Rocky Jones, Space Ranger Coloring Book (1953)

Just a quick fun one to finish out July. It is hard to image that eight years after this we started having books like these:






So who knows what 10 years will bring to our dreams of space.

America's Astronauts : Conquerors of Space (1961)

To continue with the the non-fiction comics, here is a giveaway from General Electric flash bulbs. It went with an offer for the child to get their own space capsule.

Photo Lamp department, General Electric Co. America's Astronauts: Conquerors of Space! General Electric Co, Johnstone and Cushing NY. 7 pages 1961

Famous Women (Mujeres Celebres): Valentina Tereshkova (1967)

With all this talk about man in space and man on the moon, where are the women? Well unfortunately the space race was a boys club so there are very few examples of female astronaut books or ephemera. So in my pursuit of nonfiction for children about spaceflight comes this comic from Mexico. It is the biography of Valentina Tereshkova. One of my favorite (and admittedly sexist) pages is where she goes from the hairdresser helmet to the space helmet. It is a scene unlike any ever the Mercury 7 ever let get photographed for Life magazine :)

Man in Space : A Science Feature from Tomorrowland (1956)

This is sort of a re-run from February but I have more images this time, sorry for those of you that have seen this already.

An incredible cover anticipating the first space walks 8 years later.

Walt Disney. Walt Disney's Man in Space: A Science Feature from Tomorrowland. New York: Dell Publishing Co, Inc. (32 p.)



A "novelization" in comic book form of 2 Walt Disney television programs "Man in Space" (1955) and "Tomorrow the Moon" (1955). Many illustrations of rockets, astronauts, space stations, and a trip around the Moon. Also found as a 1956 UK reprint as "A World Distributors Movie Classic" ( #45) and 1958 Spanish reprint






See 1959 combined reprint with the other 2 Dell Comics adaptations of "Man in Space" films as: "Walt Disney's Man in Space" 1959. "Dell Comics" (#716).

Kolonel Keds and His Exciting Bell Rocket Belt (1965)

If we can put a man on the moon, then where is my flying belt? As a break from all the moon posts I decided to share a little rocket belt fun. This was given out at shoe stores that sold Keds tennis shoes. Besides the comic there was the Kolonel Keds Space Club with a space whistle and a secret decoder card (see the end of this post). Be sure to click on the pages so you can read the comic. "Perhaps someday you will be flying to college in your own rocketbelt. " Happy jetpacks to you!

Log of a Moon Expedition (1969)

This was actually a science fiction novel about going to the moon. It was written and illustrated by one of the great space artist Ludek Pesek.






These images speak for themselves. Log of a Moon Expedition was a look into what a moon colony would look like and included some of the latest ideas. There was also an English edition of this book and here is the cover.

Moonday plus 40 years! July 20, 2009

Just wanted to post a bunch of moon books 1958-1974 to celebrate today. Hope you have/had a good moonday!

Exploration of the Moon (1954)

This is one of the great "lost" picture books. R.A. Smith was an amazing artist and an early member of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS). He work with AC Clarke to illustrate what will be our future on the moon. There is a full page painting to go with each page of text in the book. Most of the painting were reproduced in B&W but there were a few color plates. A beautiful (and inspirational) book.

Clarke, Arthur C. Illustrated by Smith, R. A. The Exploration of the Moon. London : Frederick Muller Ltd. / New York: Harper and Brothers Publishers. (112 p.) 26 cm. Cloth, DJ.

The color paintings are wonderful and it is a shame the entire book couldn't be color. Also a 1954 US edition with the same text and all black and white illustrations (no color) with a different cover from the UK edition.