Added Value: Things found in books part fifteen

Today's find is this great old postcard;

The caption reads - hello, old man, any trouble?

Undated but probably 1930s?

Message reads; I thought of you last Sunday I went for a lovely sharp walk like you and I used to enjoy. It was dry and frosty but not too biting, the roads were fine. Elsie.

The Godstone and the Blackymore is now sold, thank you for your interest.

How about you? What do you use as a bookmark? Have you ever found a lost bookmark?

I thought I saw a pussy cat

Herewith, in no particular order, are my furry top ten!

The necessary cat by Nicola Bayley 

Did you know that the Savoy Hotel in London employs Kaspar, a wooden cat in dinner dress, to be the fourteenth guest for parties of thirteen – thus avoiding bad luck? Or that the Chinese Desert Cat has very hairy paws to protect them from the hot sand? Discover these feline facts and much more in Nicola Bayley's The Necessary Cat, a tribute to cats and kittens of all varieties. Exquisitely illustrated in colour - this one really is the cat’s whiskers.



Tiger by Nick Butterworth

Tiger isn’t a real Tiger but he is very good at jumping, roaring and pretending! Nick Butterworth’s illustrations are delightful. Dare I say this one is the cat’s meow?





A camping holiday by Kathleen Hale

This is the first book in the series introducing Orlando, his wife Grace and their kittens, Blanche, Pansy and Tinkle. In this story the family go on a camping trip and the kittens learn to swim, paint pictures and sleep under the stars.  Orlando the splendidly striped marmalade cat with eyes as green as gooseberrie is possibly one of the most widely recognised feline characters and also one of my favourites.






The Christmas day kitten by James Herriot

Debbie the little stray cat can often be found warming herself in front of Mrs Pickering’s fire but she is very shy and only stays for a short while. Then one snowy Christmas morning she arrives carrying a new-born kitten... A lovely Christmas story with very pretty illustrations.






The church cat abroad by Graham Oakley

The story of the Church Mice begins in the Anglican Church of Saint John, 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. In this story Sampson and Arthur decide to become film stars to help pay for repairs to the vestry roof. This leads to them becoming stranded on a South-Sea island from which they can only escape by masquerading as exotic animals.


Toffee's night noises by Sally Chambers

It's bedtime.Windows are closed, curtains drawn, teeth are brushed and lights turned off. All is quiet. Or is it? Toffee slips outside and finds the garden full of sounds. Moths humming, mice scratching, traffic rumbling and the town clock chiming but then Toffee hears a strange sound… 

Cat up a tree by Anne Isaacs

A collection of poems about cats with illustrations by Stephen Mackey. My particular favourite is – the fireman’s lament which begins “You can’t catch a cat with a ladder or rope, a dishful of fish or a hatful of hope. Forget the net: it will all come to naught unless the cat should decide to be caught. Take it from me: I've put in my share of bone-numbing hours thirty feet in the air, dreaming of home and a hot mug of tea while casting for shadows on top of a tree…”

A shop full of kittens by Ian Penney

In this hide-and-seek story, Mrs Tabby and her nine kittens live in the basement of a department store. The kittens love to hide among the clocks, carpets, china, foods and all the other wonderful things and Mrs Tabby has to go from one department to another to try to find them all before the store opens.





Cat in the Manger by Michael Foreman

A long time ago, in a faraway land, a cat lived in a barn. He had to share it with the other animals: cows and goats, chickens and mice! But that was all right; he was good at catching mice. Then, one wintry night, the door flew open and in came a man and a woman, to take shelter from the snow. Michael Foreman captures the wonder of the Nativity through the eyes of a little cat.




The Cat in the hat comes back by Dr. Seuss

Another of my all time favourites and one I couldn’t possibly leave out… the one and only cat in the hat. "So you see!" laughed the cat, "now the snow is all white, now your work is all done; now your house is all right! And you know where my little cats are?" said the cat. "That Voom blew my little cats back in my hat". 

Update August 2015 all the books featured here are now sold, thanks for looking.

Do you have a favourite cat book or one you think deserves a mention? I would love to know so please leave a comment. 

