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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Drexel Hill, PA: Bell Publishing, (c. 1945). Oblong octavo. Second edition. Illustrated throughout in color. Includes six die-cut color dolls, which play a key part in the interactive element of this unique movable book. The story centers upon six children from various European countries, all of whom are on their..... More
Flansham: Greenleaf Press, (1915). 16mo. (16)pp. Inscribed, "With best wishes from the folk at Flansham. Xmas 1915," and illustrated with nine tipped-in engravings. The publication and illustrations were done by Stuart, Robin, and John Guthrie, the sons of James Guthrie of the Pear Tree Press. This is the first book..... More
(Flansham): Pear Tree Press, (1920). Octavo. 25pp. This collection of short children's poems is heavily illustrated with wood engravings by Stuart Guthrie, son of Pear Tree Press founder James Guthrie. The six full-page illustrations and fourteen smaller images used as head- and tailpieces are printed in four colors: blue, green..... More
West Hatfield: Pennyroyal Press, 1982. Two folio volumes. 150pp.; xxv, 160pp. Each one of 350 copies signed by Barry Moser. Alice is illustrated with 75 wood engravings by Moser, and Through the Looking-Glass contains 95 engravings by Moser. Some of the engravings are full-page plates, while others are beautifully integrated..... More
Boston: Phillips, Sampson & Co., 1856. Small quarto. 67pp., printed one side only. A collection of verse, accompanied by lively silhouette engravings. This is one of several children's books published as a partnership between Phillips, Sampson & Co. and translator "Cousin Fannie" in the 1850s. In advertising Red Beard's Stories..... More
London: Grant & Griffith, 1852. Oblong quarto. (5)ff. Five hand-colored plates illustrate comical urchins demonstrating the senses, including the rare “Seeing” plate, which shows two boys peering into a box-shaped peep-show at a fair while the proprietor says, “Now then gents, open yr eyes, blow yr precious noses, and don’t..... More
Paris: La Renaissance du Livre, 1922. Oblong quarto. (13)ff., interleaved with twelve pochoir plates. First edition. A poignant fable about the escapades of a magpie—whose body is made of a pinecone—and three little pinecone chicks as they leave the mantel of the fireplace on which they live to venture out..... More
NY: Thomas Nelson, 1928. Oversized proof plate from Willy Pogany's Mother Goose, illustrating the numbers one through five and a child's finger in the mouth of a caught fish. Below the image is the rhyming text, whose simple, clever meter assists a young learner in remembering their numbers. Plate shows..... More
Cambridge, MA: Pomegranate Press, 1972. Broadside. About 300 copies. A striking presentation of this fanciful poem, silkscreened in turquoise, purple and orange by Karyl Klopp. Very fine. (Measures 25 inches wide by 19 inches tall). More
London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1905. First edition. Potter's comforting tale of a young girl who finds both her pocket handkerchief and a friend in the maternal hedgehog, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. Color illustrations throughout offer agrarian quaintness paired with pastoral adventure, a combination common to Potter's stories. Benjamin Bunny and Peter..... More
Boston, MA: L. Prang & Co., 1863, 1864. 32mo. (24)pp. A set of twenty-four color lithograph cards depicting various hummingbirds, which are labeled according to their scientific names. It is an apparently complete set - part of a larger campaign of similar cards issued by Prang showing a range of..... More
Barcelona: Editorial Vallès, S. L., 1959. 119, (9)pp. Fourteenth edition. A rather rare child's breviary, printed in Spanish, with occasional full-page illustrations throughout depicting daily activities proper for a good Catholic child, as well as the various rites and sacraments of the Church. Bound in blue pebbled cloth over boards..... More
London: J. & J. Wood, c. 1845. Octavo. (8)pp. (first and last text pages glued to wrapper). With cover illustration and two frontispiece engravings by W.D. Hornsby. This primer was issued as part of Wood's Juvenile Library, and contains two pages of alphabets and numbers, followed by 26 short lessons..... More
(France: H. Rousseau, c. 1846-8). A set of three hand-colored wooden jigsaw puzzles lithographed by J. Froment and measuring 13 by 10 inches (33x25cm). Each puzzle is illustrated with six portraits of European rulers, in full regalia, with detailed jewels, orders, decorations, and crowns. Among the countries represented are Portugal..... More
(N.p. c. 1900). Boxed set of two puzzles, each featuring nine silhouette images formed from four blocks apiece. Each puzzle has a corresponding guide on paper against blue card. The first puzzle depicts well-known and well-loved scenes from Johann David Wyss' tale, with the silhouettes a marvelous format for presenting..... More
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
NY: Frederick A. Stokes Company, (1893). (98)pp. An impressively printed hieroglyphic Bible, prefaced by a full-page chromolithograph showing two children perusing their own copy of the book. Each page of text bordered by a single red rule, within which the abridged text is dotted with miniature color lithographs illustrating diverse..... 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
