Friday, June 25, 2021

Tararam (Poetry) (1963)

 


One of those Russian books that put a rocket on the cover even though there is not much space content in this children's poetry book. I do like the illustrations so wanted to share this with you.

Leonard Kondrashenko. Illustrated by Yu. Belkovitch. Tararam. Krymizdat : Simferopol. 12 p. 1963.









Friday, June 18, 2021

Space Satellites: Space Travel : The Moon (1959)

 


A short and different piece of ephemera today. This is a collection of three space articles from Collier's Encyclopedia. They would distribute or sell these as a pamphlet to classrooms and prospective encyclopedia customers. There were lots of these around and I picked this up mostly for the illustrations. So enjoy some cool space pictures.







Friday, June 11, 2021

By Rocketship Into the Universe / From Fire Wagon to Space Ship (1928)

 


An adult space book this week. I picked up a copy of By Rocketship Into the Universe / From Fire Wagon to Space Ship a few weeks ago. This is an early book about spaceflight and rockets written in Germany by Otto Willi Gail. I do not read German but wanted to share some of the wonderful illustrations within. At the end of July I will post his children's book derived from these ideas  By Rocket to The Moon (1931 English translation)


Mit Raketenkraft ins Wentanall / Vom Feuerwagen Zum Raumschiff. (By Rocketship Into the Universe / From Fire Wagon to Space Ship.) Otto Willi Gail. Stuttgard, 106 p. 1928.




















Friday, June 4, 2021

A Monkey's Tale (1964)

 


I posted about this book in 2010 so it is time for a re-scan and re-share of this charming piece of fiction. With adding more to the story it seems much different than your usual children's book. The story is about a monkey and a Soviet cosmonaut who are launched at the same time. The cosmonaut has trouble and the monkey end up helping him out. Upon return to Earth the Cosmonaut and the monkey are honored in parades and the monkey is thanked in Moscow  (even though he is an American Monkey). The final line of the story is one of the great one's of cold war children's fiction (does such a category exist?)

Kravetz, Nathan. Illustrated by Perl, Susan. A Monkey’s Tale. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. (59 p.) 1964.
















 That last line is: "Then, thank God for American monkeys," he whispered.