Simpler Times

Thanks to the In Crowd's I'm Learning to Share! blog, here's a look at Do You Know What I'm Going to Do Next Saturday?, an early example of Random House's Beginner Books using photographs instead of drawings. (Choose the "slideshow" option for easy viewing.)

That easy-read series was built around Dr. Seuss, and the text of this title came from his wife, Helen Palmer. The photographs are by Lynn Fayman. The guns are by the US Marine Corps.

And some Oz-related content from the same Flickr user: A gallery of illustrations by Frederick Richardson from a 1914 reader. A decade earlier, Richardson had illustrated Queen Zixi of Ix, one of L. Frank Baum's finest fantasies. I especially like this monster pursuing a sailing ship.