The musings of a disappointed idealist
Does the name Monroe Leaf ring a bell? How about a bull named Ferdinand? That’s right, Monroe Leaf wrote The Story of Ferdinand. He also wrote, among many others, our book pictured here, Wee Gillis. Which was cited as a 1939 Caldecott Honor Book, and is about a boy living in Scotland halfway between his father’s family in the Highlands and his mother’s in the Lowlands. I find the cover very trippy, in its way.
And the inscription is cute as well!
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You know, besides finding old books and inscriptions, it’s really enjoyable when you find out some interesting tidbits about a book. Like the book we feature here – it’s a Newbery Medal* winner! How cool is that? It won back in 1925! I wonder if Donald’s Daddy knew that when he gave it to him?
Once again our (“our” being, in this case, David’s) meticulous and brief research has yielded some interesting results. Namely that the book was written back in 1855 and republished thereafter, almost always with the title the First Steps for Little Feet in Gospel Paths. You’ll notice that the book we found and pictured here has omitted the end of the title – in Gospel Paths. One wonders why, and also why the book wasn’t gifted until 1936. But only briefly, and then one has some more coffee and flits away to another book cover.
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Haven’t been able to find out anything about his book apart from the fact that the author himself, Henry Justin Smith, was managing editor of the Chicago Daily News at one point. So obviously this book (did the title give it away?) has something to do with the newspaper business. What is equally interesting is this book appears to be a signed and numbered limited edition of only 2000 copies.
David and his daughter found this neat book at the Brentwood, Tennessee library. They rarely miss the quarterly sale.
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