david copperfield in copperplate

i found this amazing book at a book sale this past summer. i love the irony of the book...i find it very clever. i also love dicken's david copperfield. well, i love dickens. these copperplates illustrate the story very well and i like the style of illustration too. there are 46 illustrations in all with short quotes from the story filling in the gaps.

the publisher's note sums it up nicely...

in offering this series of drawings by william ross cameron, the publisher is confident that their charm will be apparent to collectors & amateurs alike. collectors of dickensiana will find in them a fresh interpretation of david copperfield, so often essayed by other artists, so seldom successfully. through his painstaking researches into the life and manners of the period and through his piquant characterization - often just this side of caricature - that is dickens, will cameron has added another bouquet to the great victorian's wreath. whether or not they have ever read the 800-odd pages of the novel amateurs from "seven to seventy" will find in these plates, with accompanying excerpts from the original text, a personally conducted tour of vivacity and sustained interest through the stirring scenes of david's fortunes & misfortunes. children of seven will be led to read this truly remarkable novel, and those of seventy to reread and relive it!

david copperfield in copperplate
first edition, 1947, bern porter, california
illustrated by william ross cameron

we see

this book is part of a children's educational series titled, the scientific living series: the how and why science books...it only consists of wonderful illustrations, which i believe are lithographs...this book would be perfect to pull apart and frame...if you can do that to an old book. in this case, it may be worth it. i love the cover illustration, which isn't credited and is totally different from the interior illustrations.

we see
george willard frasier, helen dolman maccracken, lois gabel armstrong
the scientific living series: the how and why science books, 1947, the l.w. singer company, new york
illustrated by guy brown wiser

the little island

this is another vintage children's book that i own which is illustrated by leonard weisgard. this is an earlier book from 1946, and this book is a collaboration with margaret wise brown. golden macdonald was a pseudonym she used. the illustrations of this book are a lot darker in nature that weisgard's later works. i'm not sure why, besides the illustration style being influenced by the time and the aftermath of a world war probably holds some influence as well. it's beautifully illustrated, quite unique and the story is really wonderful too. it won the caldecott award in 1947.

the little island by golden macdonald
1st edition, 1946, doubleday & co., new york
illustrated by leonard weisgard
lithographed