Antique and Vintage Childrens Books
How One Artist Makes New Art From Old Coloring Books and Found Photos
By Ben Marks — When it comes to coloring techniques, some kids always stay within the lines while others grab the nearest crayon, grip it like a dagger, and stab it repeatedly into the rough surface of coloring-book page, slashing their colorful weapon back and forth before reaching for another slender tube of wax—any hue will do—and attacking the same sheet with equal abandon. “Take that, Mr. Binney!” “Take that, Mr. Smith!” "Coloring-book paper is difficult to work with because it's so crumbly." Then...
In Their Own Words: Unpublished Children's Notebooks Reveal Poignant View of History
By Hunter Oatman-Stanford — There’s a reason that "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" remains one of the top nonfiction books of all time, with more than 30 million copies sold: Readers are moved by Frank's intimate chronicle of ordinary youthful pastimes amid the unfolding of a historic genocide, her daily follies and dramas laid stark against a backdrop of violent ethnic cleansing and the inescapable death sentence we know awaits our young heroine. "What interests us are the voices of the children of the...
Dr. Seuss, the Mad Hatter: A Peek Inside His Secret Closet
By Lisa Hix — Dr. Seuss had a unique remedy for writer's block. When the late author, the alter ego of Theodor Seuss Geisel, was penning his beloved Beginner Books for Random House in the 1960s, he'd have his editor in chief, Michael Frith, over to his house, where they'd work until the wee hours. And when they'd get stuck, according to by Judith and Neil Morgan, Geisel would open a secret door to a closet filled with hundreds of hats. Then, he and Frith would each pick a different hat, perhaps a fez, or...
The Last Word on First Editions
By Ben Marks — Strictly speaking, a book’s edition refers to the setting of the text. So the first time you set the text and print a book with it, and then sell a bound book that you’ve just printed, that’s the first edition, first printing. If you use the same setup of text and print it again, that would be the second printing—a printing is therefore a subclass of an edition. The printing is also called the impression, as in first or second impression. In general, the first edition, first printing...
To Catch A Thief: A Rare Book Expert on His Literary Obsessions
By Maribeth Keane and Anne Galloway — I don’t remember a time when I didn’t read books. In grade school, I devoured library books. I also loved comic books, and was wheeling and dealing them as a child—buying them for a nickel, sell them for dime. Bertrand Smith let me into the rare book room, and I bought a Maxwell Parrish "Arabian Nights." I bought an just for the illustrations. At the time I had no idea the artist was a Welsh woman named Gwynedd Hudson. Turns out she only illustrated two books—Alice and Peter Pan. I fell...