Featured Books

A wordless book for the very young. Inside pages have the little figures engaged with a road grader, a train, a bulldozer, a tug boat, a fire engine, and a milk truck (the girl's picture). Bright, bright primary colours.

Bright little figures and big coloured letters, with almost all the Disney figures, arranged two letters per figure (G galloping H horse = Goofy galloping on a horse.)

A first primer, with three examples of each initial letter sound in the small pictures "Quaker, Quail, Quiver" and CVC words and sentences to practice on, ending with a simple story. The front cover gives an interesting message about the value of learning to read!

Dogs in action: On the cover, the title encircled by a leash and a white and tan Borzoi, Russian Wolfhound, curled around a terrier type dogs with large upright ears, on the back two black and tan puppies with huge feet, pages comprise: 3 bulldogss "Types of English beauty", a Landseer Newfoundland who has just rescued a doll from the ocean, two setters (English?) guarding a dead pheasant, a fox terrier saying "Good Morning" to a horse, 3 intense terriers staring down a hole, two Great Danes "Warranted 'Quiet to Drive'", a spread with hitched "Esquimaux dogs used for Arctic Sledging", The Poodle's Toilet, Greyhounds Racing, four hound puppies up to mischief, and on the last page miserable puppies with bows in a wicker basket "Home From the Wash." Berkeley, an accomplished artist who died as this book was being published, created the famous company logo.

Hardy children playing outside in all weather: Jan- coasting down the hill, Feb- skating on the ice, Mar- making a snowman (!), Apr- making a garden, May- gathering wildflowers, June- flying kites, July playing in the park, Aug- giving a picnic, SeptOct- gathering leaves, NovDec- on the schoolhouse playground, in the snow. A much snowier and colder world. These are full colour illustrations from gutter to edge.

Wool felt books are sturdy, quiet, light, and warm. Like Japanese crepe paper books, they take colour better than woven cloth. They were briefly popular before WWI, but probably the difficulty of keeping them clean was daunting and they tended to darken easily when exposed to light. They are now rare. Kohler, Co under Anderson & Stoner, had produced fourteen titles in four series in 1908, and Saalfield others. Now, as far as we can tell, there are only about five books in all on Worldcat, in the Library of Ccongress etc., as well as a similar number online.

On each page, a short poem and a large full coloured picture "Polly wants a cracker? Polly does of course,/Run and fetch it quick/Or she'll scream until she's hoarse." The publisher's trim on this book appears to be 3/16" too close on the top side, affecting the letters R and Y and also the red margin on the back, but not the interior pages. The felt gives a soft depth of colour and takes fine line very well. These rather rare, turn of the century felt books appear to have been produced in both muslin and felt.

Bright illustrations with some registers not accurate, perhaps intentional. Although this states "Peggy" the artwork is unrelated to Steiner's cloth Mother Goose, six of the same rhymes though.

Very appealing primary colour illustrations on white by Steiner, who did many of the early Peggy Cloth-Books. (Do not confuse this with the Platt and Munk 60's Peggy Cloth Book Baby's Mother Goose) This has charming pictures for eight rhymes carefully printed in bright inks with exact register. 7.5x8.5.

A little boy in short blue overalls introduces us to his friends on the farm. Charming period illustrations.

Unique cloth book by a watercolourist and musician containing with each spread the lyrics, simple score, and a large illustration of a traditional rhyme, all in flat lime green, magenta, and Kelly green. Jingle Bells on front and back, O Where o Where Has My Little Dog Gone, Hot Cross Buns, Nut Tree, Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Lavender's Blue, Johnny Is Too Little, and Fast Asleep (Fais Dodo, translation),

A beautiful printing job, with clear details in flat stencil-like illustrations, somewhat like Slobodkina's. Even the signatures on the staffs are exact, the woman's glasses, the telephone cord. The scenes, clothing and details are contemporary (1940), following the Scott/Bank Street philosophy, and the people seem to convey a lot of character and movement in this unlikely medium. . Scarce outside of library special collections.

"The safe, soft, cloth book that comes with a doll on a ribbon which tucks into 8 pockets." "Safe, Non-Toxic, Colorfast, Washable (I'd take washable with a grain of salt. It will wrinkle and fray but stay bright.) Bright illustrations, not too cartoony. Beautiful gift condition and in original plastic packet, thus very clean. Materials and construction are probably reliable considering the publisher.

The children in the black and white pictures with plain graphics ride bicycles and wear short, plain dresses; the coloured pictures look more like romantic Victorian productions, perhaps from Valentine stock, with lutes and sheep with ribbons and bells. A lovely full colour portrait on the front cover of a boy in knickers peering through a knothole attended by his patient dog. A funny child dressed as a man reading a newspaper on the back. All in all a nice collection of stock illustrations.

Mathematically very nice as it goes from 1 to 12. Also the pictures are gorgeous, with large natural looking farm animals with lots of character appearing in a woodland setting with black "sky" broken by large trees. This book appears as "New" in the McLoughlin 1927 list, and it was expensive in its time. Unfortunately, the good quality linen used in its construction, although it takes detailed lines and colour beautifully, tends to crease, making white lines. Louise Dorothea Tessin (Roats), (1894 - 1962) a California artist, illustrated children's books, activity books, and art education books for McLoughlin and Milton Bradley