Recent additions to my library:
- City friends. New York: Sam Gabriel Sons & Co., 1940.
- Grahame, Kenneth. The wind in the willows. New York: Scribner, [1960].
- Illustrators of children’s books, 1744-1945. Compiled by Bertha E. Mahony, Louise Payson Latimer, Beulah Folmsbee. Boston: Horn Book, 1947.
- Potter, Beatrix. Letters to children. [Cambridge, Mass.]: Harvard College Library, Dept. of Printing and Graphic Arts, 1966.
- Powers, Alan. Children’s book covers: great book jacket and cover design. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2003.
October 11th, 2005
Lilly Library Publications Online features electronic text versions of exhibition catalogues and other bibliographical publications produced by Indiana University’s Lilly Library. This site includes Children’s Books Published by William Darton and His Sons, the 1992 catalogue by Linda David.
October 11th, 2005
Here is a glimpse at what’s on my bookshelf this week. Current reading includes two used bookstore finds and one libary discovery:
- Stone, Wilbur Macey. Some children’s bookplates: an essay in little. Gouverneur, NY: Brothers of the book, 1901.
- White, Colin. The world of the nursery. London: Herbert Press, 1984
- Opie, Iona, Archibald Opie and Brian Alderson. The treasures of childhood: books, toys, and games from the Opie collection. 1st U.S. ed. New York, N.Y.: Arcade Pub., 1989.
August 24th, 2005
There is something magical about a reader discovering a book at the right time. Last week, I found a copy of Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon in a used bookstore, and although it was not what I was looking for, I believe that it was the book that I needed to find.
Discovering the book was serendipity. At ALA Annual, I attended an ALSC-sponsored program in which Leonard Marcus, Brown’s biographer, spoke about his research for the book. When he was trying to locate information about the photographer who took the only existing photos of Brown as an adult, he had come to a dead end. No one had heard of the photographer. Then, one day, he was in a bookstore and saw a book featuring women photographers, and the mystery photographer, Consuelo Kanaga, was listed on the cover. This discovery marked a turning point in his research.
A week after hearing this story, I was wandering a bookstore in search of gardening books. I looked at a table of remaindered coffee table books and saw a retrospective of Consuelo Kanaga’s work. Then, I looked up, glancing at the nearby shelves, and there was the Margaret Wise Brown biography.
Since I started reading this book, I have had a series of similarly wonderful serendipitous experiences. At the very moment that I read a paragraph about the founding of what would become The Horn Book Magazine, I looked up and the woman seated across from me on the bus pulled out the most recent issue from her bag. The day before, I read about Brown’s experience of watching all of her college friends get married while she remained single, and an hour later, someone asked me about my own perspective as a single woman with married friends.
If my life were a children’s fantasy book, I suppose that I would soon find myself inside “the great green room,” puzzling about how I arrived there. But, life is not a fantasy book, and I am not disappointed. Subtly surprising coincidences are much more delightful.
July 11th, 2005
I learned this week that I won the ALA raffle prize I wanted most (besides an iPod): my choice of one book from the W.W. Norton Annotated series.
I am amazed that I won. I lost my raffle entry card on the one day I had reserved for viewing ALA exhibits and had to make another trip to the exhibit hall expressly to drop off my card, only a few hours before my departing flight. By the time I arrived at the Norton booth, there was no longer a box or bowl for raffle entries. I handed my card to the Norton representative with little hope of winning.
As delighted and excited as I am about my fortune, I am also paralyzed by the decision in front of me. If you were given your choice of one of the following books, which would you choose and why? (Unfortunately, no prizes will be awarded for the best answer.)
July 8th, 2005