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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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
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
NY: William Edwin Rudge, 1930. Octavo. (65)pp. One of fifty copies, containing an ALS from Ruskin tipped-in to a front flyleaf, and signed by the artist below the caption to the frontispiece. In addition to the frontispiece are five additional engravings by Horvath, all full-page and all evincing a keen..... More
NY: Greenberg Inc., (1926). Octavo. (28)ff. First edition. Each letter of the alphabet, and its accompanying emblematic imagery, is playfully illustrated in blue, magenta, yellow, and black. Most of the letters, in both image and verse, refer to a children's literary tale or rhyme; for example, G is for Gulliver's..... 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, (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
Dordrecht: A. Blusse & Zoon, (c. 1794). 24mo. 24pp., + 8 plates. The engraved plates depict the marvels of a fair and the street performances therein, including dancing, singing, and a magician, all hand-colored. Particular highlights include a hurdy-gurdy man and a magic lantern show featuring a naval battle. The..... More
Isleworth: Smallberry Green Secondary Modern School, 1958. Oblong quarto. 10ff. 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..... More
NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1945. Original gouache illustration of Thumbelina from Arthur Szyk's illustrated edition of Andersen's Fairy Tales, signed and dated by the artist. In the illustration, Thumbelina, nestled in her walnut shell, shrinks away from a fat toad. In the story, the toad's mother had kidnapped Thumbelina as..... 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
(London): Theatre Royal, 1829. Broadside playbill for Wednesday, Jan. 21, 1829 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, advertising "a musical piece called The Sublime & Beautiful," followed by "The Farce of the Invincibles," and a "New Comic Pantomime" called "Harlequin and Little Red Riding Hood; or the Wizard and the..... More
Yorkshire: Taylors Printers, (c. 1930). Six vibrant posters advertising pantomime shows with familiar titles: Goldilocks, Red Riding Hood, Aladdin, Babes in the Wood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Mother Goose. For all except Babes in the Wood and Mother Goose, the story's protagonist, regardless of gender, has been replaced by..... More
Santa Cruz: Peter & Donna Thomas, 1991. (11)pp. One of 150 copies. Young Suzanne Thomas' own drawings, printed in color, accompany her original tale of an angel on a walk. Bound in full blue cloth with three small stones inset to upper cover. Fine. (2 15/16 by 2 3/16; 75x54mm)..... More
