Take My Life - 1967

I acquired this book over the Christmas holiday while my grandmother was cleaning out her basement. I haven't read the book yet, but I picked it up because I really liked the cover illustration.  I loved how the bold white silhouette contrasted against the busy and colorful background of London, complete with a watercolor texture sky.  

Take My Life was written by Winston Graham and published by Doubleday & Company, Inc in New York in 1967.  This particular copy is marked on the flap as being a Book Club Edition.  The illustration on the cover is credited to Lynn Sweat.  Does that name sound familiar to you at all?  It might - Lynn Sweat is known for the illustration work he has done for the popular Amelia Bedelia series of children's books.

The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane - 1952

The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane is an adorable little hardcover children's book, written by Ian Munn and illustrated by Elizabeth Webb.  This book was published in 1952 by Rand McNally & Company in Chicago.  

The book is about the little chipmunk mailman of Bayberry Lane who delivers mail to all of the animals.  He notices that Mrs. Pig always waits by her mailbox, but never receives any mail, which he thinks is very sad and lonely.  He goes home and writes letters to all of the other animals to arrange a surprise party for Mrs. Pig so that she can make new friends, after which she starts happily sending and receiving mail every day.

Black Beauty - 1910s or 1920s

This beautiful hardcover edition of Anna Sewell's classic book Black Beauty was published by M.A. Donohue & Co. in Chicago.  The clothbound hardcover has the design stamped into it, with the top of the pages having a gold edging that matches the title lettering on the cover and spine.

The book is not dated, but after some hefty internet searching I was able to track down the same book being sold through the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America.  Oddly enough, in my edition, on both the spine and the inside title page, author Anna Sewell's name is incorrectly spelled as Anna Sewall.

I did find a 1920 edition that was published by the same company that, for the most part, had the same black and white illustrations but a different style title page.  The author's name was spelled correctly on that 1920 edition, which leads me to think that my undated edition is an earlier one, and that the author's name was corrected in later printings.

I'm not posting any of the illustrations from the inside because I couldn't get a clean scan without forcing the spine of the book (which I always try to avoid doing), but the black and white illustrations are mostly the same ones that are seen in many other printings of the book from this era.

Our First Ladies - 1957

This is the third and final book I will be featuring today for the Fourth of July.  This book is a 1957 edition of Jane and Burt McConnell's Our First Ladies: Martha Washington to Mamie Eisenhower, published by Thomas Y. Crowell Company in New York. 

In Calico and Crinoline - 1966

In honor of the Fourth of July, I thought I would share a few American history themed books that I got from a library discard pile last year.  This book is a 1966 edition of Eleanor Sickle's In Calico and Crinoline: True Stories of American Women 1608-1865, published by The Viking Press in New York.  

Profiles In Courage - 1961

In honor of the Fourth of July, I thought I would share a few American history themed books that I got from a library discard pile last year.  This book is a 1961 Abridged Young Readers Edition of John F. Kennedy's Profiles In Courage, published by Harper & Brothers in New York.  It does have a few faded pen scribbles on the front, but that's inevitable with 50 year old school books.

Circus ABC - 1955

Circus ABC is written by Kathryn Jackson, illustrated by J. P. Miller, and published by Golden Press of New York in 1955. This soft-cover book is another great example of mid-century children's book illustration styles, relying more heavily on constructing pictures out of shapes than lines. 

Andersen's Fairy Tales - 1920's

Andersen's Fairy Tales, or Andersen's and Other Fairy Tales as it says on the title page, is a fully illustrated children's book published by Whitman Publishing Co. in Racine, Wisconsin.  The illustrations don't have a printed credit on the title page, but the artist's name Elsie M. Kroll is visible in a few of the full page illustrations. There is no publication date on the inside, but some internet research is leading me to guess that it is from the 1920's.  

One thing that I thought was unusual about this book was that the pages have been printed on an almost brown toned paper.  The color clearly can't be attributed just to age, it must have been a design choice by the publisher.  I actually brightened the scans of the pages a bit so that the illustrations could show up better.  

Side note - I love the third image posted below that shows all of the little forest animals drawing, especially the little squirrel that is sitting on the window ledge while sketching.

I think it's almost time for me to re-organize my books so that the fairy tales collection gets its own shelf. 

Billy and His Steam Roller - 1951

Billy and His Steam Roller, written Inez Bertail and illustrated by Bernice Myers, was published by Wonder Books in New York in 1951. This book is a great example of mid-century children's book illustration styles, with bright colors and big solid shapes, as opposed to a lot of drawn lines.

