As noted in yesterday's post, most children's books usually are found in less-than-collectible condition, especially if you are scouring yard sales, garage sales and the like to build your private library. While it is possible to find the rare title in something approaching Fine condition at such sales, it is not likely. This may be because a specific title has endured rough handling by generations of children. Or it may be because someone who collects specific authors snatched up the title before you got to it.
It is no secret that certain authors of children's books exert extra pressure on the marketplace. Some, because they are exceptionally gifted writers. Others, because they have written adult-oriented books that also are collectible. Still others are collected because their books for children have attracted especially good illustrators. A few examples should suffice.
Charles Dodgson is collected for all three reasons. Under his pseudonym of Lewis Carroll, he wrote what is arguably the best-known of all children's books, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. For this reason alone, both titles usually are at the top of the wish list for collectors of children's books. (The true first edition of Alice, published in 1865 and suppressed by Dodgson because he didn't like the poor printing of Tenniel's illustrations, is known to exist in only a handful of copies. For all practical purposes, it is not collectible. The first collectible edition is Macmillan & Co.'s 1866 edition, actually published at the end of 1865 in London.):
Dodgson also is well known and collected for his mathematical titles (which are geared towards adults, though his logic puzzles and games usually were published under his pseudonym for children). When Queen Victoria, who was a fan of Alice, honored Dodgson by suggesting he dedicate his next book to her, it was not a children's book that Dodgson dedicated to her, but a mathematics title, An Elementary Treatise on Determinants.
Both of Dodgson's Alice titles also have attracted some of the finest book illustrators of all time, including John Tenniel, Graeme Base, Millicent Sowerby, Arthur Rackham, Willy Pogany and Barry Moser:
Arthur Rackham, 1907
Needless to say, anyone collecting any of the above artists probably is going to want copies of Dodgson's titles for children.
Another well-known author of adult books whose collectibility puts pressure on the marketplace for children's books is Roald Dahl. Famed for his often-macabre short stories for adults (for which he received three Edgar Awards), Dahl also authored several beloved works of children's fiction, including Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach:
Dahl's titles for children command especially substantial premiums among collectors who focus on First Edition, First Printings.
A modern children's author whose appeal to adults seems to be based primarily on the whimsicality of his verse and accompanying illustrations is Theodor Geisel, better known by his pseudonym, Dr. Seuss:
In 2000, Publisher's Weekly compiled a list of the 100 bestselling hardcover children's books of all time: of the 60+ children's books penned by Geisel, 16 made the list, more than any other author.
The anapestic tetrameter (a poetic meter employed by many British poets) used by Geisel is instantly recognizable to many adults, as are Geisel's "droopy" illustrations. This puts enormous pressure upon the marketplace for Seuss books, especially for First Edition, First Printings in anything approaching Fine condition. Anyone seriously collecting Seuss books in this fashion is strongly advised to have a copy of Younger & Hirsch handy.
Tomorrow, we will examine some illustrators whose overall collectibility puts pressure on the market for children's books....
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