Lazy Fox and Red Hen

Lazy Fox and Red Hen

Pictures by Suzanne

1957 Western Publishing


Published by Whitman Books, a subsidiary of Western Publishing (home of Little Golden Books) Lazy Fox and Red Hen is one of my oldest - meaning in possession of - children's books and was among my earliest exposure to fox/ wolf iconography which always mesmerized me and of which I hope to explore more on this blog. And to this day fox's tumble down shack is the indelible imprint of the meaning of "rickety" for me. 

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Samuel Lowe Co., 1954

Identified on the cover as a Bonnie Book this is another of the Little Golden book-like size and format publications attesting to the latter's market success. Just What the Doctor Ordered is presented here for its notable front cover feature, the die-cut window revealing an Rx (medical prescription). And what of the emblazoned "hafta"? How does that figure into our nation's education challenges; harbinger or result?

The various games, puzzles, riddles etc. seem culled from sources or a sensibility predating the Fifties, in some cases going back to, like, the twenties. Odd.

Hiawatha

Hiawatha

Marion Gridley, Irma Wilde

Rand McNally, 1950

Rand McNally Elf Books and Junior Elf books echo Little Golden Books as compact, uniform publications with tried and true subjects such as animals, folklore and anthropomorphised things like tugboats or what have you. Here we have their rendition of Hiawatha suggested by Longfellow's epic poem presented sans trochaic tetrameter! A slightly more naturalistic presentation characterizes these illustrations versus those of Little Indian.

Cover

Back

Title page

End papers

Illustrations

The Little Indian

Cover

Little Indian

Margaret Wise Brown, Richard Scarry

Simon & Schuster, 1954

Little Indian is a Little Golden Book authored by Margaret Wise Brown of Goodnight Moon fame (plus numerous other works) and Richard Scarry who also probably needs no introduction if you've made it to this site out of affinity towards children's books. The book is posted out of my general interest in Indian and woodland cultures and especially their depiction in mid-century illustration. More of that to follow.

Title page

Welcome to Waterwall's Vintage Kid's Books

From my own collection, this blog presents a comparatively narrow selection of children's literature from the golden age, namely the 20th century. Most of the books presented here share common themes or common graphic features of personal interest and the relevant details of which are commented on in short posts. If any of these titles are familiar to you I hope you'll enjoy rediscovering them and if they are new to you I hope they'll be as interesting a discovery as they were for me. Some of the books presented here are favorites from my own childhood; others are more recent discoveries, mostly through trolling used bookstores or flea markets here and there which is to say this later group is made up of real-life, real-time surprises and not internet auction sales.

Occasionally other vintage objects may make their way into the blog if they have some relation to the books, themes or graphics.

This blog was partly inspired by other great blogs about children's books. For example, Vintage Kid's Books My Kid Loves  http://www.vintagechildrensbooksmykidloves.com// is a heap of work by a passionate and dedicated author who has posted hundreds of books and if you're a boomer or post-boomer like me it is one heck of a trip down memory lane. Sites like VKBMKL are distinctly more all-inclusive than my modest blog. Here I'm targeting a more nuanced type of material and whether hunting down one of these esoteric books has brought you here or if if you've just stumbled here along the www  welcome ~ and enjoy!