Children's and Illustrated Books from Aleph-Bet Books
- by Michael Stillman
The Magic Pudding.
Item 371 is an interesting title: The Magic Pudding: Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff. Aleph-Bet describes Norman Lindsay's story as “the most famous Australian children's book.” Here I reveal my embarrassing lack of knowledge of Australian children's books by noting I had never before heard of it. Naturally, I must rely on others for a plot summary, but it is a story about a pudding that has arms and legs and speaks like a human. This does not prevent his owners from eating him, but that's okay because whenever he is eaten, he just comes back full again. He also apparently has a pretty crotchety personality. Anyway, his owners go about traveling and have various misadventures with some persistent pudding thieves before eventually settling down. Offered is a 1918 first edition of a book that has been reprinted many times in Australia, and occasionally elsewhere. $6,250.
The Aussies aren't the only ones with strange imaginations. Item 43 is Le Marriage de la Tour Eiffel. This is another I have not read, so I will rely on Aleph-Bet's description: “The story tells the adventures of a female humanized Eiffel Tower that eventually meets, falls in love and marries a giant sea serpent.” Where do the French come up with theses ideas? The author of this 1931 book was J. Roche-Mazon. $600.
