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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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 dust wrapper, dollar price clipped off, while British price remains. (Toledano B41a). More about Donald and the
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 about Child's First Animal - Bird - Rhyme Book [cover title
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 about Little Toot on the Grand Canal
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 about Little Toot on the Mississippi
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 about Bright Picture Pages. Full of Stories
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, as well as a list of suggested colors and tools and instructions for... More about The Little Folks' Painting Book
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 about A complete set of Kate Greenaway's Almanacks for 1883-1895, 1897
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 about The Little Steamroller. A Story of Adventure, Mystery and Detection
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 about Hanselima
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 about Peggy and Teddy
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 about Harlequin and Mother Goose: Or The Golden Egg
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 about A Wonder-book for Girls and Boys
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1967. 51pp. One of 210 copies. With four full-page black and white illustrations. A fine copy in gilt-stamped polished navy blue leather. (2 5/16 by 1 7/8; 59x47mm). More about The Bell and Other Tales
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1963. 64pp. One of 350 copies. The second book of the Press. Contains six little-known tales taken from a miniature edition published in Boston, 1863, and wood-engraved vignettes from the same source. Fine in pictorial boards backed in cloth. (2 5/16 by 1 7/8; 59x48mm). More about Grimm's Fairy Tales
Buffalo: Hillside Press, 1978. 50pp. One of 250 copies. A version of the Arabian nights, illustrated in black & white. Fine in olive green cloth. (2 1/4 by 2; 59x49mm). More about Woman's Wit
Franklin, NH: Hillside Press, 1966. xvii, 42pp. One of 375 copies. Various texts by Shakespeare with twelve silhouettes by Paul Konewka. Fine in burgundy cloth over boards, faintly rubbed. (2 5/16 by 1 15/16; 60x50mm). More about Falstaff and His Companions
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 about The Tiny Picture Book
Boston: Henry Hoyt, (1860). 12mo. 164pp. Each lesson is illustrated with wood engravings, and contain passages from the New Testament followed by questions and an explanatory verse. There was a second edition of this work published in 1876, issued by Hoyt's successor. This edition is known in six institutional holdings... More about The Child's Illustrated Scripture Question Book: Containing Forty-Five Lessons on the Gospels
(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 about Original artwork for "The Two Elves."
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 about The Little Engine That Could. Together with: original artwork
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 about Six puppet designs
Otley, UK: Renwick, (c. 1940). Small octavo. (12)pp. A children's book with twelve illustrations, six of which are in full color, that depict scenes from the circus, including acrobats, clowns, and a variety of animals. With original artwork on separate sheets for all twelve images, including additional color overlays for... More about Circus Time. Together with the original artwork for the book
Dordrecht: A. Blusse & Zoon, (c. 1794). 24mo. 24pp., + 8 plates. The engraved plates depict the marvels of a fair and the street performances therein, including dancing, singing, and a magician, all hand-colored. Particular highlights include a hurdy-gurdy man and a magic lantern show featuring a naval battle. The... More about Kermis-Tafreeltjes, in Geetste Kunstplaatjes, op Boert-en Ernstige Dichttrant Beschreven
(Paris: Berthellemot, c. 1820). A complete set of fifty playing cards, in the original box, comprised of: twenty-four hand-colored engravings of Parisian street vendors; a hand-colored card depicting a judge declaring “Peace, peace,” which stops the game; twenty-four corresponding text cards with the cries of each vendor and a rhyme..... More about Les Cris de Paris: Amusement de Société
Philadelphia: Kimber and Conrad, (c. 1812). 24mo. (24)pp., partially unopened. Illustrated with twenty-two half-page wood engravings, each with a simple sentence underneath related to the image; also included is a full-page engraving on the title page. The woodcuts are all collected from other books. On the back of the title... More about A Picture Book for Little Children
