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: 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
Ashland, OR: Jubilation Press, (2010). Square octavo. (15)ff., accordion-fold. One of 100 copies. This brightly-colored abecedarium is a celebration of boys' creative, youthful spirits. Each letter is illustrated and surrounded by phrases and words beginning with that letter. For example, the letter "I" shows a child ice skating with his..... More
Paris: Didot, Typographie de Firmin, (c. 1810). 124pp. Eight engravings on beige paper. The absurd adventures of Pierrot, born from a turkey's egg to La Fee Gourmande, and dedicated to gourmandise from that moment on, until his gluttony proves too much and dooms him. In a later binding of brown..... More
Paris: Didot, Typographie de Firmin, (c. 1810). 124pp. Eight engravings on beige paper. The absurd adventures of Pierrot, born from a turkey's egg to La Fee Gourmande, and dedicated to gourmandise from that moment on, until his gluttony proves too much and dooms him. In a contemporary binding: full blue-green..... More
NY: Shackman, 1967. An uncut rectangle of cloth printed with three replicas of large, antique doll patterns, measuring 18 by 24 inches. The dolls are elaborately costumed in fancy nineteenth-century dresses with puffed sleeves and full skirts: one wears a dress with a tiered skirt trimmed with lace, a lace..... More
London: Pollock's Rag Toys, 1967. Two hand-printed pieces of cloth with uncut patterns for very large rag dolls, measuring 22 by 25 inches. The costume styles date from the early nineteenth century. The first pattern, Little Lizzie, is a young girl dressed in a Regency-style empire dress in a blue..... More
London: J. Drewry, (c. 1790). 12mo. 24pp. Decorated with the cover illustration, title-page vignette, and six text figures from woodcuts. An early appearance of this popular rhyme, which first appeared in 1765. The Osborne catalogue notes that John Drewry "is considered to be Derbyshire's most notable typographer and its first..... More
Van Nuys: Hoffman, Richard J., 1988. 82pp. One of 250 copies signed by the printer. Text first published in 1921. The type ornaments chosen by Hoffman are arranged chronologically by designer (Garamond, Granjon, Rogers) and printed in color. The introduction refers to the printer's late friend, who insisted that the..... More
(NY: New Directions, 1969). Oblong quarto. 33pp. One of 100 copies printed at the Thistle Press and signed by the illustrator, Fritz Eichenberg. Illustrated with five full-page wood engravings in black & white. With an extra suite of the plates, each one signed by the artist. Suite is housed in..... More
(Essen): Hans Gerd Goldschmidt, 1979. 124pp. One of 500 copies. A selection of fables, rendered in German and illustrated with eight woodcuts. Bound in gilt-stamped brown leather with a printed dust wrapper and paper slipcase. Very fine. (2 1/4 by 1 5/8; 57x41mm). More
Leipzig: Pavla Riube, (c. 1880). Small quarto. 8pp., + six plates laid in throughout. The chromolithographed images illustrate the major events of the story commonly known to English-speaking audiences as "Sleeping Beauty," from the princess's birth, to the pricking of her finger on the spindle, and, finally, to her reawakening..... More
Philadelphia, Balitmore, New York, Boston: Fisher and Brother, (c. 1850). 32mo. 9pp. Eight hand-colored etchings, as well as a hand-colored front cover. Each page bears four lines on the joys of coming home from school, from games to meals to family. Bound in paper wrappers, with some insignificant wear along..... More
Mysore [Mysuru, India]: (c. 1950). Two sheets, each with six wooden figures affixed. The figures show various craftspeople at their work; the papermaker moulds pulp into sheets, the fruit seller presides over a basket of goods, the mat weaver plies strips into their final product. The craftspeople are dressed in..... More
Print Club of Cleveland, 1950. Woodcut measuring 21 by 14 1/2 inches. One of 250 copies, signed and dated by Antonio Frasconi, an artist born in Uruguay and known for his distinctive woodcuts and numerous illustrated books for children. In this depiction of Aesop’s fable, a hungry, curvaceous crocodile tempts..... More
(N.p. c. 1900). Square 16mo. (44)pp. A collection of paper weaving and embroidery samples, which evince a careful study of Froebel's gifts. While the paper weaving section adopts a repetitive color palette (green, yellow, lavender) for what appear to be a relatively rote set of patterns, the larger embroidery section..... More
Salem, MA. Parker Brothers Inc., (1933). Board game, which has a playing board with colorful spaces, a bifold instruction booklet, a yellow cloth bag containing tokens in colors matching those of the board spaces, and four player pieces representing Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, and Christopher Robin. The game abides by simple..... 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: c. 1850). Twelve hand-colored lithographs decorate the twelve question cards included in this game, which quizzes children on the scope and purpose of subjects, such as grammar, geography, architecture, and astronomy. Each question card is followed by a response card, which gives the appropriate answer. History, for example, is..... 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
(Middle Falls, NY: Toy Works), 1980. This bean bag bat with wings outstretched measures approximately fifteen inches from wingtip to wingtip. The fabric is printed with a black & white crosshatched pattern that is shaded on the wings and body to give the figure more dimensionality, evoking Gorey’s characteristic drawing..... More
(Middle Falls, NY: The Toy Works), 1978. A cotton beanbag of a beatifically smiling cat, the color of café au lait, dressed in a jaunty blue and grey striped jersey. This is one of five bean bag animals in a collection designed by Edward Gorey and produced by Toy Works..... More
Yarmouth Port, MA: Edward Gorey House, 2013. Oblong octavo. (30)ff. loose sheets. One of twenty-six lettered copies. An "appalling alphabet" of the dooms of twenty-six children, ranging from Amy, who falls down the stairs, to Zillah, who drinks to much gin. As in all lettered copies, after the alphabet comes..... More
(1994-1999). A charming, useful array of Gorey-related gifts: a rubber stamp set, a pack of gift tags, sticker sheets, and a large sheet of wrapping paper with panels from Gorey tales depicted against a red background. All as new, except the wrapping paper, which is a piece from a larger..... More
(N.p.): Scholastic Magazines, Inc., 1973. Gorey's brightly-colored characters in medieval dress, one inch to two-and-a-half inches tall, are ready to punch out of nine-inch cardboard squares. Tabs allow use as finger-puppets or free-standing figures. The set has sixteen identical groups of seven figures each, on eight cardboard panels. With printed..... More
(Middle Falls, NY: The Toy Works), 1979. A cotton beanbag of a smiling pink pig, measuring seven inches from toe to eartip, and wearing a brown tweed jacket. In back, the turned-up vent shows that the jacket is lined to match his tasteful goldenrod bow-tie. This is one of five..... More
