CHAPBOOKS            
A-J   •   K-Z

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With Their Typical Charm & Quality

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•  In near-miniature format, this York, Kendrew chapbook offers “The house that jack built” and a short essay about Jack, illustrated with15 woodcuts, including cover images associated (on front wrapper) with a poem entitled “The little girl that beat her sister” and (on the back one) a poem entitled “Mamma and Baby.”

All cuts are apt and charming.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  In hunter green printed wrappers, slightly darkened, removed from a nonce volume; frontispiece and last leaf mounted to inside of covers as issued. Clean and crisp.  (38469)

Half-a-Dozen Songs & a NICE CUT

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•  Includes“The Land o' the Leal,” “Despairing Mary,” “The Thorn,” “Sleeping Maggie,” “Fair Helen,” and “Hal the Woodman” along with the title piece. The woodcut title-page vignette shows a bird saying “Amen,” with “[No.] 22" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2D10766.   Removed from a nonce volume. Pages slightly age-toned, with edges untrimmed and lower outer corner of title-page torn away, else clean.  (17478)

Self-Industry Leading to Virtuous Wealth
(Ass Bob Also Gets to Retire)

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•  Young William Waters' tale is one of success through honesty and industry and it is told in this small chapbook via text, alarge hand-colored wood-engraved frontispiece, and seven small in-text, verybrightly hand-colored wood engravings. (There is an unrelated hand-colored woodcut of a barber on the outside of rear wrapper.)

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only eight reported copies worldwide.

•  Original wrappers, all edges gilt; evidence of having been bound in a sammelband; minor damage along spine area. First and last leaves pasted to wrappers. Very good and with very neat, strong coloring.  (38792)

A Walk to Remember

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•  Charles learns new things about Christianity during a walk home with his brother and teacher, who matches scripture with the different parts of nature they experience. There are three in-text wood engravings, the one on p. [3] signed “GG,” i.e., George Gilbert.

Front wrapper notes the work has been “revised by the Committee of Publication of the American Sunday-school Union”; back wrapper contains a hymn. Publication date is from the American Antiquarian Society OPAC.

•  Original beige printed wrappers, spotted/foxed; text with light to moderate foxing.  (36573)

“Susan Knew . . . the Value of What She Learned at the Sunday School”

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•  Thanks to Sunday school, Susan learns to be kind to others and is able toprotectively raise a flock of lambs to provide wool for her family to sell.

This text was stereotyped by L. Johnson with an unsigned wood-engraved frontispiece and a wood-engraved vignette on the front wrapper. Publication date is from the American Antiquarian Society OPAC.

•  Shoemaker 29513.   Original blue printed wrappers; moderate foxing, one bent corner.  (36569)

“Beware of Having Anything to Do with Bad Boys”

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•  Robert Ward ends up imprisoned after falling in with a bad crowd and stealing peaches on a Sunday. One large wood-engraved illustration appears on the first page of text, with one wood-engraved vignette on the front and another on the rear wrapper.

The wrapper notes that this was “revised by the Committee of Publication.” The American Sunday-School Union was at the address given from 1827 to 1853, and this work was also issued as vol. 25 (of 50) in the American Sunday-School Union's “Child's cabinet library.”

•  Original beige printed wrappers; light foxing and the whole very clean.  (36571)

She Met the Devil QUITE Cheerfully; but . . . then . . .

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•  This Midlands-printed chapbook treats of blasphemy and repentance, and its title-page clues one in immediately about the contents via itswoodcut of the devil shaking a man's hand. It purports to be “a true and faithful account of one Elizabeth Dover, a Knight and Baronet's Daughter twenty one years of age, who never would believe that were either God or Devil, Heaven or Hell . . . till last Sunday was three weeks . . . .”

Elizabeth'snotably unwomanly “ill courses” are not generally shown but are said to include the offenses of “drinking, whoreing, and breaking the sabbath day,” pursued partly to spite him whom she calls with oaths her “cursed rogue of a father.” Her redeeming visions of hell and then heaven are most vividly described.

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only one library (Oxford) worldwide reporting ownership.

