Vintage Thingies Thursday - more vintage books!

It's Vintage Thingies Thursday! I know I said that the Seattle Antiques Market was a bust, but I did find a few things that I liked enough to pick up and buy. See the books below? I'll be talking about those. See the maps below? I won't be talking about those. Yet. Stay tuned, though, they're pretty great.

I'll start by saying that if you were born in the 50s or 60s you probably recognize these books. There were at least 20 different books in this series at the antique store so I assume they were pretty popular. I love them. They look pretty cute on the front but then you turn them over on the back and they are just as cute on the back too! Can't you visualize these sitting on the shelf in a kid's room? I can!




The first book is from 1961. Here are the stories in it:

Robin Hood ... retold by Mary MacNab
Heidi Goes to the Pasture ... Johanna Spyri
The Walrus and the Carpenter ... Lewis Carroll
How the Camel Got His Hump ... Ruyard Kipling
Mop Top ... Don Freeman
One Horse Farm ... Dahlov Ipcar
What the Good-Man Does Is Always Right ... Hans Christian Andersen
Hunters from the Sky
Thomas Jefferson: Father of Democracy ... Smith Burnham
The True Book of Health ... Olive V. Haynes R.N.
Tricks to Fool Your Friends ... Robert North
Let's Go to Argentina

Can I just say "two of these things just don't belong here". "Thomas Jefferson" and "The True Book of Health" in a children's book? So funny!


The next book is copyright 1957. I think I like the cover on this book the best. I don't know why. Maybe it's the fall leaves in the window, or the little boy who is barefoot on a wood floor. Or, maybe it's the greenery. Anyway, I love it! I'm noticing a theme with the stories. A story about a president and a story on a country. Here is a list of the stories...

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Town ... Sara Cone Bryant
The Ugly Duckling ... Hans Christian Andersen
Yonie Wondernose ... Marguerite De Angeli
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and Other Verses ... Edward Lear
Chicken Little
We Live in Air ... Craig and Baldwin
Little Folk's Party ... Florence Hamsher
Kiki Loves Music ... Charlotte Steiner
Dog Friends
Benjamin Franklin ... James Baldwin
This is Mexico


The third and final book has a picture of a king with a pie and blackbirds flying out of it. It's under the umbrella of "Mother Goose Rhymes" in the table of contents - does anyone know what the actual rhyme is called? Maybe the most important question is: What is the point of the rhyme? I mean really - a blackbird nipping the nose off a helpless maid? How horrible! Here's the rhyme if it helps:

"Sing a song of sixpence
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting-house
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlor
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes,
Along came a blackbird
And nipped off her nose."

Poor little maid. Oh, the book is copyright 1958 - the year my dear mum was born. I don't really call her "mum". I don't call her "dear", either, even though she means a lot to me as mothers should. Mom, if you're reading this (which I know you're prone to do), sorry for telling the known world your birthdate. If it makes you feel any better, I only have 7 people who follow my blog. Maybe a spattering of D's friends, too. Some family. People who like vintage things. People in general.

Moving on. Here is the list of stories since I'm sure you've been waiting for me to get to this already:

Ulysses and the Wooden Horse of Troy ... James Baldwin (Note from JB: Ha! This is the exact masculine form of my name! I noticed it in the other book as well. Good old Jimmy)
Old Mother Goose Rhymes
Billy and the Bear ... Laura Bannon
Ten Little Indians
The Sleeping Beauty ... Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm
Andy and Polly ... Rhea Wells
Robert Fulton and the Steamboat ... Smith Burnham
Life on a Farm ... Robert S. Lemmon
Miss Ant, Miss Grasshopper, and Mr. Cricket ... Rachel Field
Let's Visit Alaska (Note from JB: Everytime I hear or see the word "Alaska" I hear Sarah Palin say it in my head. Or Tina Fey. Anyone else?)

I guess this book didn't find it necessary to educate kids on a president.

That's all I have for "Vintage Thingies Thursday".

Two additional weird things about me.
Or, maybe just stupid.

Either way, here goes. When my mom would wake me up in the morning for school, I would do one of two things after I finally dragged myself out of bed.

------1. I would go downstairs and turn on the clothes dryer then sit in front of it. All my mom knew was that I wasn't in bed anymore. What she didn't know was that I was sitting against the dryer sleeping to the murmurings of the "toss" cycle (again, sorry Mom).

------2. I would get in the shower but I would turn on the warm water and sit in the floor of the shower and fall asleep. I still don't like to get up in the morning but I don't resort to either of these two weird ways of waking up.

When I was in 1st grade our elementary school held an election so that we could feel like our vote counted in some way. I didn't have any idea what was going on. Yes, this is how little politics were discussed in our house. I voted democrat at the ripe age of 6. Oddly enough, my classmates made fun of me for it. Was I supposed to have a political platform in elementary school? Apparently, some parents think so (I won't go into that here).

If I can humiliate myself any more I'll be the first to let you know.