Tag: Mid 1900s

Judith Kerr: Beyond The Tiger Who Came to Tea

Judith Kerr.
Collins author Judith Kerr may be best known in the UK for her classic children’s picture books The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog the Forgetful Cat, but she is also renowned for her powerful autobiographical novels about her childhood and young adulthood. More

Publishing Firsts: Producing Books Electronically

The Long Short Cut by Andrew Garve (1968).
Although word-processing programs and electronic typewriters had been around since the late 1960s, Harper & Row was the first to help pioneer electronic publishing with Andrew Garve’s The Long Short Cut in 1968, which was, according to the New York Times, “the first book set into type completely by electronic composition.” More

To Kill a Mockingbird

A New York Times advertisement announcing the publication of To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which ran on July 17, 1960.
When J. B. Lippincott (later acquired by HarperCollins) editor Therese (Tay) von Hohoff saw the first draft of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), she saw a promising story, but one in need of some reshaping and editing. More

Being and Time

Being and Time
Perhaps the twentieth century’s most influential philosophical work, which shaped existentialism and postmodern thought. More

Native Son

Native Son
Wright’s unsparing reflection on what it means to be black in America. More

The Inklings

The Inklings.
Clive Staples Lewis (better known as C. S. Lewis) loved nothing more than sitting in the back room of his favorite pub, The Eagle and Child, surrounded by his closest literary friends, including J. R. R. Tolkien. More

Garth Williams, Illustrator

Marketing flyer promoting the 1946 publication of Little Fur Family, written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams.
Garth Williams was a little-known but talented young illustrator when he was commissioned by Ursula Nordstrom, head of Harper’s Department of Books for Boys and Girls, to illustrate the classic Stuart Little by E. B. White. More

Letter from “Padington”

Letter from “Padington”
Signed with a paw print, this letter from “Padington” (circa 1966) was sent to Australian booksellers and sales staff, encouraging them to sell the latest Paddington title. More

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley
This series celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2014 and has sold more than one million copies. More

Caps for Sale

Caps for Sale
Longtime classic about a peddler and a band of mischievous monkeys. More

Sounder

Sounder
Newbery Award–winning book that became an influential children’s work on race and class. More

Henry Huggins

Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. Illustrated by Louis Darling (Cover)
The debut novel from Newbery Medal–winning author Beverly Cleary. More

Amelia Bedelia

Amelia Bedilia
The first book featuring the now-classic, hilariously literal-minded character Amelia Bedelia. More