•  Not in Cropper, Nottinghamshire Printed Chap-books.   Removed from a nonce volume. Very good.  (38802)

Bonnie baby Livingstone; To which is added The Twa martyrs' widows. Glasgow [Scotland]: Printed for the Booksellers, [ca. 1840]. 12mo, 8 pages.
$75.00

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a young woman holding a rose while a young man with his arm around her shoulder holds her other hand. “[No.] 78" is printed at the foot of the title.

WorldCat locates only eight copies worldwide.

•    Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17407)

In a Wonderful, COLORFUL Slipcase withEmbossed & Chromolithographed Onlays

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•  Although published in England, some sets of these chapbooks may have been dressed for the American audience: This copy has a fine chromolithographic scene of a steam sternwheeler a short distance off shore in heavy seas, withan American flag–topped buoy between it and the shore.

The twelve stories, each one in its own little pamphlet, are: No. 1, The picture show; no. 2, The farm; no. 3, The loaf of bread; no. 4, Verses and pictures; no. 5, The scrap book; no. 6, Bible pictures; no. 7, Sea-side pictures; no. 8, The picture teacher; no. 9, The little verse book; no. 10, Picture lessons; no. 11, Bird pictures; no. 12, My own book. Each of the chapbooks is illustrated witha charming wood engraving on every page, accompanying the stories and poems about honesty, breadmaking, good habits, foreign people, birds, and conduct of life in general.

WorldCat locates only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership, and at least one of the reported sets is incomplete. The publication date given here is that suggested by the Osborne Collection.

Provenance:   From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Osborne Collection, p. 765.   Blue textured paper over cardboard slipcase; embossed red paper onlay on front, printed in gold and titled “Picture books”; chromolithographed paper onlay on front (as described above). One of the chapbooks has small repairs, others variously displaying a small chip, a light stain, or a bit of creasing; else and indeed, very good.  (39521)

Some Songs inDIALECT — Some — Not

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•  Song lyrics, with a woodcut title vignette of a figure seated in a chair with two small children. Macnie was active between 1820 and 1830.

•  NSTC 2B57765. Removed from a nonce volume. The front edges of the title and verso are darkened, else very good. (16759)

Who's Happier?

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•  Dialogue in verse. Imprint derived from colophon.

Not listed in OCLC.

•  Uncut. Folded as issued; never sewn. Soiling around margins. Good ++ copy. (8527)

“I've Been Singing His L E G”

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•  Uncommon chapbook of popular songs, featuring a curious title-page woodcut illustrating the conclusion of the first piece, “The Cork Leg”: a gamboling skeleton roams the countryside onone bony leg and one cork prosthesis. The contents include “A Kiss and Nothing More,” “Ellen Aureen,” “The Exile of Erin,” “Meet Me in the Willow Glen,” “Rich and Poor,” “The Star of Glengarry,” and “The Trial of Willy Reily,” among others.

This inexpensively printed pamphlet has two pages of text reversed, with a large portion of “The Exciseman Outwitted” incongruously replacing the second verse of “The Daughter of Israel”: “I weep, land of Judah, for thee. [/] Your hogs to a fine market you've brought . . .”

This ephemeral songster is seldom seen outside of the U.K. WorldCat findsno U.S. institutional holdings of any imprint.

•  NSTC 2C37950.   Removed from a nonce volume; title-page all but separated. First leaf with outer margin creased. Pages slightly age-toned. An interesting and uncommonly encountered item, incidentally presentinga fine example of “things that can go wrong in the printshop.”  (37242)

“Diddle, Diddle, Dumplings, Oh!”

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•  Uncommon children's chapbook, with almost every cry illustrated by a woodcut. On pp. 29 and 30 is a verse tale (with cut) of “The Dead Twins,” there not being sufficient cries to fill the final pages. And, p. 31 has a poem encouraging children to buy more chapbooks (with a picture of a boy reading), while p. 26's image of a song-seller is followed by a full-page-plus song abouta very good little girl — “Sweet {Good} Miss What's-her-name-a.” The back wrapper (i.e., p. 32) lists other penny books printed and sold by J. Kendrew.

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  NSTC 2LON6926; Davis, Kendrew of York, 12; Osborne Collection p. 629. Not in Beall.   Publisher's tan printed paper wrappers. Stitching strong and pages clean. Very nice copy.  (38787)

Victorian-Era PROVINCIAL PRINTING of a
“Diverting” KidLit CHAPBOOK

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•  In this penny chapbook, each page has a small wood engraving appropriate to the text of the four-line poem below it. The reader meets Joan and her mischievous, talented, and at times anthropomorphic cat and dog.

