Andrea Immel

According to the 6^th edition of John Carter’s essential ABC for Book Collectors (1980), “condition” in book collector’s mind “means a good deal more than the volume’s superficial, physical appearance; for the term covers the completeness and integrity of the contents, a proper degree of margin, etc., as well as the beauty or appropriateness or originality, and the state of preservation of the covering.”

Children’s books obviously weren’t on Carter’s radar screen, because if you want to collect historical children’s books, almost nothing comes up to the gold standard.

"Nye Billed=A,B,C for Børn," page 1 with 'annotations'

“Nye Billed=A,B,C for Børn,” [Aalborg, 1778]. page 1 with ‘annotation’ (Cotsen)

Take the Danish alphabet book, Nye Billed=A,B,C for Børn [New Illustrated ABC for Children] (Alborg, 1778), in the Cotsen Children’s Library. It is one of the earliest alphabets of proper names I’ve ever seen and unusual for having been designed as a set of little picture cards, which were probably supposed to be cut apart for teaching reading. This alphabet passes the rarity test: when I couldn’t find a description of it, I wrote to a Danish colleague for help. She was absolutely thrilled, because she had never heard of it either.

Many collectors would never consider giving shelf space to a scruffy pamphlet bound in wrappers of a thickish paper the color of burned oatmeal. To add injury to insult, most of the pages have been scrawled upon. None of it could be dignified with the term “marginalia.” But look closely at the “annotations” and you will find some absolutely delightful stick figures interacting with the illustrations. If given a choice between a pristine copy and this one covered with doodles, there’s no question in my mind which one is in superior condition…

Page 3: The letter J, as ‘annotated.’

Page 3: More ‘annotations.’

Page 4: Even more ‘annotations.’

Page 4: The Letter N, as ‘annotated.’

Mr. Cotsen could never pass by a really good example of an Art Nouveau picture book. At their best, the illustrations, decorations, bindings, and endpapers come together as a whole and I have always thought that appealed to him as a master packager (the original concept for Neutrogena products was all his). Here are four examples of German, Swiss, and Viennese picture books with especially striking endpaper designs.

Below is volume 3 of Jugendland (1903), a periodical for boys and girls edited by Heinrich Moser and Ulrich Kohlbrunner that was published by the Swiss firm Künzli. Its binding design, the endpapers, and title page are all executed by illustrator and caricaturist Arpad Schmidhammer (1857-1921). He got his start contributing to annuals like Jugendland and Knecht Ruprecht, but is perhaps better known for his propagandistic picture books like Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein.

Front cover. Jugendland: ein Buch für die junge Welt und ihre Freunde. Zürich: Gebrüder Künzli, [1901-1903]. (Cotsen 18814)

Endpapers. (Cotsen 18814)

Title page. (Cotsen 18814)

The illustrations for the binding, endpapers and title page of Gartenlaube-Bilderbuch der deutscher Jugend (1902), on the other hand, are more uniform in style and subject than those for Jugendland. The picture on the front board is by Hermann Kaulbach (1846-1909), a well-known painter famous for idealized pictures of children. No credits are given for the endpapers or title vignette, but someone made sure that the theme of books and reading was repeated on the title page.

Front cover. Gartenlaube Bilderbuch. Stuttgart: Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, [1902]. (Cotsen 19596)

Endpapers. (Cotsen 19596)

Title page. (Cotsen 19596)

Except for the goblin’s eyes peeking out of the “O,” the cloth boards of O Hastromanvi [The Goblin] (Prague: B. Koči, 1903) by Jožena Schwaigerová are conventional compared with the patterned endpapers. Both the binding design and endpapers contrast sharply with the rather severe title page, with the bold type cutting deeply into the thick paper. Whoever drew the repeat of frogs and pearls is not identified, so perhaps it was also the work of the Bohemian illustrator Hanus Schwaiger (1854-1909) who did the delightfully creepy pictures for the story.

Front cover. O Hastrmanovi. Praze: B. Kočí, [1903]. (Cotsen 22067)

Endpapers. (Cotsen 22067)

Title page. (Cotsen 22067)

There’s a frog prince on the front board of Ernst Dannheiser’s Miaulina: Ein Märchenbuch für kleine Kinder (Cologne: Schaffstein, 1902), but he hasn’t got any pearls on his crown. Illustrator Julius Diez (1870-1953) let his imagination run wild in this collection of fairy tales. In the book, the tales are told to an industrious little girl by the cat Miaulina, who is shown with a satchel over one shoulder. There is the repeat of the pine tree men and red squirrels on the endpapers, an added illustrated title page where Miaulina eyes little mice watering the garden, and title page dominated by the figure of a fantastically dressed Moorish slave boy, who bears Miaulina on a pillow amidst a riot of exotic birds. And I left out the illustrated vignettes of the poor veteran mouse begging in the cold and the jaunty little fellow riding a rooster, not to mention the frame of mice, beetles and weird rootmen enclosing the table of contents!

Front cover. Miaulina. Köln a. Rh.: Schafstein & Co., [1902]. (Cotsen 34365)

Endpapers. (Cotsen 34365)

Decorative title page. (Cotsen 34365)

Title page. (Cotsen 34365)

These exuberant picture books may be over the top, but their packaging gives contemporary bindings of laminated boards, or sober cloth backstrip and boards covered in a contrasting color, a run for their money…

Cotsen Children’s Library

Princeton University

Author Archives: Andrea Immel

Marks in Books #5: A Danish Alphabet Decorated with Stick Figures

Endpapers from Art Nouveau Picture Books