NEW YORK, CHICAGO, etc: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1935. First edition. Edited by Patty Smith Hill and Mary M. Reed of the Teachers College at Columbia University. A volume in the SOCIAL SCIENCE READERS series intended to bring young readers beyond the simple acquisition of basic skills and into an understanding of the dramatic social and creative life of the communities around them. The audience is kindergarten and primary grades. The text here is in simple verse accompanied by well drawn and detailed illustrations by Eleanor Lee of the various steps involved in constructing a tall building from excavation of the site, transformation of the landscape, transportation of materials, to the classroom building of a “tall building”. Ref. 17120 Architecture for Children Oblong 8vo 16.7 x 18 cm) 36 + (2) pp. with 16 full page illustrations in colour.

N.P., (France): n.p, 1877. A rarer type of scrapbook art album in which the cut and saved chromolithographed images and die-cuts are assembled into “tableaux” formed by inked lines and forms drawn by their creator. Each of the 110 pages ( approximately 28.5 x 20 cm) is a deliberate decorative composition with lines in coloured ink creating a geometric or architectural setting showing off the main chromolithographed subject and defining the “tableau” further with supplementary chromolithographs and die-cuts ( or “découpis”) carefully and artfully positioned. The range of themes is varied, with romance, nature, flowers, music, exotic costume, and simply form, itself, all being subjects. There is one fine and striking Indian chief filling up a page and surrounded by borders of tiny flowers, some bearing the message “ Je vous adore”. Many of the die-cuts are gilt highlighted. This is art populaire dreamt up from the mass culture offerings of printers, advertisers, and merchants that flooded the commercial world of the second half of the 19th century. Lovingly made for children. Unique. The album binding bears the label of “Aymès Père & Fils, Marseilles for relieurs & brochures. Art Populaire. Not just a scrapbook. Oblong 4to (20 x 28.5cm); 3 ff. blank + 110 ff. decorated with cut chromolithographs and die cuts mounted on stubs, illustrated on rectos only.

AMSTERDAM: H. MOOLENYZER, 1817-18. A very scarce illustrated Dutch almanach for 1818 in an attractive block-printed paper covered étui. Published by the enterprising H. Moolenyzer, this almanach is an excellent example of the trend for almanachs morphing into vehicles for all sorts of entertainment, illustration and minor literary works - in fact, they became valuable for advancing the sales of the publisher/booksellers. Here the story, most likely intended for children, unsurprisingly plays up very positive sides of Peter the Great and Alexander 1 - Peter the Great learned much shipbuilding in Amsterdam and Alexander 1 eventually helped put an end to Napoleon. We have so far located only two copies in Dutch libraries. Children’s History of Peter the Great and Alexander I in a charming papier dominoté slipcase. Small 8vo (10 x 8.2 cm); portrait frontispiece of Alexander I; engraved title; (xii) +(ii) + 112 pp. text + 4 engraved plates in addition to frontispiece.

