Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - June - 2011 Issue

Children's Books from Aleph-Bet Books

Children's books from Aleph-Bet.

Children's books from Aleph-Bet.

Aleph-Bet Books has published their Catalogue 97 of Children's Books & Illustrated Books. With very few exceptions, most of the material qualifies as both - illustrated children's books. There is not much that can compare to the whimsy and fantasy to be found in these titles. There is an innocence to youth that draws us back to the simple joys of childhood. That is not to say all of these books are innocent. Some carry political and social messages that, at times, can be downright ugly. After all, they were written by adults. Still, the bulk is no more weighty than Peter Rabbit or the Cat in the Hat. Sure, there may be a message about disobedience and theft in Peter's story, but it is hardly the heavy-handed approach we get in the news. These books are fun, which is why they appeal to us to this day. Here are a few samples of the 600 books being offered.

 

Item 57 is a first/first of a second. That needs clarification. It is a first edition, first issue of the second Oz book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, published in 1904. In some ways, it might be the most important of the Oz books. Author L. Frank Baum scored a major success with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, published in 1900. However, that was a one-time success. It was not clear where Baum would go from there. Indeed, he would follow up with a couple of non-Oz books. What this second Oz book revealed was that the Wizard was not a one-hit wonder, but a series that could be continued indefinitely. Baum would go on to write 12 more Oz books after this sequel, and others, notably Ruth Plumbly Thompson, would continue the series at least until the 1960s, a minimum of 40 titles. More continue today though there is debate as to whether these titles are "canonical." The Marvelous Land of Oz was the first of the Oz books illustrated by John R. Neill, who would illustrate 35 of the main 40 books, and write three of them in the 1940s. Priced at $15,000.

 

Item 59 is the last of Baum's Oz Books, Glinda of Oz. Glinda, of course, was the good witch among the bad. This is also a first edition, first state of the 14th book in the Oz series. It was published in 1920, the year after Baum died. $1,250.

 

Speaking of first editions, here is a first edition of Winnie the Pooh that probably most Pooh collectors do not have. It is Winnie-The-Pooh in one volume, published in 1934. While it contains the Pooh text, this edition is missing the classic illustrations by Ernest Shepard. There is good reason. This is the first edition of the Pooh stories in Braille. $1,850.

 

Item 18 is an odd alphabet book. It is Mother Goose up to date, published circa 1905 by the Glauss Shear Company. It was designed to promote the company's scissors, razor blades, and other such things you would like your children to play with. The letters are introduced though rhymes. For example, for the letter "N":  Needles and pins, / Needles and pins. / When a man marries / his trouble begins. / Needles and pins / and a pair of Glauss shears / All of his trouble / at once disappears. The rhyme does not make clear exactly how the husband is to use his Glauss shears to make the troublesome wife disappear. Item 18. $300.

 

Here is a book that might have made use of a set of Glauss shears:  Heads, Bodies & Legs. This is "slice book," in which those parts of the human anatomy can be separated from each other. The authors of this 1946 title were Denis Wirth-Miller and the appropriately named Richard Chopping. Actually, this book is not quite so gruesome as it sounds. It is one of those books where the pages are cut into three sections, enabling the head from one picture to be lined up with the body of a second picture and the legs from a third. It's all good fun. Item 368. $300.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
    Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
    Ketterer, May 26: PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
    Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer Rare Books
    Auction May 26th
    Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
    Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
    Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
  • Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Peter Max, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore (Versions 1,2, 5, 6), 2001. Estimate $10,000-15,000
    DOYLE: The iconic screen-used wall-mounted "M" from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Estimate $5,000-8,000
    DOYLE: The Mary Tyler Moore Show by Al Hirschfeld. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Annie Leibovitz presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke for Vanity Fair. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Al Hirschfeld presents Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke in the CBS Wednesday Night Lineup. Estimate $4,000-6,000
    DOYLE: Richard McKenzie, Portrait of Mary Tyler Moore. Estimate $1,000-2,000
    Doyle
    The Collection of Mary Tyler Moore
    June 4, 2025
    DOYLE: Three Original Bill Hargate Costume Designs for The Mary Tyler Moore Hour. Estimate $600-800
    DOYLE: The famous Bonnie and Clyde "Wanted" broadside. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE: Ticket to the Final Episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show Estimate $400-600
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions