Customer Reviews

Collector's Guide to Children's Books, 1850 to 1950: Identification & Values

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This book is an embarrassment. Virtually every page of book titles and listings has at least one glaring error. In the area of juvenile series books it is both incomplete, full of errors, etc. Examples are easy to find- Border Boys Series incorrectly dates the publishers, Bobbsey Twins description woefully incomplete, Battleship Boys lists only a few of the titles in the series and does not mention the first publisher which was Altemus, Airship Boys Series fails to note all of the books and both of the publishers. These mistakes are just on the pages I glanced at for series books. I suspect the same errors of commision and omission exist for many other books. Get yourself Mattson's guide for series books and do your own research for anything else. This book does have a nice glossy cover. Totally form over substance.

Like all good collecting books, this one still has some gems to offer, especially many color photos not found in the later works -- but the much newer Encyclopedia of Collectible Children's Books is the best bargain for the price. It's also six times as long, listing many of the series and single titles left out for space reasons in the earlier books.