N.P: n.p, n.d. ca. 1944. So far we have found no evidence that this strategic game was ever published. It’s concept is slightly complex, which may account for it never coming to fruition. Fortunately, some of the drawings and initial pencilled instructions have been saved, witnessing the brilliant imagination of Helen Haywood. Haywood, born in 1907, was a prolific illustrator (publishers included Thomas Nelson, Hutchinson & Co.) with a special gift for rendering plants and animals. Also, she executed fore-edge paintings and binding art work for Bayntun Riviere Bindery in Bath. In fact, she was the granddaughter of binder Robert Riviere. (For photographs of her work on bindings see Stephen J. Gertz’s article, “The Binding Paintings of Helen R. Haywood” in his blog, BOOKTRYST, Oct. 3, 2012). The list of her illustrated books is long and includes the “Peter Tiggywig” series, “Animal Playtime” and “Animal Worktime”. She was keenly sensitive to all aspects of animal life and, in fact, the Royal Academy of Sciences cited her for her skin colour choices in her 1964 book, “The Days of the Dinosaurs” (see “Helen Haywood”, Wikipedia). In the proposal for this game, Haywood notes that “All you need is a box of paints - or coloured crayons + a pair of nail scissors.” She then describes a strip of folded paper labelled with 4 letters of which only “A” is already coloured. “B,C,and D are separate sections of shapes waiting to be painted. The child/reader was to look for the number on the shapes to be coloured and find the colour on the key. Once the painting process was finished, the child was to refold the paper strip and cut along the dark line on picture A. “Now pull the pictures out and the puzzle pictures are solved! ” If we correctly interpret the 2 groups of colour strips provided in Haywood’s sketches, the three uncoloured pictures are an abstraction and the coloured one presents the character or characters in colour. Once the instructions are followed and the four piece panel is folded, the cutting begins along the black lines and 4 separate and realistic colour co-ordinated figures emerge to be used in making up any story. It would be quite a magic moment for any child to finish cutting and end up with understandable figures that were a blur at the beginning of the process. Two of the finished colour strips made by Haywood bear some pencilled text at the bottom margin, including one set with French translation. Perhaps a French version had been planned. The closest we have come to finding any published work similar to this is THE HELEN HAYWOOD COLOUR BOOK with stories by Isobel St Vincent ( 1944). We have not been able to examine this title ( COTSEN 37349), but there is no suggestion that it is a game. A unique and challenging item. From the mind of a fore-edge painter. Four cardboard strips, 10 x 25.3 cm, each with 4 panels of original colour designs ;“text” in pencil beneath each panel; 3 cardboard strips 10 x 25.3 cm, and one measuring is 9x25.3 cm; with four panels each of hand-coloured designs cut out and pasted onto coloured background; one sheet of tracing paper with penciled text explaining how the game works; five sheets of tracing paper with penciled drawings; preliminary for title page in pencil showing “Designed by Helen Haywood” and, beneath, two indecipheral words ( names of collaborators, publishers?) in pencil.

Bruxelles: Vromant & Co, 1926. First and only edition of a rare drawing manual by Belgium artist Germaine Hageman ((1897-1985) daughter of the painter Maurice Hagemans. No. 196 of 525 total copies, this on papier d’Arches. All the plates were subsequently destroyed. Hagemans gained notice as an artist for her very sensitive drawings and paintings of animals and landscapes; she also did small book covers, many featuring animals. Here she develops a drawing book based upon her exchanges with a small boy named Boby who has been constrained in his approach to drawing at school. The result is an album of free form and expressive images of animals in natural positions, people in the street, etc. Possibly the rodeo horse who appears on the cover as well as in the album was a request from Boby. We have found one copy in OCLC in Belgium, but no copy in the printed version of the Cotsen Collection. Ref. 17025 Quarto (28 x 22.5 cm); profusely illustrated from drawings reproduced in black and white and in sanguine.

Birmingham, Conn: 1881. A rare American trade catalogue of children’s toys manufactured by A B. Ruggles who informs the reader that his production is now backed by new and improved machinery after a disastrous fire. Illustrated objects include a furniture set for girls; a horse drawn hay wagon; a two horse express team; an “accurate” miniature of an Emigrant wagon; a tandem team; an ox cart; a highly ornamented dump cart; and four sizes of platform horses. All these are illustrated, with the exception of there being three, not four, platform horses shown. Most toys would seem to be made of wood, although note is made where iron is used on a part. Sizes and prices are given and, notice of colour painting where applicable. W.A. Shelton of 112 Chamber St. is listed as the New York agent. Charming and rare. Not in Romaine; not located in OCLC. Oblong stapled pamphlet, 9.5 x 15.4 cm.; 12 unnumbered pp. with 9 illustrations from engravings.

