Monday, March 17, 2008

Day One: Vintage Children's Illustrations


I'm joining in on the new meme by Pip from Meet Me at Mikes - A Week of Vintage Children's Book Illustration. Seeing as though my sister and I had just finished going through my mum's old trunk full of our childhood books - yep, she'd kept them all!! - I could hardly not join in. I had so much fun pointing out all the gorgeous illustrations to my sister (who to her credit refrained from rolling her eyes at me as she picked out her own - less old - books from the stash). I mean really, look at the picture above, how gorgeous is the detail on the dress!

So anyway, if you're guessing that my take on this meme will be "Vintage Children's Illustrations From Books That I Read BEFORE They Became Vintage"....then uh, yeah. You guessed right. Hope you don't mind. It's hard to resist such a happy walk down memory lane....

Now I must admit I do not know who is and is not famous in the children's illustration circles. I just know what I like. And so many of my childhood books I loved as much for their pictures as their stories. This one I really love. I remember so vividly the feeling of wonder I had as a child reading this book.



The book is one of the Rand McNally Junior Elf books, called Humpty Dumpty and Other Mother Goose Rhymes, with illustrations by Mary Jane Chase. Published in 1952.

There are many two-toned illustrations in it, which left me a little nonplussed as a girl, but I have a bit more of an appreciation of them now - although they still don't hold the magic of the full-coloured pictures. So anyway, these are just a sample of my favourites from this book.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing these. What great illustrations. It's so weird and wonderful looking back at the things you loved as a kid, isn't it?

Sherrin said...

what a beautiful book... you must be rapt your mum kept them all :o)

vanessa said...

these are so adorable. it's fun being nostalgic. and look at that jack horner... quite a dapper young fellow!

Melanie Gray Augustin said...

Beautiful books!

I wish my mum had kept ours, they were all given to my cousins. I'd love to have them to give to my future kids.

Bird Bath said...

Lovely illustrations...all the more special because you can remember reading them as a child :)I also love checking out the clothes featured in vintage books- they're always so stylish!

Corrie said...

oh you're so lucky your mum kept your books! my mum kept a few but gave away so many and I just have to hunt them down for keira and my hubby now knows what he's looking for when we go to fetes and op shops!

how was knitting???????

Anastasia said...

really beautiful illustrations!! how wonderful you still have your childhood books!