Noddy and Tessie Bear

"Sound the fire-bell, Mr. Plod," begged Mr. Noah. "Get everyone under cover. You don't know what's going to rain on us next - bricks, maybe - sticks, stones - why, there must be enemies about." "This is all very strange," said Mr. Plod. "I will put up a notice and offer a LARGE reward to anyone who can tell us what is happening. Get under cover, now!" Mr Plod went into the police-station, just escaping another egg, and wrote out a very large notice, which he pinned up outside the police-station.

Noddy and Tessie Bear Pg. 40
By Enid Blyton
Noddy and Tessie Bear sold, thank you for your interest.

The art of Kay Nielsen

The celebrated Danish artist Kay Nielsen was born in Copenhagen on the 12th March 1886. His father was the Director of the Royal Danish Theatre, and his mother, Oda Larssen, was a very popular actress and singer. Kay (christened Kai) was inspired to illustrate the traditional Norse sagas read aloud to him by his mother during his childhood.

Kay left home at the age of eighteen to study art in the schools of Montparnasse, Paris. From 1904 to 1911 he studied at Colarossi and the Academie Julian.  The Russian Ballet, which took Paris by storm while he was studying there, proved to be a huge inspiration which led to the distinctive and exotic costumes found on many figures in his later book illustrations.

Kay's most productive and successful period began in 1911 when he moved to London and held his first major exhibition at the Dowdeswell Galleries in New Bond Street (July 1912). The success of this exhibition led to Kay Nielsen’s first commission from Hodder & Stoughton - In Powder and Crinoline a collection of lesser known old fairy tales retold by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch.

By general consent, Kay Nielsen’s next book East of the Sun and West of the Moon: Old Tales from the North, was his most celebrated and spectacular success. The tales were translated from the Norwegian of two devoted collectors of Scandinavian folklore, Peter Christen Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe and published by Hodder & Stoughton in October 1914. 
In 1917 Kay returned to Copenhagen and was employed as the chief stage designer at the Danish State Theatre until 1923.  During this period he painted a series of illustrations for The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and A Thousand and one Nights but the printing of this work in Denmark was abandoned due to the high costs after the war.

 He returned to London in 1924 when Hodder & Stoughton published his edition of Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales.  This was quickly followed by an edition of Hansel and Gretel and other stories by the Brothers Grimm.   The illustrations for Hansel and Gretel and his later book Red Magic were exhibited at the Leicester Square Gallery in London in late 1930.

In 1938 he and his wife moved to Los Angeles where Kay managed to obtain occasional work as a set designer. He spent four years working for Walt Disney where his work was used in the "Ave Maria" and "Night on Bald Mountain" sequences of Fantasia. In 1942 he was commissioned to paint a large mural called The First Spring and a later commission was for an alter painting based on the 23rd Psalm for the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, this was completed in 1947, after which there was no more work for six years.   Even in his native Denmark, to which he and his wife returned briefly, Nielsen’s art was no longer in demand. He remained in artistic obscurity until his death in June 1957 at the age of 71.  

His books, however, have enjoyed a happy ending. Embellished with gorgeous watercolours, ornate endpapers and decorative motifs, they are now highly sought after by art lovers and book collectors worldwide.

The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen now sold, thank you for your interest.

I like the ethereal quality of Kay Nielsen's art - but what do you think?

Added Value: Things found in books part fourteen

Found - Edward's bookmark

Needlework classes at my school were all about making table mats and napkins decorated with cross-stitch but this is the first time I’ve seen a cross-stitch bookmark.  

I suppose Edward must be all grown up now – but Edward if you are reading this and would like your bookmark back let me know and I will return it to you.  

Found in The Joker and Jerry Again illustrated by Cecil Aldin

This is just one of several 'finds' this week I will be including some of the others over the next month or so.
The Joker and Jerry again is now sold, thank you for your interest
Thanks for calling in!

Jan Wahl: Pleasant Fieldmouse illustrated by Maurice Sendak

Thus he got ready and tied up the sandwiches in neat parcels with ribbons of grass. Then all of a sudden he knew he had left our something and went hurrying from poster to poster, scrawling under the bottom line, in yellow-coloured letters - since no other kind of paint was left - TUESDAY, although the manner in which he spelled it was TOOZDAY.

Pleasant Fieldmouse Pg. 13
By Jan Wahl with illustrations by Maurice Sendak