The Children's Treasury of Literature

 

Hi all! Hope you're well.

The book I am going to share with you today is called The Children's Treasury of Literature, published by Gold Bress and edited by Bryna and Louis Untermeyer, the original edition was released in 1979 (my copy is from 1983.)

The book was given to me by a neighbour when I was about five, maybe six years-old. Rather than being a typical collection of fairy tales or fables, the book includes excerpts from famous children's literature, which I love. It has everything from Snow White to Aesop's Fables; the reason I was always so fond of is because it features some gorgeous drawings from various illustrators including Eloise Wilkin (above), Richard Scarry (Not pictured) and Hilary Knight (not pictured.)

The illustrations by Gordon Laite, however, were always my favourites in the ginormous book. Snow White and Rose Red probably being my favourite of all of them. I vividly remember pouring over them as a little girl.

I always found this image (above) of Sleeping Beauty rather confronting as a child. Something about how limp she is laying their and the tiny bird in the foreground. But its beautiful all the same. Apparently a book containing images like this one were illustrated by Adrienne Segur and was originally published in 1958, during the early 1990s it was re-published, which means it is still available on Amazon if anyone is interested. The book was titled The Golden Book of Fairytales, translated by Marie Ponsot. If you do a little bit of Google searching about Adrienne Segur's illustrations, you'll notice she often had her characters bent on various angles, which is something I've never really seen before. The image itself is lovely, it so medieval as though it could be strung across a tapestry, plus I just love the courtiers in the background. 

 

The book also contains various excerpts from books that have become notable in children's literature. There's everything from Mary Poppins to The Wizard of Oz and The Hobbit.

Well, thank you for reading and I shall post against soon! 

Next time: The illustrations of Georgina Hargreaves