Margaret E. Martignoni (1908–1974)

Not all collections of children’s stories are created the same, and it seems that somewhere in between the golden age of children’s book illustration and the current age of lusciousness we had a publishing moment of weakness… This book is from the 1950s and claims to provide a range of stories and illustrations in a collected volume to encourage families to come together and read. Maybe the encyclopaedic style of the book appeals to some, but I frankly found it messy and overwhelming. The selection of stories is extensive, I’ll grant them that, but the sheer density, haphazard page design, and often greatly shortened excerpts made even an attempted browse of the volume an impossible undertaking. I mostly bought the collection because it contained a few illustrations from my favourite of the classic illustrators, Arthur Rackham, but even trying to limit my reading to his specifics proved impossible by the inaccurate scope of their index! Instead of indexing him both as a collector (Arthur Rackham’s Fairy Book, which was illustrated by himself and others) and an illustrator, they simply listed him as the former! I did eventually manage to browse through the entire volume to peruse all of his pictorial work, but I may have to go back and re-annotate the book to serve my own research purposes. I’m sure that I have most of the illustrations elsewhere in my collection (and in far better form), so at most this book will serve as a prime example of how not to do book design!… (mer)

https://archive.org/details/colliersjuniorc01mart

Collier's junior classics series; a completely new selection of outstanding children's stories and poems compiled for enrichment reading by a distinguished editorial board of children's librarians
by Martignoni, Margaret E

Publication date 1962
Topics Children's literature, Storytelling
Publisher New York, Crowell-Collier Pub. Co.
Collection inlibrary; printdisabled; internetarchivebooks; china
Digitizing sponsor Internet Archive
Contributor Internet Archive
Language English
Volume 1

v. 1. A, B, C: Go! ed. by Rosemary E. Livsey.--v. 2. Once upon a time, ed. by Elizabeth H. Gross.--v. 3. Magic in the air, ed. by Mary V. Gaver.--v. 4. Just around the corner, ed. by Alice Brooks McGuire.--v. 5. In your own backyard, ed. by Marian C. Young.--v. 6. Gifts from the past, ed. by Elenora Alexander.--v. 7. Legends of long ago, ed. by Jane Darrah.--v. 8. Roads to greatness, ed. by Louise Galloway.--v. 9. Call of adventure, ed. by Charlemae Rollins.--v. 10 Harvest of holidays, ed. by Ruth Weeden Stewart

My volume titles differ for #6-Harvest of Holidays; #10-Gifts from the Past.… (mer)