Paris: Librairie Delagrave, 1929. An excellent copy of this pochoir coloured art training manual with designs executed by very young students between the ages 4 and 8 from écoles maternelles and classes enfantines. Authors Madeleline Bardot, inspectrice des Écoles Maternelles de la Seine and advocate of “l’education nouvelle,” a popular movement emphasizing educating the total person” and M. Claveau, professor of drawing in the lycées and écoles normales of the period have selected 64 pieces from the best examples of student work. The initial plates, though filled by the students, were largely formed by teachers, but the last three plates were created solely by the imagination and training of the young students. Geometric outlines were proposed for this age group as being the least distracting and, yet, the most rewarding for permitting the liberating use of colour. The designs could be applied to crafts, such as embroidery (a few black and white examples are shown) and the authors hoped that they would be displayed in homes and in schools. The models selected here demonstrate a sensibility in the children that gives their work the value of art “plus précieux que la perfection d’une technique toute matérielle.” Examples are found in French libraries, of course, - the BNfr. being the only one to mention a copy dated 1928. In the US, we locate copies at Yale and at the University of Delaware. A beautiful and important work in school art education from this period, especially with its 64 illustrations in pochoir. Ref. 16859 With 64 Decorative Compositions Coloured by Pochoir Oblong 4to (23 x 28 cm); 8 pp. with half tone illustrations + xvi plates, each with 4 designs coloured by pochoir.

(Paris): Flammarion, (1948). A complete series of a very special production of les Albums du Père Castor published by Flammarion. One of their most prolific illustrators, Pierre Belvès, has himself cut and pasted coloured paper into numerous designs of household objects, flowers and plants, fruits, etc., which have been beautifully colour printed for the volumes. These designs are models for children to follow in a cut, paste, and collage practice that could turn into wall decoration, etc. Instructions in the first three volumes guide the child to trace on coloured paper and then cut out forms defined by colour in the images presented. Next, with these colour forms in hand, the child is encouraged to create his/her own tableaux on a sheet of white paper -with this encouragement from Belvès: “Bien entendu, vous n’êtes pas obligés de copier les modèles. Vous pouvez choisir les couleurs qui vous plaisent, et même composee des tableaux à votre idée.” Each volume presents an advancement in skill and perception. Volume 4 illustrates the way some of Belves’s students produced their own complicated cut-out designs from folded paper (instruction provided) from elements of a design by Belvès. The student work in this volume borders a large design by Belvès, himself, spread across two pages. The artist, whose talents were noticed by French editor Paul Faucher, became a principal illustrator for the famous Père Castor childrens’ books. Not only did he illustrate story books, such as Hans Christian Andersen’s UGLY DUCKLING, and imaginative “frises à colorier”, but he produced a significant number of art instruction manuals. Truly an avant-garde introduction to art for children encouraging not only technical skills, but unrestrained interpretation. Volume 3 in this series bears the bookplate of noted children’s book collector and dealer, Robin de Beaumont. Ref:17126 WHERE FORM MEETS COLOUR Stapled pamphlets, 21 x 21 cm: 10;10;10;10; with 1 pp. text in each of volumes 1 -3 and 2 pp. text in volume four, all other pages are of illustrations in colour.

Fernand Nathan, ca.1913. First published in Geneva, this copy with the printed label of Parisian publisher Fernand Nathan on the title page and upper cover. An exceptionally well-preserved, indeed, fine copy of this handsomely produced children’s art manual whose authors assert that it is as natural for a child to draw as to speak. Swiss pedagogue Mina Audemars studied and worked with the Froebel and Montessori systems before founding, with Édouard Claparède (who wrote the avant-propos to the present work), La Maison des Petits de L’Institut Jean-Jacques Rousseau at Geneva. She created educational games for mathematics and, with co- worker Louise Lafendel, wrote LE JEU DES SURFACES: Couleurs, Formes, Grandeurs. in 1952. Here in this manual with its 49 plates, Lessons 20-46 present the work of both students and teacher.The numerous full page illustrations are dramatically vivid. We have not yet located copies in US libraries in OCLC. Ref: 17042 8vo (23.2 x 17 cm); xvi + 58 pp. + 46 full page plates in colour + plates A, B & C in colour.

