Abroad, a delightful travel book for children, is by Thomas Crane and Ellen Houghton, is written entirely in verse, and follows the adventures of a London family traveling in France. Found in the children’s section of the Internet Archive

The pictures in the book are gorgeous, and beautifully composed. Here is a sample.

You can look at the entire book (which I highly recommend), download it, and even order print copies on the Internet Archive display page.

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Many months ago I posted Dorothy Lathrop’s illustrations for The Light Princess and Marjorie Flack’s illustrations for Taktuk, an Arctic Boy, from the Junior Classics children’s literature collection that my family had on the shelf when I was growing up.

Here are Walter Crane’s prints for the volume of fairy tales.

The Frog Prince

Cat and Mouse in Partnership

The Fisherman and His Wife

The Bremen Town Musicians

The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats

The Goose Girl

Rapunzel

Pictures are roughly actual size, but you can click and zoom for a closer look.

More illustration.

The August, 1950 issue of the Boy Scout magazine Boys’ Life had the first in a four-part serial by Robert Heinlein, titled Satellite Scout. The cover illustration is by Chesley Bonestell, and the story illustrations are by Reynold Brown.

Click and zoom for a closer look.

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Anno’s Journey, by Mitsumasa Anno, is one of the most delightful picture books I’ve ever read. But actually you don’t read it, since it is an entirely wordless book that tells the story of a foreign traveler and the people and places he sees along the way. The book manages to combine information about traditional European economies, visual jokes on great works of art and literature, and numerous little stories and anecdotes tucked into each picture.

It’s also fun to find Anno in the pictures. He’s the little fellow on the horse wearing a hat.

The book begins with the arrival of Anno at the shores of a country, and trading his boat for a horse.

There are several consecutive stories in the book, including this footrace that continues through several pages.

These little jpgs can’t do it justice of course. A highly recommended book.

Here are Marjorie Flack’s illustrations from Taktuk, an Arctic Boy, which she wrote with Helen Lomen in 1928.

Swiftly they glided along.

“This little one found me.”

Taktuk was glad he was high above them.

Welcome home!

Pictures are roughly actual size.

The story is from the Junior Classics series, which I grew up reading. My mother received the books as a bonus when she purchased a set of 1959 Colliers encyclopedias.

More children’s books

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Here are some illustrations from Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories, a collection of moralistic tales for children published in 1964.

Front flyleaf, by Harry Baerg.

Many of the stories seem to include one or more large illustrations executed with great care, followed by incidental illustrations of lesser quality done by another artist, who is not credited individually. I’ve included both kinds of pictures here.

Peter Pays Up, illustrated by William Dolwick.

Diana’s Donkey Ride, illustrated by Harry Baerg.

Seventeen Cowards, illustrated by Manning de V.Lee.

End flyleaf by John Steel.

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Rick has been bugging me for a while to post some scans from I Am a Bunny, by Ole Risom, with pictures by Richard Scarry, from 1963. It is a very good choice for a spring day. For sheer joi de vivre and unadulterated adorableness, it is unsurpassed. It also has those thick pages that you can chew on.

Here are some poems and illustrations from The Goop Directory, written and illustrated by Gelett Burgess and published in 1913. Burgess is best known for his poem The Purple Cow. The complete title of the book is The Goop Directory of Juvenile Offenders Famous for their Misdeeds and Serving as a Salutary Example for all Virtuous Children.

NANCY BEAL
Throwing Away Things

On the sidewalk
Nancy Beal
Throws her old
banana peel;
Throws her apple
skin and cores,
Right in front
of people’s doors!
Isn’t that a
shocking trick?
Ask that Goop
to stop it, quick!

MASTER BILDAD
Selfish With Toys

A puppy, when he
gets a bone,
Will keep it for
himself alone.
So Bildad would not
share his toys
Or lend them to
the other boys.
He was a Goop;
and so are you
If you are ever
selfish, too!

AMANDA FISH
Stealing Sweets

If there’s sugar
in the dish,
Who will take it?
Mandy Fish.

If there is a
box of candy,
Just look out
for little Mandy!

She goops the fruit,
and leaves the peeling–
She calls it fun;
I call it stealing!

ISABEL McCLUNG
Sticking out Tongue

Do you ever
stick your tongue
Out, like
Isabel McClung?
No one but
a Goop would show
Rudeness such as that,
I know!
If you’re good,
take my advice;
Please don’t do it!
‘Tisn’t nice.

JOHN D. PELL
Ordering People

When John D. Pell
wants something done,
D’you think he asks
of anyone?
Oh, no! He orders
someone to,
With “Get my hat!”
or, “Tie my shoe!”
The Goops all say
rude things like these,
But you, of course,
say, “If you please!”

ELIZA PUDDINGFOOT
Cheating at Play

If you should ask
why Rosamund
Eliza Puddingfoot
was shunned,
I’d say, because
she’d always cheat
In every game,
so she could beat.
Only a Goop
would act that way
And be dishonest
in her play.

Here is the entire collection read aloud by Andrea L, courtesy of Librivox

Here are a few pages from a little book of gender-role education that I was given as a wee child. It’s called The PeePul Pals Book, and was published in 1967.

As you can see, it contains every career option a girl could wish for:

stewardess… nurse…

ballerina…

bride…

mommy…

and, of course, baby.

Aren’t the illustrations cute, though? They’re by John Johnson.

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