Tuesday 14 April 2015

Noah's Ark and other recent finds!

I hope you enjoy this quick preview. If you would like to ask a question or need further information about any of the featured books, please click on the 'email me' link in the right-hand column.

Noah's Ark published by Valentine & Sons undated but c1921.  All kinds of well known and not so well known creatures are depicted including a Quadda, Caracal, Puma, Ounce, Phalanger, Ratel, Albatross, Secretary bird, Cavy, Cassowary, Margay, Ichneumon, Mangue, Sasyure and so on.
Strangely, none of the animals are in pairs.




Cinderella Toy Theatre / Panorama Book illustrated by Eulalie.  Stand the book on a flat surface and clip the covers together to see the story unfold before your eyes. The first act begins as soon as you open the cover...










Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp published by Faber & Faber, London 1981.  The story of Aladdin and his lamp brought to life with amazing full colour illustrations by the brilliant Errol le Cain.












The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley published by Macmillan Books in 1977. The story begins in the Anglican Church of Saint John, Worthlethorpe where Sampson the cat and Arthur the mouse live a quiet and happy life. Sampson has listened to so many sermons about the meek being blessed that he has grown quite docile and treats Arthur just like his brother. Although enjoying Sampson's company Arthur is a little lonely and with the approval of the parson invites the rest of the town's mice population to move to the church. It's agreed that in exchange for a little cheese, the mice will do a few odd jobs, like polishing the congregation's shoes and picking up the confetti after weddings...





The Amazing Adventures of Two Boots written by Ross Lynton with illustrations by Brenda Sheldon published by Collins in 1948. An imaginative tale of two boots who discover they can walk about by themselves. The boots are in great demand by all sorts of people, from message boys to policemen, but one person is too wily for them. This is the owner of a circus; a cruel man called Boiler Brown, who manages to catch the boots and force them to perform in his show.




Mr. Happy at the Seaside - A Mr. Men Word Book by Roger Hargreaves produced by Thurman Publishing in 1979.  Our son grew up with the Mr. Men books so this holds lots of happy memories for us.



Three of the ever popular Little Grey Rabbit Books





Gobbliwinks of Nonsense Land written by Leslie M Oyler with illustrations by Savile Lumley published by The Shoe Lane Publishing Company undated but c1927. Pamela and Hugh are playing in the garden when they notice a sign pointing to Nonsense Land.  Pamela finds it very funny because nurse is always telling her to stop talking nonsense!  The children follow the sign and it’s not long before they find three more signs pointing the way to Absurd Nonsense, Stuff and Nonsense and Utter Nonsense...







We've been enjoying lots of lovely spring sunshine over the last few days. The blackbirds are busy feeding their new brood, and the butterflies are basking on the rockery. Spring has definitely arrived in this part of England. I hope you are all enjoying some nice weather whatever the season.


***All the books featured here are now sold, thank you for your interest.

34 comments:

  1. ooooO! Look! Mr Men book!
    Well, along side all the ladybird books in the bookcase
    at the top of the stairs, are all the Mr Men and..and..the
    Little Miss books...And my favourite..Willow the Wisp.

    When my daughter was small, l'd put her to bed, she'd
    pick out a book, from that very same bookcase, she
    could'nt read then of course, but looked at the covers!
    So, l'd read a book for her. One night she said to me,
    "Daddy, fed up with these...make up a story"
    Now! I'm very good at that...Oh! Yes! HeHe! So, made up
    stories they were!
    One story l made up was about a penguin, who lived at the
    pole, found it to cold, and wanted to go somewhere warmer!
    Jumped on a small iceberg, and drifted to Africa. (Yes! Yes!
    l know...the ice would melt...But Hey! I'm telling the story).
    So, the penguin got into different adventures...She loved those
    stories. Even to this day, and she's 39 now, she always said l
    should have written those stories down.
    Can you imagine...Me! Me! An author..."Friends..Romans...Countrymen
    ....Lend me....." Yes! Well! :).

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    1. Go for it Willie, I want to know what happens to the penguin. Besides you are already a published author just think of all the brilliant comments you've left on this and other blogs! Now all we need is a publisher – is there anybody there???

      I think your daughter was a very lucky little girl to have all those stories read to her and more made up – what a lovely daddy you are.

      Hugs Barbara

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    2. What happens to the penguin...?
      Well...I manage to get the wrapper off...
      AND....Eat it! :).

      The other strange thing about my daughter,
      was, when reading Ladybird books etc...Each
      character has to have his/her own voice...Oh!
      No! "Daddy, read it properly". So, l had to read
      them all in the same tone and voice! But, as she
      got older, she understood better!
      After all...You can't have the Seven Dwarfs all with
      the same voice! That will never do!
      HeHe! Always gave Dopey the squeakiest/high pitched
      voice! (Used to cross my legs for that one). Bless!

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    3. You will have to get those books written and then turned into ‘talking books’ with you playing the part of all the characters. Your comments always leave me with a big smile on my face. hehe

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  2. What wonderful books and such a beautiful image of spring Barbara !
    Loved the story of the Church Mouse - how ingenious of the writer to assign such cute jobs to the mice in exchange for cheese! And then there are these Boots and the Bad circus master .. reminding me somewhat of Pinnochio .. The cover image of Aladdin is beautifully oriental ..
    Thanks for your wishes , am glad you are enjoying the onset of spring .. Here in Bangalore weather is beautiful with rain showers and a very bright rainbow :)
    wishes and love - Kokila.

