Better Homes and Gardens Storybook

Better Homes and Gardens Storybook

Betty O’Connor, book's selector

Des Moines, IA: Meredith Publishing Co.

1950

Megan Lepak researched and wrote the event description in 2018.

For a description of the book, please click on the image of the event label/description or scroll to the bottom of the page for the section entitled "Text" for a transcription of the attached document.

Literature / Children's Literature

SPECIAL PZ5 .B433 1950

English, book's contents
English, event description

This book has another record in the "Beautiful Books" Lobby Display Collection.
To see this book on November 15, 2018 in the "Event Photographs" Collection, please go here [Photograph of Books] 05454 and here [Photograph of Books] IMG_0583.

Transcription of event description:

BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS STORYBOOK | BETTY O'CONNOR, SELECTOR | DES MOINES, IA: MEREDITH PUBLISHING CO. | 1950

The cover of this volume instantly demonstrates a sense of childish wonder, while still harkening back to earlier versions of these stories, which customers might recall from their own youth by utilizing illustrations from Famous Editions enhanced with color. Several story characters are displayed on the cover and reappear as yellow line drawings on a burgundy background for the endpapers. The inclusion of a Belongs To plate further shows the recognition by the publishers of a child’s desire to claim ownership over something, especially if the book was a gift.

The reverse of the loose endpapers are the same shade of chartreuse as the cover, adding to an overall sense of unity. The text itself is meant to serve as a teaching tool for children, as demonstrated by the replacement of assorted words by illustrations in some stories. The print is also very large and legible for children who are just learning to read. For child who would have read this book, or similar ones, it can conjure up fond memories of childhood; certainly earning this book the descriptor of “beautiful.” Books like these from early childhood remain in our subconscious for decades forming our opinions of what is or is not appealing. There is also a table-like section starting on page 18 and ending on page 25. This gives a great sense of learning and organization as well as the opportunity to see more large illustrations. On some pages there is sheet music, which has its own intricate educational beauty.

The illustrations range in coloration from bright colors, to monotone, to uncolored. The illustrations on the few glossy pages are lithographs, but all the illustrations on regular pages defy definition. They are solid washes of color as one would expect for watercolors, but no commercial book would have hand-colored illustrations.

The Better Homes and Gardens Storybook is one of 3,000 volumes donated by Mrs. Marifrances Engelhardt after Hurricane Matthew (2016) flooded her home. About 240 books are in Special Collections. During WWII she served in Spain in the diplomatic corps and married a well-known foreign correspondent, through whom she met Ernest Hemingway and Orson Wells. Sometime after her second marriage she settled in St. Augustine. When shown a book from her collection, despite her advanced years, she remembered who in her family owned it or gave it to her, and whether or not she enjoyed reading it. Mrs. Engelhardt died on April 18, 2017.

Book / Unpublished Print Document