The first and last pages (i.e., 1 and 16, both blank) are pasted to the inside of the wrappers.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

WorldCat locates only three libraries reporting ownership (Pierpont Morgan, Yale, Princeton) but we know of two others (Oxford, Toronto Public).

•  Publisher's rust-colored wrappers; the original single stitch now perished and leaves loose. Very good.  (38910)

Adventures,  Misadventures,  TWO LIONS,  & a Dead Turkish Prince

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•  This Midlands-printed chapbook  is illustrated witheleven crude but exciting woodcuts and “[r]ecounts the adventures of the brave and attractive youth, Aurelius, who is apprenticed to a London merchant after his beauty attracts the unwanted attention of the young women of his town. Aurelius ingratiates himself with his master, falls in love with the master's daughter, but, having his love unreciprocated, asks to be sent to Turkey. In Constantinople, Aurelius kills a Turkish prince at a tournament, is imprisoned and sentenced to death, but easily overpowers the two lions sent to eat him, and is rewarded for his valor” (University of Washington library record for its copy).

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

ESTC locates only four U.S. libraries reporting ownership (UCLA, Princeton, University of Washington, University of Florida).

•  ESTC N8308; Cropper, Nottinghamshire Printed Chap-Books, 18; Meriton & Dumontet, Small Books, 538.   Removed from a bound volume; sewing perished. Very good condition.  Woodcuts wonderful.  (38813)

  Fifty years shepherd, and fifty a king.  The King and west countryman.  The Bundle of wants. Glasgow [Scotland] : Printed for the Booksellers , [18--]. 12mo. 8 pp.
$125.00

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man in a broad-brimmed hat reclining on a rock. In the first of these three poems, a Scottish Shepherd compares himself and his sheep to King George of England and his subjects on the occasion of the King's Jubilee. “[No.] 24" printed at foot of title.

RLIN locates only the Minnesota copy.  

•  Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed).  (17416)

EXCELLENCE is Good . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man reclining on a rock and holding a bowl of fruit or possibly a bird's nest with eggs in it. “[No.] 25" printed at foot of title.

Not found in RLIN.

•  Good. Original self wrappers (disbound; removed).  (17417)

Five “favorites” . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of young woman in a bonnet leaning against a gate. “[No.] 43" printed at foot of title.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17419)

Five OTHER “favorites” . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man sharpening a scythe, which is balanced on his shoulder. “[No.] 15" printed at the foot of title.

Not located in RLIN.  

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). There is a small area of light staining to 2 pages, else very good.  (17420)

You know you'll turn first to that third one . . .

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a young man dancing with one arm raised. “[No.] 59 “ printed at the foot of the title.

Not located in RLIN.

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). The front edge of the title page is darkened, else very good.  (17422)

Scots Dialect Verse

Forbes, William. 

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a woman sitting with a basket on her lap. Includes the comic verse tale “The Dominie Deposed” with the sequel [20-1/2pages], followed by “Maggy Johnston's Elegy” [3 pages].

“[No.] 141" is printed at the foot of the title.

•  The page edges are darkened. Very good. original self wrappers [unbound; removed].  (17568)

Jack's the Lad . . .

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•  Uncommon Scots ballads. On cover a woodcut vignette of a young woman carrying a basket and holding a fishing net over her shoulder. “[No.] 62" is printed at the foot of the title.

Not in NSTC.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned, else clean and crisp.  (16776)

Four DIFFERENT “Excellent Songs” . . .

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•  This uncommon songster includes “Highland Harry,” “The Storm,” “The Boatie Rows,” and “Bonny Jean”; the woodcut title-page vignette shows a young woman by the sea carrying a basket and holding a fishing net over her shoulder, with “[No.] 63" printed at the foot of the title.

Only three holdings (two U.S., one U.K.) are given by WorldCat and NUC.

•  Not in NSTC (CD version).   Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and fresh.  (16901)

One Could Collect CHAPBOOKS
    Featuring GHOSTS

•  Scarce. The title-page bears a woodcut vignette of a girl in a bonnet carrying two pails slung from a hoop round her knees, with "[No.] 10" printed below. In "William and Margaret" [3 pages], Margaret's ghost appears to the young man who betrayed her. He throws himelf on her grave and never speaks again.

