Little Mole (Jak Krtek)

These two lovely books (while not vintage...published in 2007) are based off characters from the 1950's-60's. I was so excited to find them at a thrift shop. The illustrations are so beautiful!

Here is a little about the animated short films (you can even watch some on Youtube) The first film called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his pants") was released in 1956, and the cute main character won itself an enormous popularity in many Eastern European countries as well as Germany, Austria, India and China. Production for further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around 50 episodes have been created.

The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors, reducing the speech to short non-figurative exclamations in order to express the mole's feelings and world perception. They also became the bottleneck of the creation process as they were the ones who got to see the whole film first, thus Miler was able to decide whether the message of the movie was able to get to children or not.
The Little Mole Collection is on my wish-list! When our last dvd player died we got a multi region dvd player and it has played everything perfectly. Let's not get off onto movies/dvds I could probably have a third blog dedicated to those!

Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel - by Zděnek Miler, published in 2007 

Twins

The other day I was working on cleaning the very top of our bookshelf off. Going through the really big books we store at the top (the ones that are too tall to fit on any of the actual shelves) and I discovered a twin!

I never realized it because when I bought my first copy (the kid's on the rocking chair) we tucked it away with the tall books. The books are very similar inside, except the inside front cover...the back covers match exactly. Of course everything else inside the books are the same, but I am so thrilled to have both editions. Nothing better then finding treasure on your very own bookshelf!

A Giant Golden Book
arranged by Norman Lloyd
Pictures by Mary Blair
carousel cover published by Golden Press 1955
rocking horse cover published by Golden Press 1968

the devil's in the details

Helter - Skelter - Land

This book has got it all.... beautiful inside covers, mushrooms & trees with faces, dunce caps, bunnies in bed! But the thing I love the most about this book is the handmade library card on the back cover.  I especially love that this book is #3270, which probably means H. Wood had atleast 3,270 books in his personal library for lending :) :) He (or someone) even wrote his name in the front of the book Harold K. Wood Dec 25th 1923.

Nancy And Nick in Helter-Skelter-Land by Olive Roberts-Barton, illustrated by E.R. Higgens
published in 1921 by George H. Doran Comapny

away....

I'll be away (in Seattle) scoping out used bookshops and rummaging through record bins....I'll return soon with even more to share!

Fairy Tales

Mother Goose by Doug Andrews published by Sam'l Gabriel Sons & Co. This book is really cool because it's called a "merrily-go-round book" It can be set up to make a complete circle. The pages fold back and out and have tabs to slide into little slots. It says "once set up the book can be hung from the string attached to the top. Pretty cool!

Cinderella Walt Disney's with illustrations from The Walt Disney Studio. This is one of the big oversized Golden Books. The photo is the back outside cover, both front and back cover are pretty beautiful!

My Book Of Little Red Riding Hood again a big oversized book. Inside the books reads The beautiful pictures are by Lupatelli. I love that.

Sweets for the sweet

Sticky Stanley written by Thomas Crawford and illustrated by Dodie O'Keefe. I love this book because all the pictures are red/white/and black. I love that polka dot one. Published by Troll Associates in 1970.

Raggedy Ann In Cookie Land by Johnny Gruelle published in 1960 by the Bobbs-Murriell company. I love the illustrations in these books, and in the opening of this book Raggedy Ann and Andy eat some icicles that are like frozen soda water. Flavored lemon, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. :)

Hansel And Gretel You might reconize that this book is not illustrated but film stills from Hansel & Gretel: An Opera Fantasy which came out in 1954. The photos are a bit blurry in the book, but I loved the movie as a kid, so I am happy to own a copy (even though someone has scribbled through out parts of the book) The book was released in 1955 by Fernand and Spertus.

Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill magazines...four issues all 1958 editions. I love that the covers boast the better magazine for boys and girls. The magazine was first published in 1938 and again is still around today!

One of my favorite things is inside the Oct 1958 edition. It's a little faux paper called The Rabbitville Gazette, and you can read Madam Gaza's horoscope column, check out the bunnies' fall fashion, or read a little raccoon comic strip.