Collecting Children's Books

Diamond Publishing Group, London, first edition, 1995. Laminated boards, 8vo,. 303 pp, ills. From the introduction: "Collecting Children's Books is designed to be an easy-to-use reference work for the collector and dealer. Its basic layout is simple: the 266 entries are arranged alphabetically by the author or illustrator's surname or by the first word of the book/book series title. The books themselves are listed chronologically, beginning with the major series and ending with a section on miscellaneous titles (‘Others'). With illustrators, works both written and illustrated by the artist arelisted separately before those for which they simply provided the artwork.Certain books have, of course, been reprinted many times, often in very desirable illustrated or ‘collector's' editions. These are all grouped together immediately after the first edition, in chronological order. Where a single edition is available in both trade and ‘De Luxe' formats, then the trade edition is always listed first. Ordinary reprints are not listed. Each entry has four components: (1) the title (in bold); (2) an opening bracket, which contains details of: (i) the book's content including any important contributions from other authors and/or illustrators: and. (ii) its format including bindings, dustjackets and - with limited editions - the number of copies printed and whether or not they are signed and/or numbered; (3) a second bracket, which gives the name of the publisher and the date of publication. With undated books, the year of publication is given in square brackets..Where a book has been published before or after the date printed on the title-page, the actual year publication is given in square brackets..(4) the current value of the first edition of the book (in bold)." . Near Fine.