•  NSTC 2S31074. Removed from a nonce volume. Clean save for some smudging to outer margin of one page. (16760)

For a dash of the OCCULT,  click here.
For MUSIC (& DANCE),  click here.

AGreat Series of Song Titles . . .

•  The title-page promises“The Cork Leg and Steam Arm. / The Great Sea Snake. / The Sailor's Consolation. / The Wonderful Nose” — a woodcut vignette shows a young man dancing with one arm raised and “[No.] 28” printed at the foot.

Not in NSTC.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean.  (16763)

Women . . .

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a man in a bonnet, kilt & sporran seated on a stool, playing bagpipes.

•  Original self wrappers [unbound; removed].The pages are darkened & the top two inches of the leaves are detached. The last leaf is closely cropped along the top edge. Good.  (17436)

For more of WOMEN's interest,  click here.

BALLADS

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•  Two Scots ballads (one happy and one sad), with a title woodcut vignette of a well-dressed lady holding a flower in her lap. “[No.] 74" is printed at the foot of the title.

OCLC locates only three copies worldwide.  

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). Very good.  (17437)

With a Cut ofthe Printer's Print Shop

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•  The aim of this Banbury-printed penny chapbook is to teach the rewards of virtue and industry; beyond the reaping of such serious satisfactions as solvency and respect, a wise and good poor boy may one day have a daughter plays a pretty spinet in a pretty dress and is called “Miss Fanny.” Illustrated withwood engravings on each page, this has additional illustrations on the wrappers: the first page (the recto of the frontispiece) has a cut of Rusher's printing shop.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and COPAC locate only four libraries worldwide reporting ownership (Vassar, the V&A, the Bodleian, and the British Library).

•  Opie A 1318.   Original blue wrappers, rear one a very little tattered at edges; uncut copy, very clean and nice.  (38795)

Five Songs & a Neat Cut

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•  Title woodcut vignette of the rear view of a heavily laden donkey or mule. “Hark Away” celebrates the delights of deer hunting. “Love in the Horrors” is a comic song about a fellow who takes a little too much brandy in his morning cup of tea.

Not located in RLIN.  

•  Original self wrappers (unbound; removed). There is a strip out along the bottom of the 2nd & 3rd leaves with no loss of text. The page edges are somewhat darkened. Good.  (17438)

“My daddie looks sulky, my minnie looks sour,
      They frown upon Jamie because he is poor”

•  A woodcut vignette on the title-page shows a young man with one arm raised, above “[No.] 37" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2B38504.   Removed from a nonce volume. A few traces of very faint spots of foxing, else clean and fresh. (16824)

A Man Learns Much from a HARE

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•  The hare tells us in this chapbook of her life, its dangers and rewards, and interactions with humans. Clearly it is intended to teach children about kindness, cruelty, and compassion, and thinking about consequences — the last words having to do with merciful dispatch of animals having the misfortune to be delicious.  Nine hand-colored illustrations (including the frontispiece) nicely illustrate the prose tale.

The hare finds safe haven at the end of her trials, here; this is ultimately asafe read.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Publisher's deep blue printed and illustrated wrappers. Occasional small spottings in text but generally a near fine copy.  (38788)

“The Queen Finds Means to Enter the Bower, &
Murders Fair Rosamond”

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•  This chapbook for older children hasten woodcut illustrations, eight of them large and all of them well impressed, with some being true illustrations and some serving as head- or tailpieces.  It wasprinted by a woman on inexpensive blue-toned laid paper.

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Removed from a sammelband; uncut and partially unopened.  (38775)

“Once Upon a Time”

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•  This chapbook telling of the classic fairy tale is illustrated with wood engravings on the frontispiece and title-page, and with eight in-text pictures as well. It was issued as #4 in Watt's “Penny Books New & Improved” series.

NUC and WorldCat locate only two libraries worldwide reporting ownership (National Library of Scotland, Princeton).

Provenance:  From the chapbook collection of Albert A. Howard, sans indicia.

