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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(Berlin: Oscar Michaelis, 1896). Printed by S. Schottlaender, Breslau. A colorful telescopic view of the Industrial Exhibition’s main hall, comprised of six bright, chromolithographed panels attached on the sides by accordion-folded paper. The front panel shows the outside of the hall, and the viewer looks through a small hole to..... More
Boston: Charles J. Hendee, 1837. Octavo. (iv), 208pp., + 6 maps. First edition. Frontispiece, engraved title page, title-page vignette, and numerous text figures from engravings. Contains sixty brief chapters that cover all essential information about the United States for school children. Roughly half the book is devoted to the physical..... 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
Cooperstown: H. & E. Phinney, 1834. 24mo. 31pp. The first Phinney edition of this familiar tale. With ten woodcuts, very neat indeed, and three more on the yellow wrappers. Previous young owners' names to front wrapper, wear to extremities, and some foxing to interior, else a near fine copy. 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: Berger-Levrault, (1915). Quarto. (14)ff. One of 200 copies printed on Arches. Contains eight full-page pochoir plates and several vignettes depicting the experiences of French children Jacqueline, Guillaume, and their friends. The prints and dedication are signed with the initials S. B., but the author/illustrator is unknown; the dedication page..... More
London: Harrap, (1935). Quarto. 318pp. One of 460 copies, signed by Rackham. Illustrated throughout with twelve color plates and seventeen plates in black & white. These gruesome, sadistic illustrations perfectly suit Poe's dark tales. Hamilton writes, "This masterly interpretation of Poe's stories is a fine example of the professional illustrator..... 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
Paris: Nouvelle Librairie de la Jeunesse, (c. 1900). Quarto panorama of four chromolithographed pop-up scenes. They carry the reader through an exotic hunt, in which cowboys and local turbaned attendants pursue and slay lions and tigers, and eventually overcome an ambush by native tribespeople. The book's three-dimensional structure adds to..... More
London: Bancroft & Co, (c. 1960). Quarto. 7, (1)pp. Tri-fold pictorial boards, with lower cover unfolding into a table-top pop-up image of the many animals boarding Noah's Ark. The scene has a humorous flair; a fox plays chess with a stork and a panther, a male crocodile smokes a pipe..... More
(1968). An uncommon die-cut pop-up card depicting a nativity scene set in ancient Bethlehem, beneath palm trees and a starry night sky. Cattle, goats, sheep, and an elephant surround the manger, as the magi and others bring gifts. Presiding over the scene is an angel carrying a banner proclaiming "Gloria..... More
NY: Looking Glass Library, (1959). 24mo. (16)ff. True first edition. One of 600 copies. Inscribed by Gorey. A quirky vignette of bug social life, printed in four colors. This is Gorey's fifth book, and one of the most rare. Faintest soil, else fine in printed wrappers. (Toledano A5a). 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
Yarmouth Port, MA: Edward Gorey House, 2013. Oblong octavo. (29)ff. loose sheets. One of 100 numbered 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. Gorey's signature embossed on title and colophon cards. Housed..... More
NY: Harcourt Brace, 1999. First edition. One of 750 copies, signed by Gorey. An adventure in verse of a man and his companion, the Bahhumbug. The end of their journey marks the start of the new millenium. With Bahhumbug beanbag toy, well-dressed in suit, tie, and spats, and standing a...... More
NY: Dodd, Mead, 1978, 1979. Three 16mo volumes. All first edition reissues. All signed by Gorey. The set includes The Willowdale Handcar, The Gilded Bat, and The Doubtful Guest. All near fine in pictorial boards showing slight edgewear, and in matching dust wrappers with mild rubbing at edges, a slight..... More
NY: Meredith Press, 1967. First edition. "From Ampoo to Zote", this alphabet offers "an improbable menagerie for Sunday's child." Upper portion of boards foxed, slight splay to upper cover, else very good in very good dust wrapper. (Toledano A26a). 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
London: Darton, (c. 1835). Forty-eight puzzle pieces, cast as an engraved sheet mounted on mahogany, which assemble to depict twenty-four scenes from Roman history. The scenes stretch from the tale of Romulus and Remus to the Battle of Actium, thus covering the bulk of the history of Rome up through..... More
Princeton: Pynson Printers, 1983. Two square 32mo. volumes + pamphlet. (4); (16); (12)pp. One of fifty copies. Signed by the printers, Sarah Christ and Scott Strang. Contains twenty-four hand-colored wood engravings printed from the original antique blocks, which were used to illustrate one of the earliest American editions of the..... More
(Hamburg): Raamin-Presse, 1982. Folio. xxxxi, (7)pp. From an edition of 220 copies, this is one of forty copies signed by the printer and illustrator, Roswitha Quadflieg, with an additional suite of illustrations for the historiated initials printed on a single sheet, also signed by Quadflieg. The Grimm Brothers' tale is..... 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