H.G. Wells compilation - 1963

I found this compilation of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, also Selected Short Stories in a thrift store.  It was published in 1963 by Platt & Munk, Publishers in New York.  

I picked it up mainly because I liked the 1960s sci-fi art on the paper cover.  While I was scanning it, I found out that the clothbound cover underneath the paper cover also has a nice minimalist look to it.  All in all, not bad for fifty cents!

Orange and Green - 1880s or 1890s

Orange and Green - For the Temple: A Tall of the Fall of Jersualem by G.A. Henty is a clothbound hardcover historical adventure story.  It was published by The Federal Book Company Publishers in New York.  There is no publication date printed on the inside, but a little searching showed that the book was first published in 1888.  Judging from the style of this book, I would guess that it is likely from that time period.  As always, if anyone has any further info that would help pin down the publication date, please share!

Goody Two Shoes - 1900s

This hardcover edition of Goody Two Shoes, published by A.L. Burt Company in New York, does not have a publication date printed on the inside, but near as I can figure after doing some research is that it is from the early 1900's.  Nearly every page on the inside has a black and white illustration, some more elaborate than others.  No specific artist is credited at the front of the book, but various artist signatures can be found scattered throughout the illustrations in the book.  

Style wise, the book is quite similar to two others in my collection, Tanglewood Tales and The House That Jack Built. 

If any readers know anything more specific about the publication date, I'd love to know!

Jim and Judy - 1947

Jim and Judy, by Arthur I. Gates, Miriam Blanton Huber, and Celeste Comegys Peardon, is a typical early reader book from the Work-Play Books of that era. This particular edition is from 1947, but this is a book that had several reprints from when it first came out in 1939 from The Macmillan Company.  There were several artists that contributed to this book, with the design and illustrations being credited to Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge, Charles B. Falls, David Hendrickson, Lucile Patterson Marsh, Herbert Stoops, Katherine Sturges, and Adolph Treidler.

When I bought this book, I picked it up primarily because I liked the silhouetted cover design, which you can see below in the pictures of the front and back. The end papers lining the cover also have a fun one color illustration of a farm play set.  However, the illustrations in the inside are a classic example of the family oriented books of the 1940s.  I've included a few of the nicer examples from the book below.  You can tell how the style changed slightly depending on who had been hired to illustrate that particular story.

Ray Bradbury's S Is For Space - 1966

This book was another rescue from the same library discard pile as the one featured in the previous post.  This 1966 hardcover edition of Ray Bradbury's S is for Space, published by Doubleday, has the picture printed directly on to the canvas cover instead of having a paper slip cover.  There is no artist credited for the cover illustration, but it looks very similar to the style seen in the R is for Rocket cover shown in the last post.  I especially like the swirl of the galaxy behind the spaceman, and the colorful patterns on the suit that the person is wearing.

I flipped the book open while scanning the cover, and the first few lines of Bradbury's introduction made me smile.  

"Jules Verne was my father.

H.G. Wells was my wise uncle.

Edgar Allen Poe was the batwinged cousin we kept high in the back attic room.

Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers were my brothers and friends.

There you have my ancestry.

Adding, of course, the fact that in all probability Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, author of Frankenstein was my mother.

With a family like that, how else could I have turned out than as I did: a writer of fantasy and most curious tales of science fiction." 

Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket - 1962

 A few months back, I had rescued this hardcover version of Ray Bradbury's R is for Rocket from a library discard pile. I've had a paperback copy for years, but I loved the artwork on this 1962 hardcover (published by Doubleday, no artist credit). I brought the book home, and this past weekend I finally got a chance to frame the cover and hang it on my wall - without any cutting of the paper cover. I took off the library dust jacket that was covering it and pressed the slightly battered paper cover in a frame.

 Not only did I frame it because I liked the artwork, but Ray Bradbury was one of the first authors that I really and thoroughly enjoyed when I was in high school. I remember being given a short story of his here and there through school textbook anthologies, and then my junior year I came across Fahrenheit 451 and I was hooked. Over the next few years, I read everything by Bradbury that I could get my hands on. Any time I found a book of his at one of the many used book sales I would frequent, I was like a pirate discovering buried treasure.

 Today, during my lunch break at work, my phone lit up with a CNN alert to tell me that Ray Bradbury had passed away. I couldn't believe it, as just this past weekend I was talking to my fiancé about how much I love Bradbury's books while I framed the R is for Rocket cover. So as a humble fan, I would just like to say thank you for the all of the stories, Mr. Bradbury. You will be missed, but your words will live on.