•  Publisher's green wrappers, slight discoloration and a little paper loss at spine. Clean.  (38786)

NEVER in Childish Hands — Cuts Very Well Impressed

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•  Virtually pristine copy of this penny toybook — a popular cautionary tale of two overly indulged brothers, one of whom prospers by way of his natural love of learning, and one of whom enjoys bad company and eventually goes to rack and ruin (not here, as some variants of this story have it, being eaten by wild beasts after a shipwreck, but rather more prosaically being sent to Newgate). The story is illustrated with eight woodcuts, two of which show the boys playingbadminton and marbles.

One signature at the back is unopened.

•  NSTC 2H10236.   Publisher's light yellow printed paper wrappers, removed from a nonce volume. Clean, crisp, unread copy.  (31946)

“Earning for Himself a Character for Courage, Integrity, & Truth”

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•  A widowed mother and her two children move to the home of her late husband's brother in the English countryside, where Lucy and Edward learn important life lessons through building a boat. From the second series of the “Stories for Summer Days & Winter Nights” library.

This work includes afrontispiece and five in-text wood engravings signed by Edward Whymper (1840–1911), an Arctic explorer and mountaineer best known for being the first to successfully ascend the Matterhorn.

•  Publisher's green printed wrappers, soiling and splitting along spine; one leaf separated, a light pencil mark or two, a handful of bent corners.  (36537)

Including“A Fight for the Breeches”

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•  “To which are added, Who's Master, Or, A Fight for the Breeches. / York Youre Wanted. / And Emigrants Farewell.” Two comic and two serious songs, with a title-page woodcut engraving of a swan.

•  NSTC 2H34825.   Removed from a nonce volume. Slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (16963)

  The Humours of Glasgow fair, and The Comical song of Auld John Paul.  Glasgow [Scotland] : Printed for the Booksellers, [18--] . 12mo. 8 pp.
$85.00

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•  Title woodcut vignette of a man sharpening a scythe. “[No.] 42" printed at the foot of the title.

Not located in RLIN.  

•  Very good. Original self wrappers (unbound; removed).  (17560)

EIGHT . . .

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•  Woodcut title vignette of a ship at sea.

•  Original self wrappers [unbound; removed]. There is a large area of light dampstaining to the first leaf. The top edge of the title is closely cropped, affecting three words of the title of the first song. The top edge of the last leaf is also closely cropped, cutting off part of the page number “7". Good.  (17446)

Jack's House & Jack's Malt — A “Chapbook” Tale

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•  One of Harris's “most approved novelties for the nursery,” from that publisher's “Cabinet for Youth” series; a chapbook in all its feeling though a bit larger in size and differently formatted from most, with its classic story here having 17 hand-colored wood engravings, including the title-page vignette. Each leaf, printed on one side only, bears a large, neatly and skillfully colored illustration (with the exception of the unadorned publisher's advertisement page), starting with Jack's very attractive house and its “Jack”-labelled malt sacks and ending with a large cut of Sir John Barley-corn (looking rather like Henry VIII).

The second edition, following the first of the previous year. Harris published his fifth and last in 1830.

Provenance:  From the children's book collection of Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

•  Gumuchian 3085; Moon, John Harris's Books for Youth, 362(2). Not in Osborne Collection.   Lacks printed wrappers; in contemporary block-printed floral–pattern wrappers, rubbed and backed. Occasional small spots of foxing; pages otherwise clean and entirely free of childish markings — or even any hints of having been held by childish hands. A very nice copy of this early printing.  (39871)

O! “The Beggar Was aCunnin Loon”

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•  Three ballads about men courting women: two Scots and one English. The woodcut title-page vignette shows a street performer playing a tabor pipe and drum, with “[No.] 61" printed at the foot of the title.

•  NSTC 2B15227.   Removed from a nonce volume. Clean and crisp.  (17480)

“Hail us the Jovial Sons of Jove”

•  The list of songs is“Hark, the Hollow Woods Resounding. Highland Minstrel Boy. Tell Me Where the Maid Is Found. Forget Me Not. Ah! Men, What Silly Things You Are. Farewell, My Donkey Neddy. Life Is Darken'd O'er with Woe. Let's Drink, My Friends. Dash Along to the Mellow-Toned Horn.”

A woodcut title-page vignette shows a sailing ship at sea, with “[No.] 57" printed at the foot of the title.

Not in NSTC.

•  Removed from a nonce volume. Fresh and clean save for small spot of light staining to upper inner corner of last page. (16841)

TO Part II . . .

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