(Prague): Artia, (1964). A French language version of this very scarce little pop-up by the man who is called the genius of the pop-up genre, Vojtech Kubasta. It is number 2 in a series of three such small works for children and features five pop-up illustrations with text recounting the adventures of the two little butterflies. Kubasta was a Czech architect and artist who combined his skills to produce an amazing range of engineered books in addition to practicing a career as an advertising artist. He was the subject of an exhibition and catalogue of Ellen G. K. Rubin’s collection at the Grolier Club in 2014. Quite scarce, we find no copy of this title in OCLC, nor in Princeton or Toronto. A Kubasta Pop-up Threaded printed paper folder for pop-ups, 11 x 11 cm; five pop-up scenes on folded sheets with text. we have not removed the protective plastic covering ( not adhered) over the somewhat rubbed paper folder covers.

Amsterdam: G.W. Breughel, (1945). First and only edition of a typographic and graphic approach to children’s reading skills. with animal silhouettes by Reyer Stolk, a Dutch artist who also worked in Africa. The style and identity of many of the animals created here in silhouette amply reflect Stolk’s African influence. Opposite each full page of animal silhouette groupings is another full page of animal names produced in varying typographic styles and arranged in contours reflecting the grouping opposite. Lithographed largely in black, with occasional outlines or words in blue, gray, or green. Quite an imaginative approach to children’s learning. Through OCLC we have located four copies in Dutch libraries and one copy in France at the BNfr. Ref. 17083 Small 4to (26 x17 cm); 16 pp. lithographed with silhouettes and lettering.

Bruxelles: Chocolate Senez-Sturbelle, ca.1890. A lovingly executed piece of chocolate advertising from the Belgian firm of Senez-Sturbelle in the form of a booklet opening into a leporello of cut-out chromolithographed die-cuts depicting various types of cats on exposition. At rear is a small tab or folder into which a piece of chocolate would have been placed ( since consumed, of course). Young children are given a coin to obtain entrance to the exhibition which contained - according to the booklet - ten cages of cats of various descriptions, these all cut out chromolithographs. Text at the “versos” of two pages tells the story of the children’s trip, explaining their arrival at the guichet or ticket booth, and recounting their favourite cats ( the Cat Family in this instance). The exposition would surely have taken place in Belgium or France; this is a very well executed advertising souvenir. Chocolate Consumed. A “Cats on Display” Leporello. Booklet with backing lying flat, 12 x 9.5 cm; opened to 11 die-cut leaves with text printed on inside covers and on “versos” of two leaves. Ref. 17070

Le Puys: 1869. Original French schoolchildren’s work cahiers take many forms, from the copying of lessons to original artwork. Here we have a beautiful example of the young Henriette de Morangiés’ work prepared at the school of La Maison de Nôtre Dame (Le Puys), classe the Religieuses de Nôtre Dame. She has written a history of famous flowers - the violet, the marguerite, lily of the valley, pansy, tulip, rose, fritillary, carnation, etc., identifying each with famous persons and periods in the history of France. The history has been produced in the manner of an illuminated manuscript, with calligraphic text, hand-painted borders - a different ornamentation for each section - hand-painted initial letters and other forms of text ornamentation. Each section opens with a distinct rendering of the flower to be discussed and a hand hand-painted ornamented initial. As was traditional with much of this student work done for presentation, the calligraphed text begins with a dedication to Henriette’s parents, this one a charming poem expressing her wish to present to her parents her work as a symbol of the honey created by the joy and activity of the bee among flowers. A work of devotion and considerable amateur talent. Ref. 17031 “Et voici donc mon miel, mon tout petit ouvrage” By Hand. Album, 29 x 21.2 cm; 30 ff all hand calligraphed and hand painted, with tissue guards over most portions of text and illustration.

