Anna and The King of Siam

Anna and The King of Siam, published in 1944 by the John Day Company.  Illustrated by Margaret Ayer.





Whenever I find a treasure in an old and rare book shop or a favorite Antique store, I can't wait to learn about the history of the book.

It was like that when I found this beautiful edition of The King of Siam by Margaret Mortenson Landon.

In 1927 Margaret and Kenneth Landon signed up as Presbyterian missionaries to Thailand.  While living there Margaret read about Anna Leonowens who was governess to the Siamese Royal Family.  Here is a link to photographs of the family.

In 1937 after returning to the States, Margaret began her research into the life of Anna Leonowens.  The result in 1944 her novel became an instant bestseller.  





In 1950 she sold the musical play rights to Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammenstein II, who created the musical The King and I.

In this beautifully illustrated volume published by in 1944, you will also find Margaret Landon's story about how she wrote this book.  With serendipitous meetings and book discoveries her own story seems as magical as that of her heroines.

One of my favorite movies has always been The King and I.  I can almost feel how she must have felt seeing Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner dance across the screen to the music SHALL WE DANCE.

I have just placed this book in my shop For The Love of Old Books on etsy.

Sonny, A Christmas Guest

Not only is the binding gorgeous, with dark green background and lovely gold lettering, but there is still a hint of gold leafing on the edges of the book. 

 I love how each chapter leads with a beautifully illustrated Font letter. 

The illustrations are so enchanting, I did some research on the illustrator.

Published by The Century Company in 1904.

Illustrated by Fanny Young Cory.

Fanny Young Cory was born in 1877 and in 1895 an 18 year-old Miss Cory attended the Metropolitan school of Fine Arts in New York City. By the turn of the century, she was one of the best known illustrators in the country. She did covers and illustration for St. Nicholas, Life, Scribner's, Century, Harper's Bazaar and The Saturday Evening Post. She also illustrated many books including Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1902) by Lewis Carrol, and several books by Frank L. Baum, author of The Wizard of OZ. Who's Who of American Women listed F.Y. Cory in their First Edition, Volume One.

Written by Routh Mc Enery Stuart.
Working under the name Ruth McEnery Stuart, wrote a body of fiction and poetry based on the experiences she had in Arkansas, modeling characters, dialect, and even a fictional town on her interactions within the state. She was, both financially and critically, one of the most successful fiction writers of her time, and in recent years has been studied by feminist and social literary critics.

Between 1888 and 1917, Stuart published more than seventy-five stories, in addition to dialect verse. These works appeared in major magazines of the day, including Harper’s Bazaar, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Century Magazine, New Princeton Review, Delineator, The Outlook, and Lippincott’s Magazine. They were collected in twenty-three volumes. These include A Golden Wedding and Other Tales (1893), Carlotta’s Intended and Other Tales (1894); Solomon Crow’s Christmas Pockets and Other Tales (copyright 1896), In Simpkinsville: 


SONNY, A CHRISTMAS GUEST, is in my shop For The Love of Old Books.

Jane Austen

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books written by Jane Austen.

A while back I found a gift book published by Reader's Digest, and now I have found another.  Although it is not Vintage, I really think it would make a perfect gift book.  I always think of something Vintage being fifty years old.

This book was printed as a gift volume, illustrated by award winning Gene Sparkman. The illustrations have two page spreads in some instances.

A wonderful edition of Pride and Prejudice. Published as a special edition gift book, by Readers Digest in 1984.

The original insert describing this book was found inside.

It contains details about Jane Austen and her life. The volume is in lovely condition. The bottom cover is slightly raised. 329 pages and notes.

The cover and the binding are embossed in Gold lettering.

The Hardback cover is powder blue with a deeper blue binding. I will be designing a bookplate saying From The Library Of using one of the illustrations in the book.

Copyright 1984 
Readers Digest Association


I think that the illustrations are lovely.

I have added this treasure to my etsy shop, For The Love of Old Books.

The Book of Birds

I love books about birds.  Recently a blogging friend took one of these kinds of books and created a wall of bird art from a Vintage book of birds.





These two volumes are The First Work Presenting in Full Color all the major species of the United States and Canada.  Each book measures 10 1/4 x 7 inches.  Volume I is 345 pages, plus an index.  Volume II is 363 pages, plus an index.




When I found these lovely editions, I was taken with the many color illustrations as well as the black and white photographs, maps and renderings of birds.




Volume One contains, diving birds, ocean birds, swimmers, wading birds, wild fowl, birds of prey game birds shore birds.




Volume Two contains, owls, woodpeckers, flycatchers, crown jays, orioles, creepers, thrushes, swallows, tanagers, wrens, warblers, hummingbirds, finches and sparrows.




National Geographic Society, Washington D. C., 1937. Hardcover. Grosvenor Gilbert editor. Wetmore Alexander, National Geographic Society.




Illustrated by Major Allan Brooks (illustrator). Green cloth hardbacks are tightly bound with no marks. End papers of both are Flyways of North America. 





Each contains its own Index and Book II contains a section of Interesting Recoveries of Banded Birds. 




950 color portraits by Major Allan Brooks as well as numerous black and white illustrations and photographs. 





I have a collection of bird books on my mantle alongside nests, and all things nesting, which I enjoy. 





These two books are a treasure, whether used for decorating your coffee table, for the bird watcher as reference, or using them to take the prints inside these volumes to frame and hang on the wall.






I just added these two volumes to my etsy shop For The Love of Old Books.




Hope you enjoyed listening to the sounds of lovely birds.