Having enjoyed our summer break it’s now time to start replenishing the shelves. This is a quick preview of some newly listed items.
Ginger the cat - the strange tale of a tail. A Tuck Book published by Raphael Tuck in 1945. If ever there was a bold, bad cat, it was Ginger! Beautifully illustrated in full colour by Harry Woolley.
Ginger the cat is now sold, thank you for your interest.What to look for in autumn illustrated by the wildlife artist C. F. Tunnicliffe (1901 – 1979) published by Ladybird books in 1960. C.F. Tunnicliffe was commissioned to illustrate five books for Ladybird: What to look for in spring, What to look for in summer, What to look for in autumn, What to look for in winter (first published 1959-1961) and a ‘Learning to read’ book The Farm.
A selection of fun annuals; 
The Teddy Tail annual featured here is now sold but we do have others in stock.
The Teddy bears picnic and the frog and Miss Mouse's wedding. Cookery for the very young, simple and safe.Colour illustrations throughout both books by Jill Mackley Hall. Recipes with ingredients that are simply assembled and need little supervision. All kinds of delights for the youngest child to try including crispy nutty delights, sardine crackers, Queens tarts, orange iceberg drink, banana spread, chocolate ice cream cups and corned beef whirls. Covers just a little rubbed on edges and some darkening to edges of pages else very good. Published in 1973. Priced at just £6.00 for the two.
A nice collection of the ever popular Pookie books by Ivy Wallace. Further details here
Ivy Wallace became a publishing phenomenon in the 1950s and 1960s with a series of children's books chronicling the adventures of Pookie, the flying rabbit who leaves his home in the Bluebell Wood to seek his fortune with a red spotted bundle tied on a stick; in the 1990s, she became one of the few writers to be rediscovered in her own lifetime.
A keen amateur artist, Ivy Wallace created Pookie during the Second World War. The books, beautifully illustrated by their author with every flower drawn from nature, became a worldwide success with the stories being translated into several languages and Pookie clubs as far afield as Australia, Canada and South Africa.
(The Telegraph online) Read moreCuckoo Cherry-Tree by Alison Uttley. A book of twelve original fairy tales for all ages, imbued with country lore and magic, with a background of woods and fields and cottages where simple folk live. Published by Faber & Faber in 1944. How nice it is to have the original dust jacket with this pretty book.
All the books featured here are available (unless previously sold) to view or purchase at
March House Books. Please use the quick search boxes on the home page or follow the links. Thanks to everyone who called in to wish me a happy holiday. I will be catching up with all your blogs just as soon as I can.
I was lucky enough to visit the magical Hay-on-Wye ‘book town’ and the wonderful Alfies Antiques Market in Marylebone and will be sharing some of the 'photos in a later post.
A few of the books acquired on my recent travels, some of which are available in my shop, others will be listed in the next few days.
And just to prove I did more than lounge around on my holiday...
Well, a girl can dream!
I will be listing other interesting things over the next few days so if you have a few minutes to spare why not pay a visit to
March HouseBooks where you will find...
My books are full of pictures of interesting places -
of circus tents and lions and clowns with funny faces!
Lots of lovely vintage books have come in over the last few weeks. Many are now for sale on my website, and others will be added over the coming weeks. Please take a look and be sure to let me know if you need more information or pictures.
Six pretty little die-cut shape books tied with a ribbon! The picture on the right is as I found them, but of course, I had to untie them (and tie them up again) to take the pictures.
All six books are from the Sleep-Time Tales series produced in Englandby Royle Publications for Mothercare. The stallholder I bought them from thought they were published in the 1960s or 70s, but I have no way of verifying it as they are all undated.
The titles are Peter's Band, Red Feather, Susan's garden, Sleepyhead, Bobby the little clown and Tommy's farm. Each measures 4" wide by 8" tall and each has about 8 pages. Each beautifully illustrated by Rosa Vela. If you would like more details please follow this
link
One of the pieces of fabric mentioned last week (
here) came in handy for this post!
The following three illustrations are from
Hullo Boys! An annual written by 'The Uncles' of the BBC published in 1925.
This unusual book is described as; A budget of good things written by The 'Uncles' on the Wireless. Lots of stories, including how Cole joined the Southern Army by Uncle Rob with illustrations by Peter Fraser, the giants pepper-box by Uncle Leslie with illustrations by Douglas Constable, the cave in the cliffs by Uncle Jeff illustrated by Savile Lumley and life in the tropics by Uncle Jim illustrated by Hume Henderson. Numerous colour plates and sepia drawings by various artists, including Jessie M King.
Because of the Sand Witches there "I am the one and only Sand Witch," said the creature, introducing itself. It was Mil's fault. She was the one who brought up the silly joke about how you can't be hungry on the seashore because the Sand Witch is there. Or maybe it was the fault of her brother Hamish because he asked what a Sand Witch was...
Especially Jennings! By Anthony Buckeridge, 1st edition in dust jacket published in 1965.
Shock for the Secret Seven by Enid Blyton, reprint published in 1966.
One of my favourite pastimes when I was young was cutting out and playing with paper-dolls. I've loved paper-dolls ever since and if this one is not snapped up quickly it’s going into my collection :-)
; Young World Productions Ltd,
London 1968. Four pages of colourful outfits with a press out and stand up doll on the back cover. There are also several painting pages, all clean and unused.
Now for two Vintage Thomas the Tank Engine Books;
The Little Old Engine (on the left) is a 1st edition published by Edmund Ward in 1959,
Henry the Green Engine is a reprint from 1961. Both are in good condition and both have the original dust jackets.
Do you remember
the BBC television programme called
Meet the Penguins? No? Neither do I! According to
Whirligig, a site dedicated to 1950’s British Television it aired in 1952, and each episode ended with this song;
"Don't you forget to wash behind your ears,
Don't you forget to wash behind your ears,
for if you forget to wash behind your ears,
you won't go to Snowland along 'a me"
This hardback book is a spin-off from the series, undated but probably c1956 produced by Publicity Products, London. The story is written by J. M. Smith Wright with illustrations by Sheila Findlay.
The Penguins live in the Antarctic in an igloo with a lovely big garden. Father Penguin enjoys rolling the snow-lawn and sweeping the paths. Mother Penguin is a very good cook and also enjoys making sandwiches of chopped shells and spiced seaweed. They have three chicks - Bessie, the eldest, a boy who loves fishing but tends to talk far too much, Boffles, the eldest daughter, and Bobo, the baby of the family.
I hope you enjoyed this quick look at some of our recently listed books. These and others like them are available to view at
March House Books.
If you are interested in any of the books in the above picture, please visit
March House Books and use the quick search boxes top left of the home page.
Thanks for your visit…
A little late on my Wednesday post. I thought I'd use it show you what I've entered for The Society of Illustrators Annual 52.
The Fairy Queen----------------------------------------------------------------
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Daga and the Trollsfrom Dag and Daga, and the Flying Troll of Sky Mountain
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This piece is from my Grimm and Other Folk Tales show. You can see the other nine pieces for the show as well as the extensive development work here. ----------------------------------------------------------------
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You chose wisely.
Good luck!
Thanks man! Hope all's well!
best of luck! great work!