Paris: LeFuel/Delaunay, n.d., ca. 1813. This carefully preserved juvenile geography book centers, in particular, on the city of Paris and the world that emanates from there. Thus, its four maps show, successively: the world; Europe; the French Empire and Kingdom of Italy; and metropolitan Paris. Within the text, special attention and detail is given to the descriptions of Parisian streets, bridges, street names, historic buildings and churches, and the private residences of its famous inhabitants. For the young reader, the history and texture of Paris is placed at the centre of the world. There are, of course, small sections on Spain; Portugal; Italy; Venice; Switzerland; Germany; Bavaria; Prussia; Bohemia and Moravia; Denmark; Norway; Sweden; Russian; Asia; Persia; China; Egypt; Africa; and the Artic and Antartic regions, along with many others. The engraved frontispiece shows a young boy receiving gifts and honors from the figure of L'Étude (Study). This appears to be the first and only edition; in OCLC we find only one copy at the New York Public Library. Geography for Children With Details About Paris 32mo (10.5 x 7 cm); (vi) + engraved frontispiece + 204 pp. + 3 double-page + 1 triple page maps with outline coloring + 1 double page alphabetical table.

Oxford: University Press, (1945). First edition. An illustrated alphabet and nursery rhymes from the exuberant illustrator Winifred Marks. Marks’ illustrations leap out of the page in both vibrant colour and in black and white. Her work is in the avant-garde and she was admired by Herbert Read. Her brilliant series for children, LIVELY DRAWING, encourages the approach to art and drawing exemplified here. For her text of traditional nursery rhymes, Marks has chosen wording mostly from Halliwell-Phillipps’ 1853 BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES. “ Only where custom has already altered the original wording, so that the latter would be unfamiliar to the modern child, have alterations been made.” This first edition is quite scarce; so far we have located only four copies in OCLC. This title listed in Cotsen in the 1846 printing only. WITH AN ILLUSTRATED ALPHABET 4to (24.5 X 18.5) 64 pp. profusely illustrated in both colour and in black and white.

Limerick: George M. Goggin’s, n.d. ( ca. 1832-37). An extremely scarce illustrated children’s reader, alphabet, natural and civic history in “Stereotype Edition” from printer George M Goggin’s wholesale and retail School-Book and Paper Warehouse, 15 George Street, Limerick. Goggin was the brother of Stephen Goggin (d. 1832), one of Ireland’s busiest printers of song books and ballads ( some “rebellious”). During the period this book was published in Limerick, the Whigs in England, under William IV, created a national system of elementary education in Ireland (1931-32) in response to outcries for reform in Ireland demanded by many, such as Daniel O’Connell. A full length portrait of William IV appears as frontispiece here. ”Prior to 1831 the provision of education in Ireland at the elementary level was extremely patchy...To bring some uniformity to this situation, and to attempt a radical piece of religious engineering, the Whig government decided that a national system of elementary education would be set up for Ireland, one in which the guiding principal was to be non-denominational” ( Bartlett, Thomas, IRELAND/ A History. pp. 272-273) A book such as this one was surely intended as much for the native Irish population of children struggling for advancement by means of speaking and writing in English. Having English as a skill a bit later during the Famine would be of value to those trying to emigrate. The book contains a full page lettered alphabet, plus a 4 page illustrated alphabet from “A” for apple to “Z” for zebra, and, additionally, spelling and reading lessons composed of words of one syllable, the reading lessons mostly taken from scripture; Following this are separate lists and readings in words of 1-3 syllables, etc. Next comes Short Lessons in Natural History with woodcuts of a lion, a bear,a horse, a dog, a cameleon, a reindeer, an eagle, and an ostrich. In the ten page “A Short History of Ireland/ From the earliest period to the Union” we find woodcuts of a few kings and mention of trade in a fine linen “which has been brought to astonishing perfection”. The natives are described as brave and hospitable, but often in conflicts that fail to promote “the blessing of eternal peace.” The history ends with some rather profound understatements about the years of strife up to the Union in 1800. In conclusion are general rules for spelling and directions for reading with propriety. Thus far we have found only copies of a seemingly similar title, published by Egan in Dublin, at Middlebury College and the Universiy of Iowa Libraries. “avoid hem’s and ha’s between your words” 12mo ( 14.5 x 8.5 cm); engraved frontispiece as paste-down + title page with alphabet on verso; (iv) pp.from woodcut illustrations; 9-71 pp., the last page pasted down as rear endpaper; with fourteen illustrations from woodcuts in the text.