Oooh weee! I had the most awesome find a month or so ago at the thrift store. You guys already know I have an obsession with vintage kid’s book…and usually it’s for the nifty illustrations. BUT these puppet storybooks from the 60s have a special place in my heart. They are so cool and fun! Typically the cover had this scratchy lenticular (aka 3-D) postcard on them and then inside cool photos of the puppet dolls acting out the stories. They remind me so much of the Rankin & Bass Christmas specials—like Rudolph. I always expect the characters in these books to start moving!
So as I was scanning the books like I always do, I was thrilled to find one! And then low and behold I found another….and then another. And suddenly I realized I had ELEVEN of them in my hand!!!! Holy smokes, talk about insta-collection!
Each one has an inscription to Cindy from grandma and “papa” Vasner—so sweet. It looks like she got one for every birthday and christmas. I’m sad she gave up her collection, but how lucky for me to have inherited it! Let’s take a look inside some of them.
I think this quirky “Tell Me What Time it Is!” book is pretty terrific. The little mock lederhosen on the boy are too cute. Check it out:
Pretty cute huh! But I have to say that this CINDERELLA book is one of my super favorites. I had one as a little girl and just loooooved seeing the fancy gowns!
Ahhhhh that dress! Also, can we discuss the crazy bunz on the stepsisters??? They were poofin’ long before The Snooki.
I just love these books, don’t you? The history behind them is pretty neat. You can read a little more about them in the post I did about one of my faves 3-D puppet books, Rocket Trip to the Moon! Do you have any Tiny 3-D books? Do you remember them from when you were a kiddo?
i totally remember touching the front of one of those books! i had forgotten all about them.
i feel guilty every time we donate books with inscriptions.
I used to have The Elves and the Shoemaker when I was little, and now I collect those for Sydney! They are my FAVORITE books to collect! Great find! 🙂
Adorable! Can’t believe you found 11 all once. Definite score!
Absolutely darling.
Oh! I has some of these, only in norwegian. They are so cute, but they also sort of scare me. The kids with the clocks remind me of that poor boy in Coraline, it looks like they want to speak, but they cant with the mouths glued shut.
Nostalgia triumphs though! Yet another great blog to start of my weekend!
what an incredible score!! I’ve always loved those! 😀
WOW I love these books! I found a larger version of the Cinderella book only this week when thrift shopping..i love it. Lucky you finding a whole set.
Our county library in my tiny Tennessee town had those growing up (I was a kid in the 80’s)! I loved them, and checked them out repeatedly. I wonder if they still have them…
Wow! What a wonderful collection, and they’re pink to boot! How fun they’d be to look through!
I do remember having one of these books. I absolutely love children’s literature, and vintage children’s books are just the icing on the cake for me. What a treasure, and what a find. Thanks for bringing back some memories and sharing your lovely collection with us.
Oh My……I Remember Having These as a child….I too love collecting vintage children;s Books What a find…..And Those Book ends Lovely.
I would really love someone to do a book about these books, leading into the use of this puppet imagery in Viewmasters (which I collect), advertisements in the 60’s – they had a bunch of these puppet images and, I recently found a company cookbook who did it for Christmas advertisemen and know it was a fad for a couple of years. Yesterday I came across a Japanese magazine (can’t read it, just can see the photos) of one of these artists who did the Little Match Girl). Aldo, a few years ago someone started doing classics in children’children’s board books with felted puppets. Anyone want to try to collect information and images to do this? Anyone know where to start?