(9) Assorted American and European Children's Books From the Pre-1940s.
Size: (largest) 9 1/2 X 7 1/4 X 1 1/2 in.
This lot consists of nine children’s books, all published before the 1940’s. There are two titles by Johanna Spyri: Heidi published in 1919 by Lippincott, and Children of the Alps published by Lippincott in 1925. Also a Shirley Temple book titled Petite Princesse with its original dust jacket; The Story of Abraham Lincoln from the Children’s Heroes Series, Baby Mishook, Or, The Adventures Of A Siberian Cub; Two Years Before The Mast by Richard H. Dana; Wings of Flame: Everyday Fables by Joseph Burke Egan; A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett; and A Defective Santa Claus by James Whitcomb Riley.
Heidi was one of Swiss writer Johanna Spyri’s most famous books. It was originally published in German in two volumes in 1880 and 1881 and is a classic story about a young girl who lives in the Swiss Alps. The book is half bound, with gilt lettering and a gilt decoration on the spine, gilt lettering and a gilt image of a girl on the front cover, with decorated endpapers, the book is the Gift Edition according to the half-title page, with beautiful mounted color illustrations by Maria L. Kirk, a color title page which says the book was published in Philadelphia and London by Lippincott in 1919, 319 pages of text, and the top edge is gilt. The book measures 9 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches wide and is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, and just faint bumps on the heel and crown of the spine and wisps of wear at the tips.
Children of the Alps was written by Spyri and published by Lippincott in 1925. it has an illustrated front cover with gilt lettering, illustrated endpapers, a colored frontis, color illustrations by Margaret J. Marshall, and 319 pages of text. The book measures 8 1/4 x 6 inches wide and is in good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text. The gilt lettering on the spine has faded a bit and there’s light rubbing on the crown and wear on the heel and light wear at the tips. Heidi is not mentioned in this book; Children of the Alps tells a different story about a family in the Swiss Alps and their experiences, and it's separate from the story of Heidi.
The Shirley Temple book is titled Petite Princesse Shirley Temple D’Apres Frances Hodgson Burnett, which means the Little Princess, after the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, with text and illustrations from the film Petite Princesse produced by Darryl F Zanuck, and published by Hachette in 1939, and it has the original dust jacket. The owner’s name is at the top of the cover of the dust jacket and on the first page of text, with color and black and white photos from the movie and 48 page of text, and we believe the book is a first edition, according to WorldCat. The book measures 9 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches wide and is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text and just light bumps at the heel and crown of the spine and very light rubbing at the tips, and the dust jacket is in good condition, with wear at the heel and crown of the spine, light wear at the top edge, and creases and a tear on the back panel.
The Story Of Abraham Lincoln by Mary A. Hamilton, undated, but published by T.C. & E.C. Jack in London and by E. P Dutton in New York circa 1906, according to WorldCat. It is part of the "Children's Heroes" series, with a paste-down cover, color plates by S. T. Dadd, and 120 pages of text. The book measures about 6 x 4 3/4 inches wide and is in good condition, with a good binding, clean pages and text, light wear on the heel and crown and at the tips, browning on the endpapers, and we found only one original copy on the rare book website we use and all the rest were modern reprints.
Baby Mishook, Or, The Adventures Of A Siberian Cub, was translated from the Russian by Leon Golschmann, it has 24 original illustrations by Winifred Austen and was published in New York and Boston by Caldwell circa 1900, with a paste-down cover, a gift inscription on the front flyleaf, an illustrated frontis of Mishook getting into mischief, and 194 pages of text. The book measures 7 5/8 x 5 1/2 inches wide and is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, bumps at the heel and crown, light rubbing at the tips, and we could find only four copies of this book on the rare book website we use.
Two Years Before The Mast was written by Richard H. Dana, illustrated by E Boyd Smith and published by Houghton Mifflin in 1923, with 1911 on the copyright page. It has a paste-down cover, a Christmas inscription on the front flyleaf dated 1924, 524 pages of text, followed by an appendix and index. The book is a memoir by Richard Henry Dana Jr. (1815-1882) about his two-year voyage as a sailor on the brig Pilgrim, a merchant ship, from Boston to California in 1834. Dana left Harvard to enlist as a common sailor on a voyage around Cape Horn, he returned to Massachusetts two years later, and from the diary he kept throughout the voyage, he wrote this classic. The book measures 8 3/4 x 6 inches wide and is good condition, with a good binding and clean pages and text, there is wear at the heel and crown and at the tips, and first editions from 1840 go for several thousand dollars.
Wings of Flame: Everyday Fables by Joseph Burke Egan and published by John C Winston in 1929, and it is a first edition because it has a single date on the copyright page and no other printings listed. (See Bill McBride’s A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions.) It has a great paste-down cover and is illustrated, with 365 pages of text. The book measures 8 3/4 x 6 1/2 inches wide and is in good condition, with a good binding and clean pages and text. The spline and some of the gilt on the front cover have faded, there is slight tape residue on the front paste-down, worm gobbles in the top corner of the first 20 pages, but still an attractive copy of this title. Only six copies are listed on the rare book website we use and prices range from $58 to $75 for the book.
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1937, with a paste-down cover, color illustrations, and 266 pages of text. It was first published as a book in 1905, and it is ranked as one of the top 100 books for children by the U.S. National Education Association (2007) and number 56 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by School Library Journal (2012). She also wrote Little Lord Fauntleroy. The book measures 8 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches wide and is in good condition, with a tight binding and clean ages and text, and wear along the heel and crown, browning on the inner gutters, and tears in the margin on the list of Scribner’s Illustrated Classics for Young Readers at the end. This book is the perfect complement to the Shirley Temple book listed above.
A Defective Santa Claus was written by James Whitcomb Riley (1849 - 1916), an American writer and poet born in Indiana and known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry that are often filled with humor and folksy sentiment. The book has gilt lettering and gilt decorations on the front cover, blank endpapers, then pinkish colored illustrations on the next few endpapers, a half-title, a frontis lithograph and protective tissue guard, the title page says the book was illustrated by C. M. Relyea and Will Vawter and the book was published in Indianapolis by Bobbs-Merrill, the copyright page is dated 1904 and has the month of December below Riley’s name, which makes this a first edition, it has 78 pages of poetry and the “MA" monogram for Margaret Armstrong on the front cover - she designed the binding for the book. The book measures 8 x 5 3/8 inches wide and is in great condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text. There’s light fading on the spine and the tissue guard has creases, and first editions go up to $115 on the rare book website we use. (See Bill McBride’s A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions.)
