"Silly Rabbit! Books Are For Kids!

Well, for adults, too. The mark of a really good kids' book is that it has plenty to entertain a child, but more than can be discovered and appreciated over time. Here's a couple of books that span a century of children's tales.

George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a remarkable figure who began a Congregational minister:

In 1850 he was appointed pastor of Trinity Congregational Church, Arundel, but his sermons (preaching God's universal love and the possibility that none would, ultimately, fail to unite with God) met with little favour and his salary was cut in half. Later he was engaged in ministerial work in Manchester. He left that because of poor health, and after a short sojourn in Algiers he settled in London and taught for some time at the University of London. MacDonald was also for a time editor of Good Words for the Young, and lectured successfully in the United States during 1872–1873.

Turning to writing, he began publishing- indeed, largely inventing- British fantasy fiction, and his books influenced generations of writers to follow, from W.H. Auden to C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, and Madeline L'Engle. He seemed to know everyone of his time; one photo shows him with Lord Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Willkie Collins, Anthony Trollope, John Ruskin, George Lewes (George Eliot's longtime squeeze) and Wm. Makepeace Thackeray. MacDonald mentored Lewis Carroll, and his kids' reaction to Alice in Wonderland convinced the maths prof to try to get it published.

We have a fine copy of one of MacDonald's best-sellers, The Golden Key, in an edition with illustrations by Maurice Sendak and an afterword by W. H. Auden, who sums up MacDonald's gift as 

...his ability, in all his stories, to to create an atmosphere of goodness about which there is nothing phony or moralistic. Nothing is rarer in literature. As Simone Weil observed:

Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating. 'Imaginative literature,' therefore, is either boring or immoral or a mixture of both.

George MacDonald's tales are proof that this is not necessarily the case....his permanent importance in literature is assured.

Fine, 19th century, engraving-style illustrations by Maurice Sendak make this a very fine acquisition indeed.

A good story, great illustrations: that happy combination also makes Night Driving such a pleasure. This tale of a boy and his dad, driving overnight- and trying to stay awake- on a camping trip in the mountains, was written by John McCoy and illustrated by Peter McCarty. McCarty's drawings, in a hazy, duotone way that invokes both darkness and childhood memory, are masterful; Coy's story- told by the boy- is understated and elegant. Our copy is autographed by the author.

Details:

George MacDonald, The Golden Key (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1967; 2d ed., 1996; illustrations by Maurice Sendak, afterword by W. H. Auden. 85 pp. hardcover with unclipped dust jacket, Library of Congress catalog card number 67-10391. Small octavo, very good condition). Your price: US $75.

Jon Coy, Night Driving, (Henry Holt & Co, 1996, 1st ed., hardcover with unclipped dust jacket. Borders Books Autographed Copy sticker on front dust jacket. ISBN 0-8050-2931-1. Very good condition. Your price: US $25.