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: 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
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: Bancroft & Co., (n.d.). Quarto. 8pp., + a double-page foldout pop-up at the end of the book designed by the acclaimed Czech artist and paper engineer Vojtech Kubasta. An alternate issue, with a differently styled imprint, variant color saturation to upper cover, and cover title absent. In keeping with... More
London: Dean & Son, (n.d.). Small quarto. 8ff., printed one side only. Each page with a pop-up image folded over the text. Each pop-up bears three layers: a background, a middle ground with the characters of the particular scene, and the foreground with baskets, clothing, or other items scattered on... More
(London: Bancroft & Co., 1961). Quarto. 8pp., plus a pop-up at the end of the book designed by the acclaimed Czech artist and paper engineer Vojtech Kubasta. The book opens with the tale "Tony and the Circus Boy," in which a child befriends a new classmate whose parents are circus... More
![Cuki Roketto [Moon Rocket].](/pictures/thumb/28178.jpg?v=1537479204)
Prague: Artia, 1971. Small quarto. (12)pp. Six pop-up illustrations, some with movable elements. The illustrations, with accompanying Japanese text, narrate the journey of two children and their dog to the moon with a rocket of their own invention. Bound in pictorial boards with lower cover repaired. Skillful paper repairs 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
London: Bancroft & Co, 1961. Quarto. 7, (1)pp. Tri-fold pictorial boards with full table-top pop-up image inside lower cover. The pop-up shows a farm scene, with children and adults feeding chickens and pigs, driving horses, and pumping water from a well, all in front of a tall farmhouse. The piece... More
Moscow: Malich, c. 1980. Square quarto. 8ff. Illustrated with eight pop-up illustrations, two of which have movable elements. These illustrations were engineered by Viktor Andrievitch. The text is a Russian folk-tale, translated here into Portuguese by Natalia Voinova. The tale follows a hare whose wood house is taken over by... More
London: Dean & Son, (c. 1892). Quarto. (10)pp. Color illustrations throughout, three of which pop up through the tension of strings that run crosswise through the text block. Flexing the pages at the proper points, as indicated by pictorial thumbs at the margins and a prompt of "Before opening each... More
London, Czechoslovakia: Bancroft & Co., (n.d.). Small quarto. (16)pp. Illustrated with eight landscape-oriented pop-up images, in full color and some with movable elements. Manipulating particular tabs causes the evil queen's image in the mirror to change from her face to Snow White's, the dwarves to appear while Snow White sleeps... More
(Malaysia): Bayard Jeunesse, 2007. Small quarto. (16)pp. A book of pop-up images depicting father and child animals, together with two pop-up maquettes of the father squirrel and the father bear as separate examples of this book's skillful paper-crafting, both signed by the paper engineer, Jean-Charles Rousseau. Each short poem is... More
London / NY: Ernest Nister / E. P. Dutton & Co, (c. 1903). Quarto. (32)pp. Illustrated with five two-page color pop-ups, and black & white vignettes throughout. The pop-ups depict different British military units in the midst of battles. These units include infantrymen, cavalry, and soldiers from the colonies. The... More
![Vánocní Betlém [Bethlehem Christmas].](/pictures/thumb/25468.jpg?v=1537302954)
(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: 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: Harcourt Brace, 1999. First edition. One of twenty-six lettered 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... 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
NY: Anderson, Selden W., 1908. Square octavo. (14)pp. Anderson's Limp Cloth Books No. 12. Illustrated in color and printed on linen cloth. A Christmas rag book featuring Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" printed in red. Santa's nighttime call at a sleepy house is watched over by... 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
NY: Funk and Wagnalls, (1969). Octavo. 42pp. First edition. Signed by both Norman and Molly Rockwell. A story about a bird who composes his own music after hearing a symphony at the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox, Massachusetts. Lavishly illustrated in color and black & white. Fine in gilt-stamped cloth... More
Paris: J.-P. Aillaud, Guillard & Ca. (1867). 12mo. 288pp. Fifth edition. Illustrated with four chromolithographed plates. First published in 1844, Roquette's collection of moral stories for children is drawn largely from Biblical sources, though several are derived from fables, and one short entry is drawn from a Portuguese tall tale... More
NY: Harcourt, Inc., 2002. Small quarto. (71)pp. One of twenty-six lettered copies of a special issue to the first Gorey edition of Belloc's Tales, which were originally published in London in 1907. Gorey's 61 illustrations frame the verses in perfect macabre humor. Belloc's Tales may well have influenced Gorey's own... More
NY: Harcourt, Inc., 2002. Small quarto. (71)pp. One of 100 numbered copies of a special issue to the first Gorey edition of Belloc's Tales, which were originally published in London in 1907. Gorey's 61 illustrations frame the verses in perfect macabre humor. Belloc's Tales may well have influenced Gorey's own... More
