Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - October - 2012 Issue

Children's Books from Aleph-Bet Books

Andre Blandin's cubist ABC.

Andre Blandin's cubist ABC.

If oil companies can target children, then why not automobile manufacturers? Item 55 is Automobiles. With Jack and Jill in Motor-Car Land. Jack and Jill weren't fetching a pail of water. They were fetching a new automobile, and not any automobile would do. No Model T's or A's or Chevys. They wanted a Packard. I don't blame them. I want a Packard too. Unfortunately, Packard was not as successful at building brand loyalty with the next generation of children as Esso and Conoco and went out of business in 1958. That's a shame, as this story book clearly shows that Packards were a superior automobile. $100.

What could be cuter than a hippo? Actually, a lot of things are cuter than a hippopotamus, but not than these hippopatami (is that the correct plural?). Item 226 is Hi-Po the Hippo, a story by Dorothy Thomas with illustrations by Ruth Gannett. It is the story of a humanized family of hippos, which Aleph-Bet notes, is “illustrated with the most incredible full page and partial page color and black and white lithographs that bring this family to life.” Published in 1942. $500.

Item 1 offers an unusual combination of avant-garde art and an alphabet book. Circa 1913 it is A B C D by Andre Blandin. It features cubist drawings, a style that had just emerged with Picasso and others a few years earlier. Each letter has a one word description. However, the one word is presented in three languages: French, English and German. Aleph-Bet points out that very little is known about Blandin, but that he was associated with Guillaume Apollinaire, the writer who coined the term “surrealism” to describe his writing. $3,250.

From cubist letters we go to letter cubes: My Book of Letter Cubes. It is an ABC book that contains eight leaves of colored illustrations of letters, which can be clipped and glued on cubes. Item 29, circa 1925. $150.

Aleph-Bet Books may be reached at 914-764-7410 or Helen@alephbet.com. Their website is found at www.alephbet.com.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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