[Rarebooks] FS: Reference Books and Books About Books

[Karen Howell]

Offered today:

9 reference books about Children's Books

1    BLANCK, Jacob.  Peter Parley to Penrod: A Bibliographical Description of the Best-Loved American Juvenile Books.  New York: R. R. Bowker, 1938.  FIRST EDITION, LIMITED to 500 copies, printed by the Haddon Craftsmen.  8vo.  8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches.  vi, 153 pp.  Lists the American children's books that have stood the test of time from 1827 through 1926 with full bibliographical descriptions, includes a list of "Border-Line Selections," index; text clean, un-marked.  Brick red cloth, gilt titled spine, includes an added mylar jacket which has a sticker on the spine identifying the first edition.  Heritage.  Near Fine.    $ 85

2    DE VRIES, Leonard.  A Treasury of Illustrated Children's Books: Early Nineteenth-Century classics from the Osborne Collection.  New York: Abbeville Press, (1989).  Large 4to.  13 1/4 x 10 1/4 inches.  285 pp.  Illustrated throughout (most color), bibliography; text clean, un-marked.  Red-stamped gray cloth, decorative end-leaves, dust-jacket in archival mylar; binding square and tight.  Heritage.  Near Fine.
    $ 40
FIRST EDITION.  This book reproduces thirty-two of the most enchanting English children's books, dating from 1805 to 1826, the period of the first flowering of children's books. 

3    HALSEY, Rosalie V.  Forgotten Books of the American Nursery: A History of the Development of the American Story-Book.  Boston: Charles E. Goodspeed, 1911.  8vo.  10 1/4 x 6 3/4 inches.  (x), (245) pp.  Half-title, frontispiece, title-page vignette, 24 plates, index; text clean, un-marked, pages un-opened, foxing to extremities of pages.  Quarter brown cloth, patterned paper over boards, spine titled in gilt; binding square and tight, rubbed, corners showing.  PROVENANCE: Bookplates of Marcus Crahan and Marguerite Knapp.  Heritage.  Very Good.
    $ 75
LIMITED EDITION of 700 copies printed by D. B. Updike at the Merrymount Press, Boston.  Chapters include, "The Play-Book in England;" "Newbery's Books in America;" "Patriotic Printers and the American Newbery;" "The Child and his Book at the End of the Eighteenth Century;" "Toy-Books in the early Nineteenth Century;" and "American Writers and English Critics." 

4    [MacDONALD]  SHABERMAN, Raphael B.  George MacDonald: A Bibliographical Study.  Winchester, Hampshire: St. Paul's Bibliographies; Detroit: Omnigraphics, 1990.  Series: 19th Century Authors, No. 9.  8vo.  9 1/2 x 6 3/8 inches.  xvi, 176 pp.  Chronology of MacDonald's Life, 18 illustrations, index; text clean, un-marked.  Black cloth, silver-stamped spine, dust-jacket in archival mylar; binding square and tight, lower corners bumped.  Heritage.  Very Good.
        $ 50
LIMITED EDITION of 500 copies, SIGNED by the author on the half-title.  This book is a comprehensive account of the writings of George MacDonald (1824-1905), Scottish novelist, poet, critic, translator, writer of fairy tales, and the creator of two powerful fantasies for adults, Phantastes and Lilith.  MacDonald was influenced by the German Romantics such as E. T. A. Hoffman and Novalis; MacDonald in turn influenced English authors who followed him, including C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and David Lindsay.

5    MEYER, Susan E.  A Treasury of the Great Children's Book Illustrators.  New York: Harry N. Abrams, (1983).  FIRST EDITION.  4to.  11 1/4 x 9 inches.  272 pp.  Illustrated throughout in color and black-and-white, the chapters focus on 13 illustrators, including Edward Lear, John Tenniel, Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway, Beatrix Potter, Ernest H. Shepard, Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, and W. W. Denslow, bibliography, index; text clean, un-marked.  Gray cloth with a flower embossed in blind on the front cover, gilt titled spine, dust-jacket; binding square and tight, jacket with minor shelf wear, top edge and end-papers lightly foxed.  Heritage.  Very Good.      $ 25

6    RAY, Sheila G.  The Blyton Phenomenon: The Controversy Surrounding the World's Most Successful Children's Writer.  London: Andre Deutsch, (1983). 2nd impression.  8vo.  viii, 246 pp.  Bibliography, index; text clean, un-marked.  Red cloth, gilt spine, dust-jacket in archival mylar; binding square and tight, foot of spine bumped.  Very Good.
        $ 55
FIRST EDITION, second impression.  From the late 1930s to the early 1970s, Enid Blyton published more than 600 children's books; in 1974 she was the fourth most translated author in the world, with 149 translations of her work in 15 different countries.  This book discusses the critical reception of her work by contemporary adults, the appeal of Blyton's books to children, and how her reputation has been rehabilitated with time.

7    WELCH, d'Alte Aldridge (1907-1970).  A Bibliography of American Children's Books Printed Prior to 1821.  (New Haven, CT): American Antiquarian Society and Barre Publishers, 1972.  Large 8vo.  10 1/4 x 7 1/2 inches.  lxvi, 516 pp.  Half-title, seal of the American Antiquarian Society on the title page, chronological history of American children's books, list of works consulted, bibliography of nearly 1,500 items with collations, index; text clean, un-marked.  Green cloth, spine title in gilt; binding square and tight; minor use wear.  Heritage.  Very Good.    $ 25

8    WHITE, Mus.  From the Mundane to the Magical: Photographically Illustrated Children's Books, 1854-1945 and Beyond.  Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1999.  4to.  11 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches.  xlii, 268, [2] pp.  Black-and-white frontispiece portrait, title page printed in black and blue inks, 57 black-and-white plates, gives full bibliographical descriptions for 1373 children's books illustrated with photographs, bibliography of works consulted, and a series of indexes; text clean, un-marked.  Copper-stamped blue cloth; binding square and tight.  Prospectus included.  Fine.
    $ 125
LIMITED EDITION of 1,000 copies, this copy is out of sequence.  This book is a bibliography of photographically illustrated children's books in the field of American and international juvenile literature from 1854 to 1945.  It details books that were illustrated with original photographs or related-mechanical processes, and describes author and title, as well as provides an index of photographers, illustrators, and reproduction processes linked to specific books.  Printed letterpress by Patrick Reagh Printers, Sebastopol, CA. 

9    WHITE, Mus.  From the Mundane to the Magical: Photographically Illustrated Children's Books, 1854-1945 and Beyond.  Los Angeles: Dawson's Book Shop, 1999.  4to.  11 1/4 x 8 3/4 inches.  xlii, 268, [2] pp.  Black-and-white frontispiece portrait, title page printed in black and blue inks, 57 black-and-white plates, gives full bibliographical descriptions for 1373 children's books illustrated with photographs, bibliography of works consulted, and a series of indexes; text clean, un-marked.  Copper-stamped blue cloth; binding square and tight, light shelf wear.  Heritage.  Very Good.
    $ 85
LIMITED EDITION of 1,000 copies, this copy is out of sequence.  Printed letterpress by Patrick Reagh Printers, Sebastopol, CA.


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John Howell
310 367-9720