Featured Books

Very sweet little children, warmly dressed in muffs and scarves and giant hats, take a winter walk with a compliant puppy. Tiny little cards that came to us in a small, darkening Brentano's envelope post 1905 at least. On the envelope, handwritten in ink, "4 honor cards by Kate Greenaway, about 1890, not recorded in Spielmann". (but  they are in Schuster #293, picture pg 200 and Thompson p 296.) The maroon bonnets are identical to those in the Schuster images. The pictures may be familiar because a coloured plate was included in the Kate Greenaway Birthday Book (Routledge 1880).

Our favorite illustrations from childhood for this marvelous book. Curdie's courage and modesty, the sweet, curious princess, and the great-great-grandmother watching over all are never forgotten.

"My name is Beautiful Joe, and I am a brown dog of medium size. I am called Beautiful Joe, but not because I am a beauty..." One of the great dog stories, a plea for kindness to animals inspired by Black Beauty. An attractive copy of the 1907 revised edition with much perverse cruelty removed. 

A little child's library, much loved and all in absolutely terrible condition. Clearly Bad Boy Bob was Willie's favorite! And no wonder. Note the glasses Willie has added to all the boys in the center spread. Someone, perhaps Willie's sister, has attempted to repair the damage by covering all the book spines, and even a long tear, with strips of patterned material of the day, as well as taking large orange stitches in the tears. A charming glimpse into the world of children and books almost 150 years ago. Institutional discount.

A beautiful copy of stories first told to her grandchildren. These were intended to entertain children 4 to 8 years old, and sought by Louis Hachette to be part of his scheme of a line of books to be sold at railway kiosks for reading on the train. This and our Perrault Contes de Fées #22079, from the estate of children's playwright Maryfrank Gardener, for 110.00, make a lovely set.

Two friends, little girls about 3 and 5, play with their dogs and toys, cook and wash, have a little falling out over a broken doll, and make friends again. Very sweet little pictures. Gift inscription to Louise Volker van V. and Louise Volker van Waverveen's bookplate with portrait of a young woman and dog by N V. v. W, probably Nellie Volker van Waverveen (as seen in Jan Toorop's 1901 painting of young Marie, Lies and Nellie Volker van Wavereen.) Also laid in, a two sided 1867 German finely hand coloured prize certificate.

This copy was definitely a salesman's sample, as it comes from a collection of review copies which I acquired in 1998 from a retired educator's collection. As received, it had a Houghton Mifflin/Riverside Press educational sales representative's business card laid in. Sadly, the card has been lost since 2006 and I have given up hope of finding it, so I've decided to list the book! The rounded spine is not practical for school use: judging from other multiple signature HM copies available with identical boards, the style was probably changed. Based on Seuss' statements and other copies seen with identical boards and multiple signatures, this copy may be the January publication or simply an odd salesman's sample issue. Intense colour and beautiful condition in this copy.  Rare thus.

Seuss was encouraged to create a controlled vocabulary book by William Spaulding, Educational Director of Houghton Mifflin and an old army buddy. However, Seuss was under contract to Random House, so HM agreed to publish the educational edition, allowing Random to publish the trade edition available to the public. The HM edition was set to be published in January or February and the trade edition in March, according a letter written to Random House by Seuss. However, the educational edition of Cat in the Hat was not successful as a primer, being too dissimilar from Dick and Jane. Cat in the Hat was later included in the 20 or so "Read by Yourself" HM series, most published in the 60's. In addition to having the single signature and rounded spine, our copy has the plainer HM design on bottom board.

The crickets and the frogs battle to see who can sing the loudest, a noisy battle that is never won, but now all crickets sing together. A fable with Spanish and English on facing pages, written by the great Chilean educator, children's poet; a founder of UNICEF and a Nobel Prize winner. The translator was a long time friend of Mistral and a recipient of the Order of Merit from the Chilean government. With bold sparking pictures in blue and pale yellow with heavy black lines (woodcuts?).

"When the eye and mind have dwelt too long on treachery, cruelty, and brutality it is good to see in a fine horse those qualities so essential in times of stress - courage, strength, and unconquerable pride." CWA 1942 . Heart-wrenchingly beautiful drawings that show the unique character of each horse. Getting hard to find with a jacket in this condition.

Beautiful clear colours in this funny book by a Swiss artist about three inept tailors trying to get into Heaven. Happily, they succeed. Amazing condition.

A fantasy told to the author by her turtle, in which the little pig Cochonnet is so embarrassed when he's called on to recite that he wants disappear. He does, visits a magical land both kind and frightening, and becomes a good student when he returns. The story inspires some of Ségur's most whimsical illustrations full of beautiful colour and detail. An amusing view of a traditional French school.

On each panel, a merry-go-round animal of character ridden by a happy child; in the background, green fields and blue sky, a few people and circus tents. Each little girl has a unique pretty dress: perhaps Stolberg also designed children's clothes? Little is known about her. Toy production was restricted during World War II to save materials, thus we see many modest paper books intended to be played with.

From 1944 to 1947 Pierre Belvès, also an artist and an educator, created 16 short friezes for Paul Faucher (for Père Castor). This one, Bayard, opens like a book, showing two knights facing, then opens again from the center, revealing a long frieze with three scenes from Bayard's life. On the back are the two knights, the title page, and a page of text telling the story of this medieval knight and giving some hints on watercolour and gouache. These friezes would make a nice small collection. Most are hard to find including this one.

Jan and Brus journey across 10th century Scotland with Gavin, the Black Fox of Lorne, in search of their mother and their father's murderer. Newbery Honor.

A mystery set in the Lake District, with four older children from local day schools as heroes. Because it's Trease, this series is unusually well written, with developed characters and with the historical setting well researched. No Boats on Bannermere is the first of the series. The sequels are: Under Black Banner (1951), Black Banner Players (1952), Black Banner Abroad, (1954), and The Gates of Bannerdale (1956)