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: Heinemann, 1912. Quarto. xxx, 224pp. FIrst trade edition. Contains thirteen color plates tipped-in on brown paper, and 53 illustrations in black & white. Translated by V.S. Vernon Jones, with an Introduction by G.K. Chesterton. Save for the smaller trim size, the trade edition is identical to the signed, limited..... More
London: Harrap, (1934). Octavo. 45pp. One of 410 copies signed by Rackham. With four color plates, numerous black & white illustrations, and pictorial endpapers. A pleasantly bright copy, fine in gilt-titled vellum wrappers. T.e.g. In slightly worn original slipcase with printed label. (Latimore & Haskell, p. 71). More
London/NY: William Heineman/Doubleday Page, (1907). Quarto. xi, 162pp., + 12ff. plates. One of 1,100 copies. Because Rackham was away from London while this book was in production, most copies of the deluxe edition went unsigned; however, this copy has been signed by Rackham on the limitation page. Contains thirteen large..... More
London & Philadelphia: Heinemann/Lippincott, (1920). Quarto. 110pp. One of 625 copies, signed by the artist. This copy bears an original pen-and-ink drawing by Rackham below the limitation statement, also signed. The drawing depicts the king and queen with their infant daughter. Illustrated with one tipped-in color plate and numerous silhouettes..... More
(Vienna: c. 1810). Single folio sheet, on which is printed twenty rebus cards, to be cut out. Each card has a very fine hand-colored stipple engraving. A few examples are: a man bowing before a statue of Cupid, a sunset, three children sledding, and Napoleon sitting on an upper-case “B.”..... More
Boston: 1888. (5)ff. Hand-written rebus with cut-out illustrations pasted on the letterhead of "Howard Gannett, Publisher and Bookseller." Provides humorous prescriptions for obtaining and retaining good health, which include "Sleep without boots near an open (window)" and "Rise before you wake up-- early before the (stars) have gone." The result..... More
(Derby: Richardson, n.d. (c. 1835). 48mo. (12) pp. (wrappers included in pagination). Title-page vignette and six small woodcut illustrations. Rare provincially-published abridgement of the Dick Whittington tale, known only in one institutional copy. Front wrappers toned, otherwise near fine. More
NY: Windmill Books, 1970. Quarto. (23)ff. Comforting tales of middle America, illustrated by one of the nation's most beloved artists. Near fine in full green cloth and dust wrapper. More
Banbury: J. G. Rusher, (1814). 64mo. 16pp. Illustrated with engravings throughout, which follow Whittington's rise from poverty to mayoralty, with the help, and occasional troublemaking, of his cat. Bound in paper wrappers, somewhat toned and with a tear along the tail of the spine. Near Fine. More
Banbury: J. G. Rusher, (c. 1820). 32mo. (16)pp. Each page begins with an engraving, followed by a poem, that adds to the cast of characters in Jack's house. Then follows some moral lyrics, likewise accompanied by exemplary images. Bound in blue wrappers with ragged bottom edge, pages unopened, else a...... More
Banbury: J. G. Rusher, (c. 1830). 32mo. 16pp. Replete with etchings showing farmyard animals and children at play and at work. Each etching accompanies rhyming verses bemoaning lacksadasical or arrogant children, praising those who are and humble and hardworking, and humorously describing the quirks of various animal companions. Uncut. Bound..... More
Niagara Falls: Carol Schwartzott, 1994. (14) pp. One of 20 copies, signed by Carol Schwartzott, the designer and binder. A hexagonal book with six bright hand-colored illustrations, bound in hexagonal boards with a hand-colored decoration reminiscent of Islamic tiles. Housed in a hexagonal wooden box, painted in black, gold, red..... More
NY: Random House, 1962. First edition. A very small bug by the name of Van Vleck is yawning, and soon the whole world catches it. Every page is full of Dr. Seuss's (Theodore Geisel's) wacky color illustrations. Scant wear to edges of pictorial boards, else near fine in near fine..... More
NY: Random House, (1939). First edition. Inscribed by Seuss "For Lulu Godiva, II / with lots of thanks for / nice things done." Illustrated throughout in red and black, with one three-color page. In this version of an old tale, the seven Godiva sisters (Arabella, Dorcas, Mitzi et al.), "who..... More
(Hamburg: Gustav Seitz, c. 1859. 12mo. (16)pp. With chromolithograped illustrations throughout. A charming and rare shaped book which draws upon the Germanic and Norse traditions of a solstice figure, here embodied by King Winter, whose reign over the world is aided by his queen, and by Jack Frost. The verse..... More
NY: The Press Pub. Co., 1902. Octavo. (16)pp. Die-cut shaped book, produced as a giveaway item in association with The World for Sunday, December fourteenth. Illustrated throughout, with line-drawn images and text in green ink on eight pages, and full-color pictures on the other eight, including the pictorial covers. These..... More
Milan: Editrice Vecchi, (c. 1950). Octavo. (12)pp. Color illustrations throughout depict the story of Little Black Sambo, Helen Bannerman's popular folk tale. The narrative is told in Italian verse at the bottom of each page. The illustrations depart slightly from Bannerman's original depictions of the characters, though some still employ..... More
Milan: Editrice Vecchi, (c. 1950). Octavo. (12)pp. Color illustrations throughout depict the story of Pinnochio. The narrative is told in Italian verse at the bottom of each page. A shape-book, bound in pictorial and lively wrappers cut in the silhouette of Pinocchio, who carries a three-dimensional toy book. This gimmick..... More
(Vejprty, Czechoslovakia: Brauer a Gutberlet, c. 1928). Quarto. 9ff. Color and sepia illustrations on each page by Karla Rohra. A poem, in Czech, about a teddy bear bored with his life in the nursery, who goes off into the world and discovers that his old life was not so bad..... More
(New Britain, CT: Massmann, Robert E., n.d.). (34)pp. From an edition of 300 copies, this is one of an unstated few produced as a scroll. On each panel, Sukie, a miniature French poodle, poses alongside a hand-colored letter. Scroll finished with a red dowel and red ribbon, and held in..... More
Orinda, CA: Shoestring Press, 1998. 50pp. One of 50 copies, signed by Anna M. Morrison at the colophon. An illustrated anthology of nursery rhymes, designed and printed in red and black by Philip Morrison. Bound in patterned papers backed with blue cloth. Upper cover features an image of a shepherdess..... More
Isleworth: Smallberry Green Secondary Modern School, 1958. Illustrated with linocuts, both colored and plain. According to the Foreword, this book was produced by "4th year A, B and C boys" as a thematic companion to two other illustrated works also having to do with animals. Each animal treated here is..... More
Amherst, MA: Swamp Press, 1982. (14)pp., that fold out to a panorama. One of 100 copies, signed by the printer, Ed Rayher. Eighteen-panel panorama with illustrations by Jon Vlakos aptly complement this modern haiku. Very fine in brown paper wrappers. (3 by 2 13/16; 75x69mm). More
(Austin, TX): Tarantula Press, 1985. (6)pp. bound accordion fold. An absurd tale of a young boy's mishandling of a stray dog. Fine in paper wrappers. More
Melbourne: Sign of the Rabbit, 1905. Small quarto. (32)pp. Extremely rare first edition. Illustrated with sixteen woodcut illustrations in the Japanese style, six of which are double-page spreads. All but four minor illustrations are hand-initialed in ink by the contributing artist. Set opposite the illustrations, the letterpress-printed verse is a...... More
