I was born in 1948, just six years after the first twelve Golden Book titles were published, and they have been present in my life ever since...when I was a child, when my daughter was growing up and now that I'm a grandmother.
Probably my most vivid memory of a Little Golden Book involves something that happened when I was four years old. My father cut his finger badly with the blades of an oscillating fan. He was frantically wrapping his hand with a towel, and my mother was approaching hysteria, until I walked in, book in hand, and said, "Don't cry, Mommy. Doctor Dan the Bandage Man will make Daddy better than new."
Naturally a four-year-old would think that. After all, the book did come with six real Band-aids. That feature makes this book historically significant, because it marked one of the first ventures into book and product joint packaging. The first printing of this book in 1951 was 1.75 million, the largest Little Golden book first printing to date.
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| Doctor Dan the Bandage Man Little Golden Book amazon.com |
Here are some of the other Golden books that I remember fondly. The image of the Cheshire Cat will always remain in my memory, as will the words "I think I can, I think I can," but no book will ever have a place in my heart like Lady and the Tramp, my all-time favorite. Every time Grandson #1 says, "Read it again, Grammo," I realize how profoundly and magically these books have affected five generations of our family.
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| Alice in Wonderland Big Golden Book antikewl.com |
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| The Little Red Caboose Little Golden Books goodreads.com |
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| Peter Pan Little Golden Book goodreads.com |
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| A Day at the Seashore Little Golden Book amazon.com |
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| Tootle the Train Little Golden Book flickr.com (try-whistling-this) |
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| Lady and the Tramp Little Golden Book goodreads.com |
Of particular interest to lovers of mid-century design is the author of these books. Ole Risom, the brother of designer Jens Risom, was vice-president and art director of Golden Books Western Press from 1952 to 1972. He then became vice-president and associate publisher of the juvenile division of Random House when they acquired Golden Books in 1972. He retired in 1990 but remained a consultant thereafter.
He authored a number of Golden Books, including the ones shown here, which were illustrated by Richard Scarry.
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| I Am a Puppy, I Am a Bunny and I Am a Mouse, written by Ole Risom and illustrated by Richard Scarry preschoolathome.typepad.com |
From nytimes.com and randomhouse.com
So funny that you mention these...I happen to have a stack of vintage Golden Books, 3 of which are collectibles, to get rid of...I collect vintage books, not children's books, but when I come across these, I always get them because they are so darling. I even have the Little Golden Book, "Wagon Train" based on the tv show of that time. I'm sure everyone remembers that show.
ReplyDeleteI would think that Golden Books are highly collectible, so I'm sure you won't have any trouble selling them.
DeleteSuch a sweet post! And nice to see so many of these are still read by little ones today.
ReplyDeleteIt really is fun to read the same stories to the boys that were read to me and that I read to their mother. And they seem to enjoy them as much as I did when I was their age. Amazing!
DeleteVery nice post! These books are not only appealing as reading material, but as objects. They have nice heft, great colors and graphics, and just exude nostalgia. And "I Am A Bunny" goes perfectly with my Danish furniture and tangerine/sky blue color scheme. It sits on a vintage British folding school desk scratched with things like "Ian 4 Anna" and "Shaz 4 Wez." I've also been enjoying finding paperbacks from Scholastic Book Services that we would order from our classrooms in grade school (in the 1960s). And I also love those 1950s Perry Mason and pulp paperbacks with the leggy blondes on the cover. This all makes collecting so fun!
ReplyDeleteI bet your school desk and Golden Book display is great. What a good idea! There really is something highly appealing about vintage books, isn't there?
DeleteHow Sweet! My love for the story and 1950 Disney movie "Cinderella" came from a Little Golden Book, My Great Grandmother Avery would read it to me over and over (Her choosing this book to read to me was more for the "It's Possible" mantra v.s. poor girl growing up to be a princess) I have the same book she read to me from and intend to read it to my kids someday. How serendipitus it was 11 years after my Great Grand mothers last oratory of the book (she was killed in a car accident in 1999) I would land a job at the Theatre for set design/dressing and my very first paid show would be Rodgers and Hammerstiens "Cinderella". She was infact right, "It's Possible" :)
ReplyDeleteAw, such a wonderful story about your great-grandmother! I know she was looking down on that Cinderella set with tremendous pride!
DeleteI think one book had clock hands to teach you how to tell time. In elementary school we would get a weekly reader magazine. Still have the first one from 1963 and the whole collection up to the late 60's. Perhaps a post on them would be fun?
ReplyDeleteI don't think I had the one that taught you to tell time, but how well I remember Weekly Readers! I loved those things.
DeleteThat is awsome the book came with bandaids and what a cute story. *heheh* Doctor Dan.
ReplyDeleteI want to start collecting golden books for the future... but I think of how many there actually is and the task seems OVERWHELMING. *AAHAHHAAH*
Yes, I read that they had 1200 unique titles in 2002 when they celebrated their 60th anniversary, so it's bound to be 1500 or more by now. Buying all those new would be pretty costly as well, because they're selling now for $3.99, as opposed to the 25 cents they cost when I was a kid.
DeleteVery sweet post Dana, love the train books, will look out for them! :)
ReplyDeleteGrandson #1 is obsessed with The Little Red Caboose right now. I can't begin to guess how many times I've read it in the last few days. :)
DeleteMe thinks you might be enjoying it too, your making lovely memories!
ReplyDeleteI confess that my favorite part of their visits is reading time. When I have both those angels in my lap and they're hanging on every words and picture, my heart melts.
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