Outer Space (1953)

 

An oldie from 15 years ago (The last time I blogged about this one). I found my copy of this and was able to add a lot more scans of this early space treasure.  Outer Space was evidently a give-away comic book at Atlantic Richfield gas stations. For those of you who did not know, often in the 1950s and 1960s when you got a tank of gas there were promotional giveaways. They could be comics, books, dishes, antennae balls...etc.

This is a treasury of early space flight illustrations and I assume few have seen this. So I have tried to scan as much of the comic as I could. A lot of it seems to have been "borrowed" or influenced by the March 22, 1952 Collier's issue.

Atlantic Richfield. Outer Space. New York: Vital Publications. (15 p.) 1953.

Can you imagine? A rocket could cost more than 4 million dollars! And be more than 300 ft high.

The Hero's Ride (1963)

 

This was a reprint of a 1961 Russian book translated into Estonian in 1963.  It is mostly an anthology of stories for children but with space art on the cover and a couple of space illustrations within I needed to share it.

Jarunkova, Klara. Illustrated by Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. Translated by A. Raid.  The Hero's Ride. Tallinn: Estonia. (90 p.) 1963.

I think the translated title is : "To the Moon with A Rocket. " It seems to be about a a boy and his friend and his dog who want to go to the moon (since they are bored after school.)

This one is from "A New Space Plan." It is about a journey to Mars and how we will bring them gifts from Earth.

The Boy Who Discovered the Earth (1955)

 

Continuing with a bit of a flying saucer theme today is The Boy Who Discovered The Earth. It is a pleasant science fiction novel for kids about an alien boy who is left behind on Earth. He makes friends with the locals and learns about dogs, baseball, and the life of children on another planet. 

The only trick is they don't look like humans at the beginning but disguise themselves as human. The "boy" keeps up this masquerade for the entire novel. Talk about Invasion of the Body Snatchers! What child finished this one without wondering which of his friends or teachers was actually an alien?

The illustrations are better than average and use the then-current current fad for children with spacesuits, space helmets, and ray guns.

Felson, Henry Gregor. The Boy Who Discovered the Earth. NY: Scribner. (140 p) 1955.

A Visit to the New York World's Fair with Peter and Wendy (1964)

 

An apology to my long time followers. I had stopped posting months ago when I got too busy. I am also having to work much harder to find /create new posts. So let me try every 2 weeks for a while and see how I do.

A Visit to the New York World's Fair was the official World's Fair storybook. A great example of obscure but not particularly valuable. It shows 2 children touring the fair and seeing what they saw. I chose it because of a little bit of space content and as a fan of the film "Men in Black." So look for the "flying saucers" sculpture as featured in the film.

Mary Pillsbury. A Visit to the New York World's Fair with Peter and Wendy. NY : Spertus. (26 p.) 1964.