Lovely Book Covers

While it's true you can't judge a book by it's cover, it's often the very thing that draws us in. 

It could be lovely patterns or designs that beckon us.

image via Miss Beatrix

Little Forest, image via meedchen

image via Ruby Lane

image via Happiness Is

Even if it's in another language and we can't read it, good design is always good design.

Images via 50 Watts

Russian Children's book, image via SPACE IN TEXT

Beautiful illustrations don't hurt either.

image via Letterology

image via gin 'n' bird

image via Pinterest

image via vintage ephemera 

Curious subjects can also pique our interest.

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

image via tweedlebopper

Some books take us back to our youth.

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

image via Pinterest

I loved Pippi Longstocking as a child!

image via etsy

image via Pinterest

The Boxcar Children was another personal favorite :>).

Whatever draws us in, books are clearly one of life's simple pleasures and enjoyable pastimes.

Epaminondas Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

Today's vintage children's book is a lovely story, Epaminondas, beautifully retold by Eve Merriam and craftfully illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

"Epaminondas and his mother lived on one side of the hill. His grandmother and grandfather lived on the other side of the hill."

"Whenever Epaminondas went to visit his grandparents, they gave him something to take home."

"One day his grandmother gave him a big piece of cake that she had just baked. It was rich and yellow and round as the sun in the sky..."

"He held the cake tightly in his fist and walked down the hill carefully. He was careful not to trip on any pebbles along the way. And he headed straight home. He didn't even stop the watch the fish waggling in the brook. Or listen to the birds jabbering in the trees. He didn't whittle himself a stick. He went straight home."

"Epaminondas, sometimes I think you haven't even got the sense you were born with. That's not the way to carry cake. The way to carry cake is to wrap

it all up in leaves and put it in your hat and then put your hat on your head and come along home. Now, will you remember that?"

"Yes, Mama," said Epaminondas.

"The next week Epaminondas went to visit his grandparents again. This time they gave him a pound of fresh butter to take home. It had just been churned and it was cool and pale as moonlight and there were drops of moisture on it that sparkled like dew..."

"Soon the sun began to shine brightly...Epaminondas began to feel warmer and warmer. Pale, shiny drops ran down his forehead, matted his eyebrows, stuck to his eyelashes. He sniffed, and drops of butter sniffled into his nose..."

" After a while, Epaminondas went to visit his grandparents again, and they gave him a frisky little puppy-dog to take home. The puppy-dog yipped and yapped and flipped its stubby tail and flapped its floppy ears."

An excerpt from the jacket flap by Eve Merriam: "I loved Epaminonas; his adventures were funny, of course, but most of all I loved him because he was like me. I, too, had a knack for doing the right thing at the wrong time."

This is the kind of story that children love and parents enjoy reading because it is well written and well illustrated.

Epaminondas

Retold by Eve Merriam

Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

Follett Publishing Company, 1968

To view previous posts on Trina Schart Hyman, click on the links below:

Little Red Riding Hood

Hershel and Hanukkah Goblins

The Man Who Loved Books

The Quitting Deal

3D Paper Art, Russell Jackson, Bill Rhodes

Back in September 2011, I did a post on Volume 1 of the Childcraft How and Why Library. In that post I showed a papercraft illustration by Russell Jackson. I've had a few inquiries since then about Jackson.

I admire the skill and craftsmanship that went into this illustration and the photography.

I always intended to follow up with a post on Jackson, but a total lack of information about him has made that impossible, at least for me. To make things worse in my quest, there weren't any more color photos in Childcraft

of his illustrations or on the web. 

There are several black/white photos of small chapter illustrations in Childcraft that didn't reproduce well, technology being so different then, but I did select two of the better ones.

And this all that I can find in my 15 volume Childcraft or anywhere of Russell Jackson's work. Sigh.

I did however find other papercraft illustrations done by another equally talented artist, Bill Rhodes. But unfortunately more of the same - I couldn't find any information on Rhodes either except for one clue.

The illustration credits in Childcraft for Bill Rhodes credit him and Stephens, Biondi, De Cicco, Inc., a well known advertising and editorial art studio in Chicago, Illinois.

I came across a link to Stephens, Biondi, De Cicco, Inc. in a post done by Leif Peng on one of his blogs, Female Illustrators of the mid-20th Century, which led me to the below ad for them.

image via leifpeng's photostream

It's likely both of these talented gentlemen did advertising related work, which could account for the lack of information on them given the time period. If you have information on either Jackson or Rhodes, please share. It's always frustrating to arrive at a dead end with this type of thing.

This type of media that Jackson and Rhodes worked in is also called paper model or card model and is related to origami. Introduced in the early 1900's, it became popular during World War II in part because paper was not in short supply as many other items were. 

There are many artists currently working in papercraft and other paper media  making wonderful art. This media lends itself beautifully to children's books. Below are some examples below for you to peruse:

3D Paper Art by Cheong-ah Hwang via WonderHowTo

British Artist Su Blackwell via inhabitat

image via THE META PICTURE

image via DESIGN ILLUSTRATION

Outstanding work by artist Helen Musselwhite