Awesome Vintage Illustrations

I've got a new book up in my Etsy shop, upcycled from a vintage 1952 childrens book called, "Little Brown Bear and His Friends", by Elizabeth Upham.  The best thing about it are the beautiful, bright, colorful illustrations.  Upham has created a charming little world for Little Brown Bear and his family and animal friends.  The back of the book has a two-page spread of a birds-eye view of Little Brown Bear's world - I want to live there!  The little, round house with the thatched roof would do just fine for me...how about you?

You can click on the images below for a larger view...

 

Vintage Girl Mystery Series

I recently found a vintage 1936 girl mystery book called "The Adventure Girls at Happiness House" by Clair Blank.  Just typing that makes me smile - what a great title!  It's about a group of girlfriends who go to college, join the Omega Chi sorority, and solve the mystery of a series of strange attacks on the Dean.  I had never heard of this series, but found some info about it on a great blog (Series Books for Girls) that lists descriptions and images of many vintage series books for girls.  I had no idea there were so many series published over the years!  I used to read the Happy Hollister series when I was a kid, about a family with five children who solved mysteries.  I read them over and over, and still have them all (I hope my daughter will enjoy reading them too).  Looking back, I think what I liked most about them, was the fact that these really very young kids (ages 4-12) were able to be so independent and self-confident, and even a little bit pushy about getting out and about, going where they needed to go and talking to the people they needed to talk to, in order to find the answers to solve the mystery.  Pushiness is not my strong suit - maybe I should read them again, and it will rub off on me...  Anyway, you can find out more about this book in my Etsy shop.

New Handmade Journal - "In Little America with Byrd"

This one-of-a-kind book is upcycled from a vintage 1937 edition of "In Little America with Byrd", written by Joe Hill, Jr. and Ola Davis Hill ('His Mother'!).  The book details the Second Byrd Antarctic Expedition, written by the youngest member of the group who spent two years in the Antarctic with Admiral Byrd, in order to further explore and map the region.  I've included over 40 pages from the original book, most of which are photographs from the expedition which show the journey, life exploring the area, and the way the men lived on the ship and in 'Little America', their home base, interleaved between 60 blank sheets of recycled, acid-free, 24 lb. white paper. 

Here's an excerpt from the forward to Hill's book, written by Admiral Byrd:

"Joe Hill, Jr., was the youngest man in my Second Antarctic Expedition, having barely attained the age of twenty at the time of our departure.  He served as my orderly on the way down and back.  He was a tractor-driver on the ice, having traveled hundreds of frozen mile around, over, and through treacherous and almost bottomless crevasses and in temperatures as low, at times, as 64 degrees below zero.  He stood the test.  He is one of the best men I have ever had on any of my expeditions.  With admirable patience and fidelity to duty and with all the courage that the occasion demanded he did his part to help make the expedition a success.  This story of his experiences, as told in this little volume by him and his mother, will charm all who like youthful adventure, and will not fail to inspire every American youth who reads it."

You can find more info about this and other awesome journals at my Etsy shop.