Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Good book finds Tuesday

Okay, so I didn't find any high priced books but I still had fun. I always have fun book hunting. It's a veritable treasure hunt full of surprises.


I ended up at a little thrift store I occasionally visit, located on the main drag.
The door of this store had was open today to let in the fresh air. When I drove up there was an elderly man with a cigarette in his hand standing in the parking lot talking to someone seated in a car, the engine running. I stepped inside the store and began looking through the books. But the cigarette smoke was coming through the front door, competing with the fresh autumn breeze. For a couple of minutes, I tried to ignore the smoke and concentrate on books. Then I decided to pull my shirt over my nose and kept scanning titles. About the time I did this, the nice, elderly man came inside and I didn't want him to see me with my shirt pulled up over my nose so I jerked it back down. Thank goodness he finished that cigarette.

And thank goodness I got this book for a buck:
Betty Cornell's Teenage Popularity Guidecopyright 1966
Library of Congress
Catalogue Card No. 53-10967
*My copy is the twelfth printing
Artwork by Abbi Damerow
The cover is a wonderful pink and oh so feminine hue, with cutesy innocent teenage girls peeking out at you.
So much to read and so much to giggle at!

Betty, you're so funny! You say some of the darndest things!
You warn me not to squeeze hickies, tell me to shave my legs up to half my thighs and bleach the rest, cover my head in church, have a wisp of veiling at an evening wedding and keep myself tidy and clean, all the way down to my underwear (you recommend only nylon).
Betty is also concerned about not letting teen girls walk the streets looking like hookers.
"How you look on the street is a question that seldom troubles many of us, yet it is a mighty important one. City officials have been driven to despair by the sight of young ladies traipsing up and down their town in short shorts and bedraggled dungarees. Whether you realize it or not, some so-called 'informal' dress is enough to make adult blood pressure rise to the boiling point. For Heaven's sake, have a little pity on others and a lot of pride in yourself: put on a skirt when you're shopping." Chapter 9 "What To Wear Where" page 55. If only Betty could have predicted what we have to live with today: People of Walmart. She would have a coronary!

Here is a scan of the inside cover. Unfortunately mine came without the dust jacket so I had to snag the above picture from the 'net.

If you enjoy teenage guidebooks from the 1960's and earlier, keep an eye out for this little gem. Abebooks has I believe 3 copies for sale with the average price of around $12.00. Amazon also has 3 copies with the same average price.

My hat's off to Betty Cornell. Thanks for the most interesting advice I've ever read about hickies. You're the best, Betty.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Wigger - a taboo name and a rare Dell children's book from the 1970's


Everyone knows that this word has become taboo 30 years after this book's release.
However, due to the controversial title of this children's book and its somewhat rare status, I found only 7 copies on Amazon, the first starting at $40.00. I was skeptical so I checked on ABE Books and found similar pricing.

This book is sad story of Susanna and her talking blanket.
"Susanna's security blanket was her only friend."

©1974
Dell Publishing Co., Inc. NY NY

Original price was $1.50.

The author, William Goldman,
also wrote The Thing It Is...., Marathon Man, Magic, Boys and Girls Together, and The Temple of Gold and produced several screenplays.
The illustrator was Errol Le Cain, a British animator and children's book artist.
I was able to snag this copy for a mere 15 cents. As is such, this is my rare book score of the week. And to think I was almost going to tear up this book and use the illustrations for collages. Oh the horror!

Friday, December 11, 2009

1950's cook book cover - marvelous!


Found this Thursday for a quarter while scanning some bookshelves on a half hour book hunt. It even has its dust cover - not so common for books of this age.

The illustrations are by Josephine Irwin.

©1955 by Peter Pauper Press, Mount Vernon, NY












Peter Pauper Press also published a
related book, King of Hearts Drink Book
the same year.




The original price for these books was one dollar.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Wednesday book finds


Book hunting is fun, even when you don't always find something and walk away with hands empty.
One never knows what they might find or what might be hidden on the bottom of a dusty shelf in some dumpy little thrift store. The goods are there and sometimes you have to dig.
When I had to run a couple of errands yesterday, I stopped by a little thrift store that's becoming a favorite book haunt for me. It's Christian run as most are. However, their prices are very low and no one there seems too interested in what books they receive as donations. Of course this is to my advantage. This store's book prices are simple and cheap: paperbacks are 50 cents and hardbacks are a dollar. No arbitrary pricing, no large orange stickers with outrageous prices on the covers - this a bona fide down home good place. I don't have to worry here as I can grab a stack and not have to put some back.
Although I didn't find anything extremely rare, I did find some good stuff for clipart and collage and for my self interests - one of which is astronomy. Ranger To The Moon
by Willy Ley
________________
A musty Childcraft book circa 1961 of Folk and Fairy Tales - these books are excellent for clipart and collage. The illustrations are amazing in the older volumes. These books are easy to find and recommended for clipart geeks. You might want to stick with the editions earlier than the 1970's as they usually have better illustrations.


©1961 Childcraft series
Folk and Fairy Tales

















The Southpaw
by Donal Hamilton Hanes


This is the 1949 printing
















Scan of back cover (I like this more
than the front cover)

Published by Comet Books
Rockefeller Center
New York 20,
New York














Life Science Library
Energy by Mitchell Wilson
and the editors of Life



©1963 by Time Inc.
Library of Congress number 63-21614















And another copy of Maus - My Father Bleeds History
by Art Spiegelman



The story of Maus contains a biography of sorts about the life of Spiegelman's father who grew up as a Polish Jew and learned to survive under the Nazi regime.
Highly recommended.
Stunning artwork and heart wrenching as well. This comic book novel took 13 years to complete.












And a spread from the comic book