Drummer Hoff by Barbara Emberley - 1967

NEWELL, Peter. The Hole Book. NY: Harper & Brothers [1908]. 12mo, [48]pp. Blue cloth with color pictorial label affixed to the front. Full-page color illustrations on every other page. Light rubbing to lower spine end and corners, light scratching to paper label, paper covering hinges starting, but as this is a side-sewn book, it has no effect on the tightness or sturdiness of the volume. Overall, a clean, bright copy.
First edition When young Tom Potts "was fooling with a gun" it accidentally goes off and plows a hole through all of the town. One of the first great successful novelty books, featuring a hole (ostensibly created by the bullet) in the center of each page.

ROBINSON, W[illiam] Heath. Bill the Minder. London: Constable & Co, 1912. 4to, xvi 256pp. Green cloth pictorially stamped in gilt with color pictorial paper label affixed to the front. 16 mounted color plates (all but frontispiece with captioned tissue guards) and numerous b&w illustrations. Spine edges and corners lightly rubbed, spine slightly sunned, small bump at top of front cover, small spot discolored below title on front, slight foxing to fore edge, endpapers and first and last leaves, else an internally clean, tight copy.
First edition. Bill and his friends Boadicea and Chad encounter a host of odd folks as Bill's ability to create fantastic machines gets them out of one scrape after another. The basis for the British television series and generally considered one of W. Heath Robinson's finest works.

POLITI, Leo. The Poinsettia. [Palm Desert, CA]: Best-West Publications [1967]. 4to, [48]pp. Light blue cloth pictorially stamped in navy. Pictorial endpapers; color illustrations on nearly every page. Spine ends a tad rubbed, else a fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket (slight edgewear). Lengthy inscription from the author/artist, Caldecott Medalist Leo Politi, with a large original watercolor of a vase of flowers.
First edition. A celebration of the many cultures that make up America and the way each celebrates its own traditions during the holiday season. The original watercolor by Politi is lush and detailed, even by his standards.

RANSOME, Arthur. The Big Six. London: Jonathan Cape [1940]. 12mo, 400pp. Green cloth stamped in gilt on spine and blind-stamped on front. Two-color map endpapers; b&w illustrations throughout. Spine ends and corners slightly rubbed, light foxing on fore-edge of sheets – but not extending internally, endpapers minutely foxed, in original color pictorial dust jacket (light edgewear, some soiling, spine lightly sunned).
First edition. The ninth book in Arthur Ransome's beloved Swallows and Amazons series. Ransome returns once more to his beloved Norfolk Broads where trouble is again brewing between the three boatbuilders' sons (who more or less live full-time aboard the Death and Glory) and the three Coots, Tom, Dorothea and Dick. The problem arises when the boats are constantly being set adrift, and all the evidence points squarely to the boatbuilders' sons. In a clever bit of detective work, and with some help from a sophisticated photographic trap, the two trios come together as the Big Six and… Read More

[SELZNICK, Brian]. The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins. An Illuminating History of Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins, Artist and Lecturer. By Barbara Kerley. With Drawings by Brian Selznick, [NY: Scholastic, 2001]. 4to, [48]pp. Color pictorial boards. Pictorial endpapers; color illustrations throughout. A fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket (without medal affixed). Signed by the artist, Caldecott Medalist, Brian Selznick.
First edition. 2002 Caldecott Honor Book! Until the mid-1800s, no-one really knew what a dinosaur was let alone what one looked like. So when Victorian artist Waterhouse Hawkins built the first life-size models, he dazzled the world with his awe-inspiring creations. Here is his amazing story.

SENDAK, Maurice. King Grisly-Beard. A Tale from the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Edgar Taylor. Pictures by Maurice Sendak. NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux [1973]. 8vo, 24pp. Brown cloth stamped in silver on spine. Gray endpapers; full-color illustrations on nearly every page. A fine copy in original color pictorial jacket.
First edition. Maurice Sendak's bright and vibrant illustrations perfectly capture the brother Grimm's tale in this stunning edition. Sendak's creative genius is further on display in the framing narrative he creates for the book which tells of two small children who are recruited to act in a play of the story and who end up performing the main roles in the King Grisly-Beard tale.

NEWELL, Peter. The Hole Book. NY: Harper & Brothers [1908]. 12mo, [48]pp. Blue cloth with color pictorial label affixed to the front. Full-page color illustrations on every other page. Light rubbing to lower spine end and corners, light scratching to paper label, paper covering hinges starting, but as this is a side-sewn book, it has no effect on the tightness or sturdiness of the volume. Overall, a clean, bright copy.
First edition When young Tom Potts "was fooling with a gun" it accidentally goes off and plows a hole through all of the town. One of the first great successful novelty books, featuring a hole (ostensibly created by the bullet) in the center of each page.

ROBINSON, W[illiam] Heath. Bill the Minder. London: Constable & Co, 1912. 4to, xvi 256pp. Green cloth pictorially stamped in gilt with color pictorial paper label affixed to the front. 16 mounted color plates (all but frontispiece with captioned tissue guards) and numerous b&w illustrations. Spine edges and corners lightly rubbed, spine slightly sunned, small bump at top of front cover, small spot discolored below title on front, slight foxing to fore edge, endpapers and first and last leaves, else an internally clean, tight copy.
First edition. Bill and his friends Boadicea and Chad encounter a host of odd folks as Bill's ability to create fantastic machines gets them out of one scrape after another. The basis for the British television series and generally considered one of W. Heath Robinson's finest works.

POLITI, Leo. The Poinsettia. [Palm Desert, CA]: Best-West Publications [1967]. 4to, [48]pp. Light blue cloth pictorially stamped in navy. Pictorial endpapers; color illustrations on nearly every page. Spine ends a tad rubbed, else a fine copy in original color pictorial dust jacket (slight edgewear). Lengthy inscription from the author/artist, Caldecott Medalist Leo Politi, with a large original watercolor of a vase of flowers.
First edition. A celebration of the many cultures that make up America and the way each celebrates its own traditions during the holiday season. The original watercolor by Politi is lush and detailed, even by his standards.

RANSOME, Arthur. The Big Six. London: Jonathan Cape [1940]. 12mo, 400pp. Green cloth stamped in gilt on spine and blind-stamped on front. Two-color map endpapers; b&w illustrations throughout. Spine ends and corners slightly rubbed, light foxing on fore-edge of sheets – but not extending internally, endpapers minutely foxed, in original color pictorial dust jacket (light edgewear, some soiling, spine lightly sunned).
First edition. The ninth book in Arthur Ransome's beloved Swallows and Amazons series. Ransome returns once more to his beloved Norfolk Broads where trouble is again brewing between the three boatbuilders' sons (who more or less live full-time aboard the Death and Glory) and the three Coots, Tom, Dorothea and Dick. The problem arises when the boats are constantly being set adrift, and all the evidence points squarely to the boatbuilders' sons. In a clever bit of detective work, and with some help from a sophisticated photographic trap, the two trios come together as the Big Six and… Read More