Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - May - 2015 Issue

Children's Books from Peter Harrington

Children's Books from Peter Harrington.

Peter Harrington has issued a new catalogue of 300 Children's Books. While Harrington usually focuses on more serious material, this selection is nothing but fun. It is filled with books from the names we all know – Seuss, Disney, Baum, Sendak, Milne and more, as well as names not as familiar, though their titles may still be. And with that, knowing that kids can't sit still for long, we will get right to a few of the books being offered.

 

We start with the story of a bull who will never qualify to be one of the brave bulls. Ferdinand was a lover, not a fighter. He had no desire to gore or be gored. Munro Leaf's classic is a wonderful children's tale, but with a message equally powerful for adults. I take that back – more important for adults. It was published during the build up to the Spanish Civil War, and many saw it as a pacifist morality play. Hitler ordered the book burned, but Gandhi described it as his favorite. All poor Ferdinand wanted to do was smell the flowers. Item 167 is a 1936 first edition of The Story of Ferdinand. Priced at $11,500.

 

Next we turn to a lovely young lady who never worried too much about weighty issues like war and peace, but she became the model for several generations of girls. Born in 1959, though she was already a teenager when she was born, Barbie came at the dawn of an era when one might think she would quickly become irrelevant. The world was about to turn upside down, a new generation deeply into civil rights, alternative lifestyles, explosive changes in music and culture, and against war. The 50's-era Barbie would seem so out of place, and yet she thrived in this alien environment, and for decades later. She stayed pure and wholesome no matter what happened in the world around her. Barbie was introduced to us as something more than just a doll through three books, released simultaneously in 1962. Item 13 is one of them: Here's Barbie, by Cynthia Lawrence and Betty Lou Maybee. It is subheaded Stories about the fabulous Barbie and her boyfriend Ken. Forty-something years later, Barbie and Ken split up, but they may be back together again – I've lost track. Harrington describes this as a “stunning copy,” signed by co-author Maybee. $735.

 

H. A. and Margaret Rey are remembered almost entirely for the monkey they created – Curious George. H. A. did the illustrations while his wife Margaret supplied much of the text. However, the Reys wrote several stories outside of the Curious George series. Item 229 is one of them: Pretzel and the Puppies, published in 1946. Pretzel is a dachshund, but not any dachshund. Pretzel is the longest of his already long species in the world. His extraordinary length turns off his love interest for awhile, but when he uses it to save her from a well, she comes around to seeing things his way. This copy is inscribed by the authors, who have added an original drawing of Pretzel to the front pastedown. The image you see on the cover of this catalogue is of Pretzel, though the signs have been adjusted to show the catalogue's title and bookseller's name. $2,550.

 

Next up is a very rare Wizard of Oz book, The Wizard of Oz Waddle Book. While based on L. Frank Baum's book, the author had little to do with it, both because it is focused on using W. W. Denslow's illustrations, and Baum had been dead for 15 years when it was published in 1934. A waddle book is one that contains cut out figures which, when assembled and placed on a base, waddle down a sloped surface. This one has cut outs for Dorothy, the Wizard, Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion. The sloped surface depicts the yellow brick road. When the figures are assembled and placed at the top, they waddle down the slope. This is an extremely rare copy in that it has all of the characters still intact within the book. Item 19. $20,000.

 

Item 96 is a Dutch tale: Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates. A Story of Life in Holland. It wasn't really a Dutch story, its author, Mary Elizabeth Mapes Dodge, being an American who had never been to the Netherlands prior to the book's publication. Nonetheless, it gave many young Americans their greatest impressions of Holland. The story is about Hans Brinker, who with his sister, wants to compete in a speed skating competition to win a pair of silver skates. They are too poor to buy them. A series of amazingly lucky breaks through the story converts their miserable luck to good, the sister wins the race, Hans deliberately throws the boys' race so another can win, but the family regains its health and wealth and everyone gets to live happily ever after. In a side story, Dodge tells Americans the tale of the little Dutch boy who places his finger in the dyke and saves the town. This is a first edition, published in 1866. $4,250.

 

