the big book of nursery tales

i'm not going to go on and on about how much i love this book. i am a lover of books, hands down. i'm specifically a lover of books such as this. if you've been following this blog, then you know this by now. i must start with leonard weisgard. he's just amazing. the cover of the book even reads, "beautifully illustrated by..." beyond that...nursery tales such as "goldilocks and the three bears," "little red riding hood," and similar stories are all time favs for a good reason. these are watered down for the chillun of course, they can be quite morbid unabridged. i wish i had included a photo of weisgard's illustration for "goldilocks..." he chose to illustrate the bear's house as a dollhouse (or a dollhouse view) which i think is pure genius. if you're into midcentury illustrations, then you must grab yourself a copy.

the big book of nursery tales retold by evelyn andreas

nursery treasure books, 1954, grosset & dunlap, new york

illustrated by leonard weisgard

lithographed

the big treasure book of fairy tales

this was a lucky find. it didn't look that exciting to me at first. i think the cover really doesn't do it justice. the missing dust jacket has a lot to do with that i'm sure. the cover has grown on me though. i do like the two tone printing on a colored background. this cover is brown and cream on turqoise.



when i flipped through i couldn't help but feel i had hit the jackpot. look at the blue cat. the illustrations are really something special. i immediately knew that the illustrator was art seiden. whose work i love.



unfortunately the book isn't in great condition. some of the pages are missing. it's another library discard (so prevalent at church book fairs.) this book originally belonged to alta vista school. i meant to photo the front inside cover, because the type is amazing as well. all of the book is lithographed.

the big treasure book of fairy tales retold by evelyn andreas

first edition (?), 1954, grosset & dunlap, inc., new york

illustrated by art seiden

the endpapers are my favorite. the s. s. fairyland, puss in boots, the medallions on the cabin. i could go on and on.

**i'm thinking this may not be the original cover, but a library rebind. the illustration seems off as well and is most likely not seiden's. i couldn't find any other references to this book with photos to be sure though. anyone have a copy we can compare?**