Featured Anyone know of a good site to research 19th & 20th century childrens books?

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/merry-christmas/author/simkhovitch-natasha/
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https://www.rubylane.com/item/95984-14950/Merry-Christmas-1943-First-Edition-Book

 

The illustrations in the book I'm looking for were all photo plates of antique toys, although I'm sure they weren't antique at the time. I think it had to be late 1800s early 1900s and it was definitely English.

Several of the sites I looked at expect either a title or an author in order to search. I'm going to look at all of them now!

 

I posted on that site to see if anyone can help. Unfortunately, many of the other posts are for books from the 80s and 90s which means there probably aren't too many on there in the age group I'm looking for!

 

My parents ran a second hand store and some of my childhood was spent in 'foster' homes because my mother couldn't always take care of me. I either got books second hand or from the little old ladies who cared for me. That's why I had such old-fashioned books. Another I still have is called The Golden Breasted KooToo and other Stories. Mine isn't in as good shape as this, but here's the cover. They were much more interesting than a lot of kids books from the 50s.

 

NICE! Love it!

 

I got a 'Girl's' book from '72 yesterday. I'll post it soon.

 

1872 or 1972??? LOL

 

There was a children's book expert on the old Booksellers Board on eBay. He has his own website, but unfortunately I don't know it off the top of my head.

 

Bev, there is a childrens bookshop in hay on wye that lets you search by, say, pig or dog. Childrensbookshop.com

 

Good point!
19

 

@Bev aka thelmasstuff - that illustration reminds me of some of drawings in my beloved Oz books from the 1920's; who was the illustrator?

 

I've been trying all these sites with. no luck. Maybe eventually. My daughter has asked for all the old children's books so I'm trying to replace some that are gone.

 

Did you try finding 'Firsts' magazine online?

They have children's book shops' as advertisers and if you can't find info from them online maybe if you call they can steer you to some.

 

Bev, if you don't mind I'll post this on a couple of email discussion groups that I belong to. One is for librarians, mostly. It's to answer difficult reference questions. They are not dedicated to children's books, and I haven't seen them answer one about a book this old, but maybe?

The other email list is newer to me, and seems to have a combination of librarians and booksellers in it. They usually deal with more sophisticated bibliographical questions and I'm not sure whether this kind of question is welcome or not. I would check out their archives a bit before posting.

Is it okay with you if I do this?

 

Books of Wonder has been in the business for a long time & deals in antique as well as modern children's books. Another possible resource.

 

Go ahead and post elsewhere. I'm trying to remember - I think it had a blue cloth cover with a picture actually pasted on the front of some toys on wheels.

 

Bev, I just sent a message on to the first of the two lists, including all of the pieces of the description that you've mentioned in this thread. I decided to wait to see replies before posting to the other list. (Since I'm still not sure if they like posts of this nature on the other list.)

 

@Bev aka thelmasstuff , one person has replied to my query about your book. What do you think?

Sounds like this might be The Perfect Zoo by Eleanor Farjeon. It's for sale on ebay (https://tinyurl.com/yb4nqb57) and includes the following description:

When Uncle Ben walked into the children's bedroom to try and quieten them, they all threw their toys at him, and Peter flung Nimbo, the old blue clown, into the coal-cuttle.
"You have hurt your toys," said Uncle Ben, "you have mad your clown ill, you won't go to bed, and you have turned your home int a Perfect Zoo." Then he counted One-Two-Three to give the kiddies a last chance of getting into bed, but they would not obey - and suddenly they found themselves changed into their own toys and condemned to remain so until they had found the Green-Headed Beetle whose toasted cheese alone could make poor Nimbo well. Off went Peter (now a teddy bear), Betty (now a fluffy terrier), and Pat (now a plush bulldog), and ran into all manner of thrilling and delightful adventures with the Leggy Rabbit, the monkey, the duck, and many other acquaintances, until they found the Green-Headed Beetle - sitting in front of their own nursery fire at home, toasting cheese! So they managed to heal Nimbo and get into their own skins - and went straight to bed!

First published in 1929, this is the 1947 edition.

 

No, sorry. This is way too new. The book I'm looking for was published either late 1800s or very early 1900s. Thanks for trying.

I believe the story is that the little boy fell asleep and dreamed that his toys had come to life and they had adventures. When he woke up, the beetle on wheels was toasting a cheese sandwich on its feelers over the fireplace. There weren't any adults in the story that I recall, but it's been many decades.

 

Here's a picture of what one of the toys would have looked like.