peter pauper's book of fun

another peter pauper press book for my collection. another with silkscreen illustrations!

peter pauper's book of fun
1963, peter pauper press, mount vernon
illustrated by albert eisler

the city and country mother goose

i'm endlessly amazed at the wealth of beauty in illustrated children's books. this book is no exception. hilde hoffmann's illustrations are fantastic. busy, colorful, loose, naive and all around amazing. it's like jumping into a blissful dream.

the city and country mother goose by hilde hoffmann
first edition, 1969, american heritage press, new york
illustrations are also by hilde hoffmann

the dragon who liked to spit fire

there's something about castles and dragons that immediately evokes a feeling of childhood imaginings for me. this book is really the embodiment of such childhood fantasies. there's also great merit to creatures that should be frightening, such as a fire spitting dragon, that are personalized into little cuddly BFFs. i used to have a dragon ring (high school-ish) that i would fantasize could come alive and live in my pocket and light my cigarettes (thank god i'm no longer a smoker...and i no longer fancy dragon rings). guess the fantasy lasted a long time for me :)

the dragon who liked to spit fire by judy varga
weekly reader children's book club edition, 1962, william morrow and company, new york
pictures also by judy varga

collections

another collection...view the others here. aren't those endpapers da bomb, yo? ha.
interesting fact about the bobbsey twins' author...it's a pseudonym!

the bobbsey twins' toy shop by laura lee hope
1948, grosset & dunlap, new york

the bobbsey twins on a houseboat by laura lee hope
1943, grosset & dunlap, new york

leedle yawcob strauss and other poems

this is probably the strangest book i have ever come across! the entire book is written in dialect (the only other early american books i've come across in dialect are slave narratives)...a german-american (pennsylvania german) "accent" is illustrated in the words, for example:

"Haf you seen mine leedle Shonny, Shonny Schwartz, Mit his hair so soft und yellow, und his face so blump und mellow: Sooch a funny leedle fellow, Shonny Schwartz?"

the book is comprised of poems of this sort. all of the works are by charles follen adams who was apparently a writer of short columns in scribner's and the detroit free press. i had no idea that these poems in dialect were de rigueur at one point in time. i think they are meant to be humorous, but i have to say i find them a bit offensive.

the illustrations by "boz", a pseudonym for george cruikshank, are incredibly well done, although quite a few of them depict the racial stereotypes of the time that are not only inappropriate for the current day, but are also a bit awkward to share here. i chose to include them to show that once in a while, these images pop up in the most unexpected places and they are indeed, historically, a part of american literary culture.
i found this book in a grab bag of children's books, and although i find it interesting and would never have sought it ought, i am glad to have it.
oh, it's electrotyped!!

leedle yawcob strauss, and other poems by charles f. adams
first edition, 1878, lee and shepard publishers, boston
illustrated by "boz"

miss z: the dark young lady

i got this lovely little book from etsy seller vintage books n' things...i am a long-time angela carter fan! i think angela carter wrote only two stories for the young adult; this one and another titled, the donkey king. i've never read the latter...maybe it's a re-telling of the grimms' tale the donkey? there is surprisingly little information that i could find online about both.
this book also has unique and wonderful illustrations by eros keith.

miss z: a dark young lady by angela carter
1970, simon and schuster
illustrations by eros keith

schlechte zeiten für gespenster

i mentioned on my other blog about doing a vampire related post here...partly due to halloween and partly because of the vampire explosion of late.
i love vampires and i love vampire literature, film, culture, etc...i even wrote my honor's thesis on vampirism is scandinavian folklore and blood drinking in viking history...truly weird, right?

my friends are always asking me if i like twilight or the vampire diaries...i read the first twilight book and it was alright (i preferred the movie). i do see the appeal to the young adult crowd, although i think i would've hated the whole thing when i was 14 (i was a vampire lit snob back in the day). i haven't read the vampire diaries books but i think the show is pretty good so far.

i love hbo's show true blood, as well as, charlaine harris' southern vampire series of books; which the show is based on (the show is very different from the books). it's good, light, page-turning reading and harris does an excellent job on character development. i'm addicted and if they could go on forever i would read them forever!

right now i'm reading laurell k. hamilton's anita blake: vampire hunter series...i'm on the second book the laughing corpse and they are alright. i hope they get better further into the series.

anyways, i think there are some must reads in the vampire genre of literature...and i certainly have not read everything out there so if there's anything you want to add in the comments, please feel free! i love recommendations.

but first! the book pictured above...i picked it up a long time ago, where, i cannot remember. the whole book is in german and that means i can't really read it, but i still love it. the illustrations are wonderful (including the super neat moving bat on each page corner)...the title in english reads, bad times for ghosts, and i believe it's also a episode of a tv show (maybe?).

back to vampire literature...here are my recommendations:

^o^ dracula by bram stoker
^o^ carmilla by j. sheridan le fanu
^o^ interview with the vampire by anne rice
(as well as the vampire lestat and the queen of the damned...don't bother with the rest)
^o^ the vampyre by john william polidori
^o^ varney the vampire or the feast of blood (a penny dreadful) by james malcolm rymer
^o^ the hunger by whitley strieber
^o^ salem's lot by stephen king
^o^ the historian by elizabeth kostova
^o^ let the right one in by
^o^ the demon lover by dion fortune
^o^ the vampire tapestry by suzy mckee charnas
^o^ our vampires, ourselves by nina auerbach - not literature, but critique

schlechte zeiten für gespenster by w.j.m. wippersberg
1984, benziger
illustrated by käthi bhend-zaugg