Head of the House

Grace Livingston Hill was a 19th-century author whose books continue to enjoy popularity because they're not only enjoyable to read, but also include Christian morals.

My eldest, a voracious reader, went through a GLH stage when she was a young teen. She has her collection with her now, but occasionally I pick up books when I see them at sales, and so this one is a spare.

This book is hardcover, was printed in 1940, has 300 pages and is in good condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

Understood Betsy

Understood Betsy is one of those classic stories of the early 20th century that you can now read online. But there's nothing like holding a book in your hand, is there? Even if the book has a handwritten title on it because my daughter thought it needed to be done!

Elizabeth Ann is orphaned as an infant and brought up by her doting aunt and cousin. But when her aunt becomes ill, Elizabeth Ann must spend a year living with cousins from the other side of her family, people her aunt hoped she would never have to live with. It is there that she becomes more independent and also gains the nickname Betsy.

This book is hardcover, has 272 pages, was printed in 1917 and is in fairly good condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor

Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a historical romance set in the late 17th century. It traces the adventures of a young man who meets and falls in love with a beautiful young woman who is mistreated by her cruel family, a band of outlaws. It is considered a classic.

I wish I could tell you that we all loved this book, but the fact is that it's one of my "good intentions" books that we never had time to read. I wish we had, because I've heard good things about it, and I don't have the time to read much fiction anymore.

In the photo, you see the book's slipcover at left and the actual book at right. Both are like new.

This book is hardcover, comes with a slipcover, was printed in 1943, has 550 pages and is in excellent condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

The Little Lame Prince

This first-edition volume of The Little Lame Prince is so pretty! Every single page has a lovely printed border, and the book is also well-illustrated.

I looked up the first edition of this book at a number of online booksellers and saw prices ranging from $20 to $75. I don't know what makes the difference, as none of them said the book was in perfect condition, which makes sense when a book is 115 years old!

This book is hardcover, has 198 pages, was printed in 1893, and is in very good condition, particularly on the inside (the cover does show some wear, and the binding is loose in one spot.) Sorry....this one's sold.

Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch

How amazing to think that this book was published over a hundred years ago!

Long before computers arrived on the scene, someone painstakingly set the type for each page of this book. And the care he took shows, not to mention that the paper in it has not yellowed even as much as my morning newspaper does from sitting out in the sun for a few hours.

This is a sweet and famous story about a poor woman and her family living in the Cabbage Patch, a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. Mrs. Wiggs is a widow who looks for the best in whatever happens. She and her family cross paths with a pair of wealthy people who can learn from Mrs. Wiggs' optimism.

This book is hardcover, has 154 pages, was printed in 1903 and is in very good condition, considering its age. Sorry....this one's sold.

Know Your Presidents and Their Wives

Seems like all of my kids had a fascination with the presidents at some point, and my daughters were especially interested in the First Ladies.

We've owned several books about presidential history; this is one of the best, because the biographies are brief and well-illustrated, so they hold the attention of younger kids.

This particular 1963 edition has a supplement that was added soon after President Kennedy was assassinated. It includes the complete text of his inaugural address, the sad story of his assassination, and bios of President Johnson and his wife.

This book is softcover, was printed in 1963, has 76 pages and is in very good condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

Reader's Digest Treasury for Young Readers

I found some more books in a box, including this rather large first-edition collection of short stories, puzzles, games, poems and how-to articles on a range of topics, from origami to making jewelry.

This book was the first of a series the Reader's Digest published for young people. It's interesting to see how the book is laid out like the magazine, with short stories punctuated by small features.

It includes a variety of stories: fiction, non-fiction, history, mystery....there's a lot to read in this book. A special feature is a story by Dr. Wernher von Braun called "First Men to the Moon" that includes a special pullout page illustrating the layout of a rocket. Of course, this was eight years before we sent men to the moon, so the story includes his predictions.

This book is hardcover, has 202 pages, was printed in 1961 (first edition) and is in very good condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

A Child's Book of Sea Shells

We kept this book in our home library as a reference book. It's a well-illustrated guide to the typical sea shells a child might find on the beach.

In a world where the children's books you see sold in grocery and large discount stores are all related to licensed television characters, it's hard to believe that this kind of book was once a staple in stores. These were the kind of books we begged our parents for when I was a kid. Things sure change.

These books are hard to come by, especially when they're in such good shape. I found this vintage book listed at someone's site for almost $14.00. That seems excessive, but a book of this quality is definitely a treasure.

This book is hardcover, was printed in 1954, has 28 pages and is in very good condition. Sorry....this one's sold.

Johnny STILL Can't Read---But You Can Teach Him at Home

It might be hard for today's young parents to understand just how revolutionary a concept teaching your children to read used to be. For many years, the schools had a monopoly on this; the common wisdom was that you didn't teach your child to read because you might do it wrong. You waited for the child to go to school so he'd learn "the right way" to learn to read.

