Paris: Delarue, (c. 1820). 12mo. 90pp. With frontispiece and forty illustrations from engravings. Contains detailed explanations for performing a variety of magic tricks, including passing a ring through a stick, number divination, the “oeuf dansant,” and many others. Only three copies recorded in institutions, two of which are in the..... More about Le Petit Magicien, ou Receuil d'Expériences Tirées de la Magic Blanche et des Amusemens des...

New Britain, CT: Robert E. Massmann, 1980. (5)ff. One of 500 copies. A foldout panorama, with flaps which unfold further to reveal changing pictures. Based on the early moralizing "Metamorphoses" or "Harlequinades," but with new, hand-colored illustrations. This one in particular is adapted from the 1852 edition "Improved and Published"... More about A Metamorphose Showing the Unchanging Nature of Human Nature

NY: McLoughlin Bros. (1900). Quarto. (14)pp. A colorfully illustrated alphabet, "mounted on linen." For each letter, costumed young boys and girls play soldiers, acting out military roles from buglers to nurses to generals. Some of the children represent soldiers from different countries, including a Highlander in a kilt, a French... More about Little Soldier Boys ABC

Springfield, MA: McLoughlin Bros. 1940-1941. Four quarto volumes. (60)pp. each. Illustrated throughout in color and black & white. This set of four volumes come from the McLoughlin Bros. series "The Little Color Classics," with the titles "Raggedy Ann Helps Grandpa Hoppergrass" (#843), "Raggedy Ann and the Hoppy Toad" (#844), "Raggedy... More about Set of four Raggedy Ann books in original box

Conway, MA: Robert L. Merriam, 1975. 24pp. One of 1000 copies. Every other page illustrated with quaint scenes from the moral tale. Bound in pale paper wrappers and housed in yellow paper slipcase. Fine. (2 7/16 by 1 11/16; 62x44mm). More about Pleasant Beth; Or, a Good Girl Receives an Award

London: Methuen, (1927). First edition. Number two of 200 copies, printed on handmade paper and signed by Milne and Shepard. This famous collection of children’s verses, featuring Milne’s son Christopher Robin and his bear, is illustrated throughout with Ernest H. Shepard’s whimsical drawings. Bound in quarter cloth with orange paper..... More about Now We Are Six

London: Methuen, (1927). First edition. This famous collection of children’s verses, featuring Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, and his bear, is illustrated throughout with Ernest H. Shepard’s whimsical drawings. Signed at a later date on the title page by Shepard. Handsomely bound by Bayntun-Rivière in deep red morocco, with gilt ruled..... More about Now We Are Six

NY: Hurst & Company, (c. 1880). 192pp. Twenty-five engravings—one frontispiece and each of the remaining twenty-four introducing a chapter—depicting significant scenes from the Bible. Among them appear Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, Pharaoh being swallowed up in the Red Sea, and Peter's denial of Christ. The volume..... More about The Child's Bible

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

Paris: Michel Bertrand, (1946). Quarto. (10)ff. A collection of wise, wry poems for children, brightly illustrated in bold red, blue, green, and yellow by Boucard Moinet. The illustrations depict scenes of children at play: spinning around on a carousel, sailing boats on a pond in the park, and waving at... More about Vous les Gosses

London: C. Arthur Pearson Limited, (c. 1900). Small quarto. (12)pp. Six full-page color illustrations, each of which is folded at the top, and, when unfolded, the scene changes to reveal a surprise. For example, a boy reaching for a nest is suddenly attacked by birds, hunters in a tree are... More about A Book of Surprises

London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, (1912). Quarto. (13)pp. Six full-page color plates, each of which depicts anthropomorphized animals, accompanied by lyricized fables printed on the opposing page. The fables included are "The Fox and the Stork," "The Wolf and the Lamb," "The City Rat and the Country Rat," "The... More about Fables of La Fontaine

(N.p. c. 1835). 24mo. (56)pp. 98 hand-colored chalk lithographs. This book is part of a genre of minor magic tricks, known as flip books or blow books, in which the magician fans the pages using small notches at the foreedge. By flipping through one tab, the magician suggests that the... More about Magical Blow Book