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 ...
Read more about Children's Books and Toys
NY: Dial Books, 1988. First Edition. Frontispiece and cover art by Gorey. Bound in cloth-backed boards, which show minor sunning to bottom. Some foxing to upper edge of text block, else near fine in near fine dust wrapper. More
San Francisco: Troubador Press, 1979. First edition. A collection of hidden picture puzzles, codes, and mazes features some of Gorey's signature characteres. A very fine copy, still in original shrink wrap, in gilt stamped black cloth. (Toledano B64.b). More
NY: Meredith Press, 1968. First edition. "An opera book without libretto or score". Some edgewear to book, slight splay to upper board, else very good in very good dust wrapper. (Toledano A27a). More
NY: Adama Books, 1987. First edition. Illustrated with red, blue, and yellow bugs in all sorts of activities as they strive to maintain the order of their community social life. In white pictorial boards, slightly skewed, with some foxing to text block. Very good. More
NY: Meredith Press, 1967. First edition. "In which a self-banished cat named Fletcher and the exquisite Zenobia...find their transport to delight atop a huge and magnificent tree." Near fine, in pictorial boards with matching very good dust wrapper. (Toledano A25). More
NY: Harcourt Brace, 1999. First edition. One of twenty-six lettered copies, signed by Gorey. An adventure in verse of a man and his companion, the Bahhumbug. The end of their journey marks the start of the new millennium. With Bahhumbug beanbag toy, well-dressed in suit, tie, and spats, and standing... More
NY: Simon and Schuster, 1968. First edition. "Perfectly incomplete in itself....full of mysteries and enigmas which are not solved, of secrets and short cuts that are never explained." Faint staining to initial pages and to head and tail of spine, else near fine in very good dust wrapper. (Toledano A29a)... 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: Meredith Press, 1967. First edition. "From Ampoo to Zote", this alphabet offers "an improbable menagerie for Sunday's child." Upper portion of boards foxed, slight splay to upper cover, else very good in very good dust wrapper. (Toledano A26a). More
Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1969. First edition. A story of Donald and his quest to find and care for an animal friend. Near fine in illustrated boards with near fine, price-clipped dust wrapper. (Toledano B41a). More
NY: HarperCollins, 1972. First Edition. Cover art by Gorey. The basis for two films: the 1976 feature directed by Gary Nelson and starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster, and the 2003 remake directed by Mark Waters and starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan. Mary Rodgers was the daughter of... More
![Child's First Animal - Bird - Rhyme Book [cover title].](/pictures/thumb/27700.jpg?v=1512599742)
Newark / NY: Charles E. Graham & Co., (c. 1900). Quarto. (40)pp. Illustrated with sixteen bright full-page chromolithographed plates, including a magnificent two-page spread showing a yoke of oxen, plus another twenty-two pages of black & white illustrations. The book is divided into three sections: "Animal Pictures," "Our Bird Friends,"... 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
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
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
Boston: Ticknor, Reed, & Fields, 1852. Octavo. vi, (7), 256pp. First edition. First issue, with “lifed” for “lifted” on page 21, line 3. Illustrated with a frontispiece and six plates after designs by Hammat Billings. Hawthorne’s groundbreaking attempt to retell Greek myths in a style suitable for children met with... More
Charlestown, MA: Hobbs, George W., (1850). 64mo. (32)pp. Illustrated with hand-colored vignettes at the top of each page, along with two full-page frontispieces and two interior titles. The stated title has been taken from the upper board, but the text itself is divided into two separate stories: "The Little Reward"... More
Akron, OH: Saalfield Publishing Co., 1973. Five pages of original artwork, individually framed, with the published booklet. These sheets offer a unique look at the pre-publication stage of the making of paper dolls. Published by Saalfield, which operated from 1899 to 1977 and was at one time one of the... More
(c. 1930s). A collection of sixteen vibrant watercolor designs by Vernon Grant for an apparently unpublished children's book called "The Two Elves." Grant was one of the most popular illustrators of the mid-20th century, and his distinctive whimsical style influenced many of his contemporaries, including Walt Disney. Grant is perhaps... More
NY: Tuffy Books, 1990. Octavo-sized Tuffy Tote Book with accompanying design templates and original artwork. Book is (12)pp. These items demonstrate the design process for children's board books, with particular attention in the templates to text layout, branding, and die-cuts that enhance illustrations on either side of a page. The... More
1935-1938. Six original paintings, all signed by the artist. This set of paintings vividly depicts six different puppets, each with caricatured features reminiscent of the traditional style of Punch and Judy: rosy cheeks, mitten-hands, and large eyes and mouths. The six images display a nurse with an infant, a jester... More
