Wacky The Small Boy, Fred Schwed Jr, Illustrated by Gregor Duncan, 1945

This is the 1945 Australian edition. It has been Australianised - replacing baseball references with cricket, shillings for cents, aeroplane for airplane, centre for center, etc.

Sharks by Susan Harney

Harsh:

Harsher:

Kids would totally be into this, but I can't imagine it being popular with their adults.

Modern Marvels of Flight, by George Foster-Page, 1956 First Edition

A great dust jacket that looks like a Popular Mechanics cover from the same era.

 

Interior illustrations are printed in red, black or blue.

Mime: The Technique of Silence, Richmond Shepard, 1972 First British Edition

 

I have another mime book, an older, smaller volume from 1947 called Practical Miming by M. Gertrude Pickersgill B.A. (LOND.), L.R.A.M. (ELOC.), M.R.S.T., I.A.T.S.D., which is quite interesting, but it does not have a section on Advanced Rope Pulling:

 

It's made of paper, but it is still gold.

Moonbeam and Sunny, Selma and Jack Wasserman, 1972 Australian edition

 

I guess they wanted to reassure the kids that space monkeys always made it home.

 

The original was published in 1967, two years before they landed on the moon without any monkeys in sight. There are nine other books in this series.

Half Hours With The Summer Stars, Mary Proctor, 1911 First Edition

Yeah, I need to re-shoot this one. Hardcover in olive cloth showing shelf wear and distinct blurring.

 

That's a little better. This is a first edition. The author is the daughter of Richard Proctor, British astronomer whose book Our Place Among Infinities I posted pictures of earlier.

This book is a collection of Ms. Proctor's articles that appeared in The Chicago Tribune during August-October 1910 and one article that appeared in Scientific American. Each chapter starts with some astronomically relevant quoted verse and her own writing is a tad flowery, but that was the style of the day.

Let's Find Out About the The Sun, Martha and Charles Shapp, 1965

 

This edition was published by Grolier International in 1965.

Great illustrations, simple factual text.

A reading of the book on two flexi records! This makes it quite rare.

I am selling it on my Etsy store. You can find the listing here.

Betty Crocker's Dinner in A Dish Cook Book, Golden Press 1965

 

 

This cook book has over 250 recipes and a final chapter titled Good Cooks' Guide with shopping, chopping and freezing advice for the inexperienced kitcheneer.

 

It is filled with the washed out photos of strange looking food that we like to see in our vintage cook books. Dinner in a Dish is also filled with line drawings that are as wonderfully dated as the recipes.

This is currently for sale on my Etsy store. You can find it here.

AJAX Handbook of Australian Bolts, Nuts, Rivets, Screws, Spikes, Washers, Pole Line Hardware and Other Fasteners, by McPhersons, published by Ramsay, Ware Publishing 1955

 

  

Battered, but beautiful and in great condition on the inside. More blueprint style drawings of bolts than you will ever need, not to mention spindle heads, shackle straps and stay rods with bow tighteners.

Taboo, by Franz Steiner, published 1967 by Pelican Books

Sherri, by Max Collier, published 1969 by Softcover Library

A Strange And Stirring Journey Into The Nightmare World Of The Nymphomaniac

"I don't believe you're too young at all," Sherri said.

Benny tensed under her grasp, his face becoming even more flushed.

"Are you afraid of me, Benny?" She leaned toward him, parting her lips.

"I don't know. Gosh - you're married!"

From back when loin was a four letter word and enough to earn you an "Adults Only" sticker.

Guide to Easier Living, Mary and Russel Wright, 1954 edition

Russel Wright (1904-1976) was an influential American industrial designer, famous for his American Modern Dinnerware.  His designs introduced America to Modernism and his signature range of products makes him the precursor to lifestyle brands such as Martha Stewart.

Wright also did a lot of product development using melamine, and his interest in modern materials is apparent in this book, which he wrote with his wife Mary, who was a sculptor and businesswoman.

It appears that the Wrights are one of the reasons why vinyl furniture and furnishings took off during the 50s. The Wrights were all about efficient living, and part of that was efficient cleaning, and vinyl was cheap and easy to clean, comfort and aesthetics (except for a 50s modernist visual aesthetic) were secondary.

Though the title is Guide to Easier Living, it really should be Guide to Efficient Living, as this chapter heading shows:

 

The Wrights were also about order and organisation:

That is one crazy giant entrance closet. And this is a fantastic book.

Our Place Among Infinities, Richard Proctor, 1897 edition

Richard Proctor (1837-1888) was an English astronomer who made a living writing books about astronomy for the general public and giving lectures in England, America and Australia.

Our Place Among Infinities was originally published in 1875. This copy is from an edition published in 1897 by Longmans, Green and Co, and is in great condition. The cover is a little bumped and you can see in the photo the condition of the spine. The interior pages are all very clean with no foxing. Portions do show some faint water staining, the mark on the bottom of the title page being the most extreme example.

You can read some of Richard Proctor's other books on the Project Gutenberg web site here.

I also have a book by his daughter, Mary Proctor, which I will put up here shortly.

BMX Bandits, 1984 - the book of the movie starring a young Nicole Kidman

Nicole Kidman in her BMX regalia:

BMX The Aussie Way, 1981

It's filled with fantastic black and white photos of bike parts, races and this:

Come Be With Me, by Leonard Nimoy

A battered copy with some inscriptions.

The poetry's not great. Here's a webcam shot of an interior page:

Cute pages, poor verse.

Care of the Sick in the Home by the St John Ambulance Association, First Edition

A fantastic cover.

Awake to Science - Book Eight: Magnetism