Posts Tagged ‘children’s books’

Bookmarks: The Fir Tree

Monday, November 5th, 2012

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"The Fir Tree" book illustrated by Sanna Annuka with Christmas baubles and sprig of holly with red berries

We’ve been huge fans of Sanna Annukka ever since she designed biscuit tins for M&S.

Christmas tree illustration in "The Fir Tree" a book illustrated by Sanna Annuka

illustration of a group of mice in "The Fir Tree" a book illustrated by Sanna Annuka

The Fir Tree is a cautionary tale by Hans Christian Andersen about living for the moment.

illustration of a campfire in "The Fir Tree" a book illustrated by Sanna Annuka

illustrations of birds in "The Fir Tree" a book illustrated by Sanna Annuka

Despite having what in reality is an ideal existence, the little tree feels that it’s missing out when other trees are taken from the forest to decorate local homes at Christmas. Eventually it is chosen… but we’ll leave it there, we don’t want to give too much away!

illustration of a man dragging the fir tree down some stairs

illustration of a group of children playing near the Christmas tree

Annukka’s illustrations are exquisite – collages of multicoloured triangles. There’s something indecipherable about the style of her illustrations that reveals her Finnish heritage…

illustration of a group of colourful Christmas baubles

illustration of a big golden sun shining down on a wood

…the influence of landscape, nature and the folk art tradition.

illustration of a wood burning stove

This book would make a perfect Christmas present for child or adult!

illustration of a tree being felled

illustration of a sailing ship

It’s available from the publishers Hutchinson as well as on Amazon and Hive.

illustration of a pair of horses pulling a cart full of logs

illustration of birds in fir trees

[Many thanks to Hutchinson for the review copy]

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I is for… Ireland

Friday, October 15th, 2010

"I is for... Ireland" blog post banner

detail of vintage book cover, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek

It’s been a while since we’ve done one of our alphabet blog posts – but the arrival of this book fitted in nicely with where we left off… so, I is for Ireland.

page from vintage book, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek featuring Irish green double-decker buses

The book is from the This is… series by Miroslav Sasek.

page from vintage book, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek featuring Irish pub interior

We’ve mentioned him quite a few times in blogs but, any excuse!!

page from vintage book, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek featuring rolling green fields and sheep

We absolutely adore his stuff!

page from vintage book, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek featuring shop frontage of Patrick O'Brien general store

This is Ireland, published in 1964, is no exception. He captured the quiet countryside and the hustle & bustle of town life with equal charm – the scenery, buildings, characters – day to day life.

page from vintage book, "This is Ireland" by Miroslav Sasek featuring the busy main thoroughfare, O'Donnell Street

It’s been added to our ever growing pile of Sasek books – a pile that shows no sign of abating. Each new book is greeted with the same excited anticipation.

collection of vintage books by Miroslav Sasek

There were two more arrivals this week – This is Israel and This is New York.

pair of vintage books, "This is Isreal" and "This is New York" by Miroslav Sasek

They’re both very welcome additions to our collection…

page from vintage book, "This is New York" by Miroslav Sasek featuring skyscrapers and pink stretch Cadillac

New York in particular lends itself to his stylised characters and distortions of scale – just wonderful! Page after page of classic illustrations. The accompanying words are very sweet too.

page from vintage book, "This is New York" by Miroslav Sasek featuring an all Ameriacan diner

We’ll post more illustrations from this particular book – they deserve a post of their own!

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Posted in alphabet, books, children, design, illustration, vintage | 7 Comments »

Child’s Play

Friday, July 10th, 2009

We bought a huge pile of vintage Ladybird books this week. They’re fabulous little books, designed to educate & entertain children of all ages.

We really enjoyed having a browse through them all. Having grown up with them it’s been a very nostalgic trip.

They cover an amazing variety of subjects…

…science & nature…

…careers & occupations…

…fairytales etc, etc, etc.

The wonderful illustrations have a distinctive “Ladybird” look despite being produced by a variety of artists.

Names such as John Berry, Roland Green and C F Tunnicliffe to name but three.

It’s not surprising that there’s a keen collectors’ market amongst adults too.

For more things Ladybird check out these websites:

The Wee Web
Vintage Ladybird
Official Ladybird website
Easy on the Eye
Fly Away Home

We’ve added the books to other items of stock that we’re accumulating for a new section on our website.

It’s going to be called Child’s Play, and as the name suggests, it will consist of lots of children’s vintage items.

In addition to books, there’ll be vintage toys & games…

…money boxes & tins…

…and bits & pieces to decorate nurseries, play rooms & bedrooms.

We should have gathered enough stuff to add the new section in the autumn – so watch this space!

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Posted in books, design, illustration, vintage | 5 Comments »