Peter Harrington may be reached at +44 00 7591 0220 or the specialist for this catalogue may be contacted at holly@peterharrington.co.uk. Their website is www.peterharringtonbooks.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • CHRISTIE’S
    Valuable Books and Manuscripts
    London auction
    13 December
    Find out more
    Christie’s, Explore now
    TREW, Christoph Jacob (1695–1769). Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum. [Nuremberg: 1750–1773]. £30,000–40,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    VERBIEST, Ferdinand (1623–88). Liber Organicus Astronomiae Europaeae apud Sinas restituate. [Beijing: Board of Astronomy, 1674]. £250,000–350,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    PROPERTY FROM THE COLLECTION OF ALICE & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT. Master of Jean Rolin (active 1445–65). Book of Hours, use of Paris, in Latin and French, [Paris, c.1450–1460]. £120,000–180,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    A SILVER MICROSCOPE. Probably by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), c.1700. £150,000–250,000
    Christie’s, Explore now
    AN ENGLISH HORARY QUADRANT
    C.1311. £100,000–150,000
  • Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Roberts (David) & Croly (George). The Holy Land, Syria, Idumae, Arabia, Egypt and Nubia. Lond. 1842 - 1843 [-49]. First Edn. €10,000 to €15,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Incunabula: O'Fihily (Maurice). Duns Scotus Joannes: O'Fihely, Maurice Abp… Venice, 20th November 1497. €8,000 to €12,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: An important file of documents with provenance to G.A. Newsom, manager of the Jacob’s Factory in Dublin, occupied by insurgents during Easter Week 1916. €6,000 to €9,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: WILDE (Oscar), 1854-1900, playwright, aesthete and wit. A lock of Wilde’s Hair, presented by his son to the distinguished Irish actor Mícheál MacLiammóir. €6,000 to €8,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Heaney (Seamus). Bog Poems, London, 1975. Special Limited Edition, No. 33 of 150 Copies, Signed by Author. Illus. by Barrie Cooke. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Binding: Burke, Thomas O.P. (de Burgo). Hibernia Dominicana, Sive Historia Provinciae Hiberniae Ordinis Praedicatorum, ... 1762. First Edition. €4,000 to €6,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: COLLINS, Michael. An important TL, 29 July 1922, addressed to GOVERNMENT on ‘suggested Proclamation warning all concerned that troops have orders to shoot prisoners found sniping, ambushing etc.’. €3,000 to €4,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Scott Fitzgerald (F.) The Great Gatsby, New York (Charles Scribner's Sons) 1925, First Edn. €2,000 to €3,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Yeats (W.B.) The Poems of W.B. Yeats, 2 vols. Lond. (MacMillan & Co.) 1949. Limited Edition, No. 46 of 375 Copies Only, Signed by W.B. Yeats. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of the Russian Empire, Description in English and French, Lg. folio London (S. Gosnell) 1803. First Edn. €1,000 to €1,500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Miller (William) Publisher. The Costume of Turkey, Illustrated by a Series of Engravings. Lg. folio Lond.(T. Bensley) 1802. First Edn. €800 to €1,200.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Dec. 12-13: Mason (Geo. Henry). The Costume of China, Illustrated with Sixty Engravings. Lg. folio London (for W. Miller) 1800. First Edn. €1,400 to €1,800
  • Sotheby’s
    Important Modern Literature from the Library of an American Filmmaker
    8 December 2023
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Kerouac, Jack. Typescript scroll of The Dharma Bums. Typed by Kerouac in Orlando, Florida, 1957, published by Viking in 1958. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. The autograph manuscript of "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber." [Key West, finished April 1936]. 300,000 - 500,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Miller, Henry. Typescript of The Last Book, a working title for Tropic of Cancer, written circa 1931–1932. 100,000 - 150,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Ruscha, Ed. Twentysix Gasoline Stations, with a lengthy inscription to Joe Goode. 40,000 - 60,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Dec. 8: Hemingway, Ernest. in our time, first edition of Hemingway’s second book. 30,000 - 50,000 USD
  • Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 2:
    John Ford Clymer, U.S. Troops' Triumphant Return to New York Harbor, oil on canvas, circa 1944.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 44:
    Edward Gorey, Illustration of cover and spine for Fonthill, a Comedy by Aubrey Menen, pen and ink, 1973.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 50:
    Harrison Cady, frontispiece for Buster Bear's Twins by Thornton W. Burgess, watercolor and ink, 1921.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 54:
    Ludwig Bemelmans, Pepito, portrait of Pepito from the Madeline book series, mixed media.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 79:
    Gluyas Williams, Fellow Citizens Observation Platform, pen and ink, cartoon published in The New Yorker, March 11, 1933.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 86:
    Thomas Nast, Victory, – for the moment, political cartoon, pen and ink, 1884.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 91:
    Mischa Richter, Lot of 10 cartoons for Field Publications, ink and pencil, circa 1940.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 111:
    Arthur Getz, Sledding In Central Park, casein tempera on canvas, cover of The New Yorker, February 26, 1955.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 124:
    Richard Erdoes, Map of Boston, illustration for unknown children's magazine, gouache on board, circa 1960.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 155:
    Robert Fawcett, The old man looked him over carefully, gouache on board, published in The Saturday Evening Post, June 9, 1945.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 170:
    Violet Oakley, Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, charcoal and pastel, circa 1918.
    Swannm Dec. 14: Lot 188:
    Robert J. Wildhack, Scribner's for March, 1907, mixed media.

Review Search

Archived Reviews

Ask Questions