraved dedication page. Illustrated with fifteen hand-colored copperplate engravings. According to Moon, this is the most significant children's book published by Harris, and surely one of..... More
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1883. Octavo. First edition of the second Uncle Remus collection of stories. Widely illustrated with scenes from the familiar tales, including images of Brother Fox, Brother Bear, and Brother Rabbit. Bound in full yellow cloth elaborately stamped in black and with the title in..... More
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1892. Octavo. First edition of Harris's third collection of Uncle Remus stories. Illustrated with twelve plates, including a frontispiece, by popular illustrator and comics artist A. B. Frost. Replete with the well-known moralizing short stories and jolly songs. Bound in green cloth decorated in black..... More
NY: D. Appleton and Company, 1881. Octavo. 231pp. First edition, first issue, of Harris' first book and the introduction of the character of Uncle Remus. With frontispiece and seven plates, title-page vignette, and numerous line illustrations throughout the text. Original green cloth, spine gilt-lettered and front cover stamped in black..... More
