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!