Ah, the "good" old days. Nowadays, parents heave a sigh of relief when their offspring graduate from public high school with a reading level above grade five.

Anyway, this book lays out an argument for why parents should teach their children to read and how to do it. It includes a spelling and reading list of words to get you started, plus lots of specific tips for teaching phonics. That's right, I forgot to mention this book is for teaching your child to read using phonics. The only place you'll see the phrase "sight words" here is the list of words that cannot be sounded out phonetically, like "ought."

This book is paperback, has 75 pages, was printed in 1979 and is in very good condition. Sorry...this one's sold.

The New Curriculum Arithmetics, Grade Three

You can tell this is an old book just by the title: back in the day, they called it arithmetics, not arithmetic (and definitely not math!)

This book was printed in 1939, and the cover in particular is showing its age. But the inside is in good shape, and I just love the illustrations, which are very reminiscent of the 1920s (the book was written in 1928.

The book covers addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, measurements, fractions and time, but it's different in that it's written in a conversational tone. There are also several activities that are not strictly mathematical, ex. page 88, "Special Reports About the Post Office."

There is one page with a few answers written in ink, and someone decorated the back inside cover with penciled scrawling. But considering its age, this book is in pretty fair shape.

This book is hardcover, and has 278 pages. Sorry....this one's sold.

Understanding Arithmetic, Grade 4

I don't think this book was ever used in a schoolroom.

I say that not only because it's in great shape, but because on the back cover there is a tiny sticker that says, "Kroch's & Brentano's: Chicago, Evanston, Old Orchard, Oakbrook, Oak Park." Those of us who grew up in Chicago during the 1960s know Kroch's & Brentano's as a Chicago tradition, like Fannie May Candies and the Bozo Show.

Enough reminiscing. This is the follow-up book to the last textbook I posted. It starts out with a review of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, then moves ahead into multiplying three- and four-digit numbers, Roman numerals, fractions, charts and graphs.

Sorry....this one's sold.

Understanding Arithmetic, Grade 3

Back in the day, they called math "arithmetic." (I remember learning how to spell it in first grade and being so proud that I could write such a long word!)

This is basic math at its best. This book begins with a quick review of numbers and soon moves into addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of "two-place" numbers. Sprinkled throughout are story problems, of course.

There are many pages of exercises, all to be done on a separate sheet of paper. Most of this book is in great shape, but on one page a student worked out all his division problems in the margin (in pencil) until he ran out of room.

This book is hardcover, in good condition, printed in 1956, and has 304 pages. Note: the very top of the corner of the inside page has been torn off. Sorry....this one's sold.

The New Streets and Roads, The 1956 Edition

This book is full of Tommy's, Timmy's and Susan's, all those names that I grew up with (sorry, no Britney's in this one!) It's a 3rd-grade reader beautifully illustrated with color illustrations.

This particular reader has a lot of animal stories; that must have been the focus for third grade in a lot of schools back then. The stories are grouped as follows: On City Streets, Along Country Roads, On the Road to Storyland, Animals in Town and Country, and On the Roads of Long Ago.

This book is hardbound, in very good condition, was printed in 1956 and has 320 pages. Sorry....this one's sold.

Sky Lines (1953)

This is a nice big reader from the 1950s. Written at a 5th-grade level, it includes fiction, non-fiction and poetry. There is even a four-act play at the end.

There are many illustrations in this reader, probably half color and half black-and-white.

This book is in excellent condition inside; the cover is a bit scuffed, however. The book is hardbound, reprinted in 1957 (publication date 1953), and has 340 pages. Sorry....this one's sold.

Friends Far and Near (1953)

Another great reader, this one from the 1950s. It does have writing inside, indicated it belongs to a first-grade classroom. I have a feeling it would challenge the average third-grader in public school nowadays.

This is a Ginn Basic Reader, lavishly illustrated throughout in color. It includes stories and some poetry grouped as follows: All Through the Year, Work for Everyone, Old Tales from Different Lands, Out of Doors, Children Everywhere, Make-Believe Tales and Boys and Girls of Other Days. It's a great read-aloud book.

This book is hardcover, in very good condition (though cover is a bit worn on edges), was printed in 1953 and has 323 pages. Sorry....this one's sold.

The New Times and Places, The 1962 Edition

You have to be so careful when picking reading books for children these days. Anything could be in them: themes like suicide and death, alternative lifestyles, and the like. That's why I used to buy pre-1970s readers whenever I saw them. I knew they were safe for my children to read.

This particular book is is full of great color illustrations. The stories are grouped into four themes: Young Citizens of Today, Young Citizens of Early Days, Wonders of Our Times and Storyland of Here and Now. According to the spine of the book, it is at a 4th-grade reading level.

This book is hardcover, in very good shape, has 320 pages, and was printed in 1962. Sorry....this one's sold.