The Adventures of Toby Brite & Bobby (1953)

To dental hygiene and beyond!

Just a silly one today. This is one of those books that were supposed to be "good for you". The adventures of Bobby and his toothbrush friend Toby Brite. Included for the fact that their adventures take place in a space ship.

So after you visit the moon be sure to stop by your "friend" the dentist. (And watch out for those vegetable armies)

Orbiting Stations (1965)

Stambler, Irwin. Illustrated by Lessin, Andy. Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel. New York: GP Putnam's Sons. (95 p.) 24 cm.

Outlines the plans the military and NASA had for lifting bodies and orbital research stations. Uses a number of fascinating aerospace contractor's paintings of possible future missions.

Rockets and Jets (1952)

This is another early children's book that has a unique illustration style. I don't have a copy with a dust jacket so the title page with have to do.

Neurath, Marie. Rockets and Jets. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard. (36 p.) 23 cm. Cloth, DJ.

Intended as a basic science book the illustrations make it an exercise in what can be done with just a few colors. With the 40th anniversey of the Moon landing coming up it is neat to see imagination in action.

Apollo Moonbase (1969)

Occasionally you find something that you can't quite decide what it is.

There is no doubt this is a wonderful example of imaging our space future but it does bring up some questions.




















1. Why is it called Apollo when it is a UN rocket on the moon?


2. Why do the astronauts look nothing like the Apollo spacesuits?


3. Why does the rocket look like a Von Braun rocket from the 1950s? Didn't they have other examples they could use?



















I have a number of space themed punch-out books to share with you but in some ways this is the strangest.






Published by Australian Universities Press Pty. Ltd

Copyrighted: abEricF.Olsson&co 1969 Sundbyberg Sweden.

Everything is pretty much from the artist's imagination, except the Automatic Prospector's cart which looks like some early NASA speculative paintings.There is almost no text besides the instructions. so I don't know if this was purely for entertainment or whether it was supposed to have some educational value.

Exploring Space (1958)

Rockets away!!

Today's treasure is "A Little Golden Book". These little books were everywhere when I was growing up. They were sold in supermarkets and bookstores all over so it was easy to talk Mom into picking one up.

"Little Golden Book" (#342).

Wyler, Rose. Illustrated by Gergely, Tibor and Solenewitsch, George. Exploring Space : A True Story of the Rockets of Today and a Glimpse of the Rockets That Are to Come. New York: Simon and Schuster. (24 p.) 21 cm.

This may be one of the most remembered of children's space travel books because so many children owned it.

It covers the basics of rocket propulsion and then summarizes the current state of research up through the 1958 launch of Laika, the space dog.

From 2009 it is fascinating to see what they thought a landing on the moon would look like from the perspective of 51 years earlier.

I also wished that I had lived to see a rocket port, when "Rockets will be as common as airplanes are now."

The Dawning Space Age (1963)

This is actually a kind of textbook. In the late 50s and early to mid 1960s the Civil Air Patrol had classes for older student about spaceflight and the future. Since their mission was aerospace education these were meant to orient students to the space age. It was first written in 1959, this is the second revised edition from 1963.

Mehrens, H.E. Revised by Conroy, Charles W. The Dawning Space Age (2nd ed.) Ellington Air Force Base, Texas : United States Air Force, Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters. (248 p.) 22 cm. Softcover.

I really enjoy how they chose illustrations to make the text seem exciting and new. The illustration seem to be from various aerospace and Air Force reports. The fact that they chose to put so much effort into gettting art that is inspirational makes this worth tracking down.

Because it is basically an outdated textbook you can find this (and the workbooks that went with it) all over.

Here are a few more illustrations:

Look it is the Hubble repair mission!!!

The Big Book of Space (1953)

This is BIG, really BIG...

I mean it must be...oh never mind..It is however a pain to store.

Hurst, Earl Oliver. The Big Book of Space: Space Ships, Space Stations, Rockets, Equipment, Star Maps. New York: Grosset and Dunlap. ( 24 p.) 34 x 24 cm.

One of the great early children's "space books". With "scientific detail" approved by Willy Ley, it has many illustrations of rockets, space suits, space stations and the surface of the Moon. The illustrations are very different from the standard Bonestell rockets, being more fanciful but still conveying the sense that this world was just around the corner. "

Eagle Book of Rockets and Space Travel (1961)

Taylor, John W.R. and Allward, Maurice. Illustrated by Sentovic, J. Eagle Book of Rockets and Space Travel. London : Longacre Press. (192 p.) 27 cm. Cloth, DJ.

This is a wonderful British book outlining whatever every child needed to know about the space age. Eagle magazine was a mainstay of many British children. To broaden their market they issued annuals and various "branded" products.

So there is the "Eagle Book of..." for a variety of subjects.

A lot interesting factual pages. Covers all aspects of space travel, from the history of space to rocket models to future Moon landing plans and interplanetary travel. Interesting for its British perspective on space travel and rocket research.

The Story of Earth Satellites (1957)

Somehow I find it terribly exciting how Sputnik and the IGY changed people's minds about space flight. Up until 1957 if you mentioned space flight or published a book it had to show brave space men (and women) flying to the moon and fighting aliens. Suddenly the everyday person had to learn more about this new word "satellite".

This is a pamphlet that came with Reploge Globes. When you bought the globe this pamphlet helped you understand that something could actually fly around it!

There must have been a burst of interest in the Earth as a sphere as people realized that it really was round, so globes had a resurgence.