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    1. Hello Kokila, I love the Church Mice books. The stories are fun, and the images beautiful.
      Bangalore sounds wonderful. The weather must be rather like England, sunny with some rain but without the rainbow. Have a super week, Barbara.

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  3. Beautiful books, and I love the cover of the Noah's Ark, along with that great fabric. All your books always have such great art. And I love the wonderful spring photograph. We are finally getting our crocuses and daffy-down-dillys with more peeking out and I can hear the baby birds chirping away.

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    1. Hello Alex, I love hearing the baby birds it’s a sure sign that warmer days are on the way. Our daffy-down-dillys are going over now but the cherry tree and the rock plants are starting to flower. I’m so happy to see them and the sun! Thanks for visiting, Barbara.

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  4. Wow, Gobbliwinks of Nonsense Land sounds like a delightfully funny read and I love the cover.

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    1. Hi Tracy, it’s funny, quirky and full of nonsense – just the way I like them. Thanks for your visit.

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  5. Story of Aladdin and his lamp , that's my favorite , all books look great :)

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    1. Hello Aunt Mary, It's one of my favourites too. Thanks for calling in, Barbara.

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  6. Aack! Your blog makes me want to regress back into childhood. Can I just read Aladdin and watch English butterflies all day? Love this post!!

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    1. I want to do that too! I wish I could move my entire stock outside so that I could sit in the sunshine and read. Enjoy your day, Barbara.

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  7. My daughter grew up with the Mr. Men books as well. Pleased to hear you are having some nice spring weather.

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    1. It’s wonderful Darlene, and it makes such a difference – I see smiling faces wherever I go.

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  8. I HAVE LITTLE GREY RABBIT! I DO! Oh Barbara, I finally have one of the books you feature! Good afternoon dearest friend! I am finally home from school and spring is finally here for us! We have had several days of warm weather and the leaves on the trees are starting to bud! We are terribly behind the rest of you all, but we are just as happy to celebrate LIFE!

    Beautiful wares, as always. Hugs to you! Anita

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    1. That’s wonderful Anita. The Little Grey Rabbit books are so sweet. It’s a warm sunny day today and life is good. Directly opposite my office window are two trees in full bloom, one covered in white flowers and the other yellow, behind them is a third tree with red leaves – glorious!
      Much love Barbara

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  9. My favourite is The Church Mouse, I love the expression on the cat's face and the reclining mouse. The butterfly is amazing.

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    1. I was so lucky to catch the butterfly a few seconds later he was gone. They flit around the rockery all the time but very rarely sit still.

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  10. What a stunning spring photo! I love it!

    I really enjoyed seeing all these books. I read all the Mr. Men books when I was growing up. The Cinderella book looks beautiful and as a child I would have loved the pop-up story. Gobbliwinks of Nonsense Land sounds like such fun. Thanks for sharing!

    Have a wonderful week!

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    1. Thank you Stephanie, I was lucky to get the picture butterflies move really quickly! Glad you enjoyed all the books, thanks for taking a look.

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  11. That Noah's Ark has such a beautiful cover, Barbara. And the story about the boots that could walk on their own reminds me of an Andersen story about a pair of red shoes that danced. Poor boots made to perform in a circus ~ wonder how they managed to get out of it? Glad to hear you're enjoying Spring! Over here, it's getting warm (itchy-back sort of warm). xoxo C.

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    1. I don’t know how the boots escape Claudine, but I might have to read the book to find out. It’s sitting on a shelf just by my desk so perhaps I will read a little of it when I have my coffee breaks. This ‘job’ has so many temptations!

      I’m not so keen on the itchy-back sort of warm, but I do love these spring time temperatures – sunny again today, yippee. Barbara xx

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  12. Oh wow! I adore the 1920s Noah's Ark book and the Cinderella Toy Theatre, too.

    The weather's also been wonderful here, let's hope it stays this way. x

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    1. I couldn’t agree more Yvonne. It would be nice to think we might get a few more days (weeks) of this lovely weather. Thanks for coming over, hugs Barbara.

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  13. What nice finds Barbara! That butterfly is lovely!

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    1. Hi Diane, I must admit to being pretty pleased with them. I’ve seen some of them before (like the Church Mouse and the Little Grey Rabbits) but the others are new to me, and I always like that.
      Barbara xx

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  14. I am awestruck by the beauty of your butterfly photo!! My children had The Diary of a Church Mouse when they were young and we always enjoyed reading it. I never realized there were more in the series.

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    1. Hello Teressa, I believe there are ten books in the Church Mouse series I can’t think of all the titles but these are some of them – the church cat abroad, the church mice take a break, the church mice spread their wings and the church mice at Christmas.
      I was very lucky to get the butterfly photo had I waited an extra second it would have been gone. Thanks for visiting, Barbara.

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  15. All these covers are adorable, but that butterfly - I simply love it.

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    1. Hello Donna, lovely to hear from you, thanks for all the comments I appreciate them very much. Barbara

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  16. Absolutely lovely covers Barbara. We are also enjoying the spring weather but they are warning that it is all going to change soon. Our blue tits have I think fledged while I was away and I am excited that a pair of robins have taken up residence in another little place that we have put up for the birds.

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    1. Hello Shashi, our neighbours have a robin nesting in their garden (I’m so jealous!) they also have a wren busy building nests. The same neighbour was telling me the male wrens chose a breeding territory in early spring and proclaim ownership through their song. He will then court any female that enters his territory, tempting her to use one of the up to six nests he has built. The female inspects them each in turn to determine which, if any, she will use. I had no idea they did that but found it fascinating and am just hoping that at least one of the nests is in our garden!

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I really appreciate your comment. Thank you!
Barbara xx