the other day sarah jane posted about her obsession for vintage childrens' books, specifically their illustrations to inspire her in her artwork. i loved her post because i have the same love for old childrens' books and they are favorite things to look for during garage sale season. i thought i'd share my favorites. of all the cool old stuff out there, can i admit to being lame enough that the vintage little golden books are my favorite? alot because they remind me of my childhood (we had a large collection that i read over and over and...) but also because of illustrator eloise wilkin. she did alot of the books between the 50s-70s, and her drawings of little cherubic children with eyes full of wonderment, are my favorites.
turns out they are cate's favorites, too. we have read hansel and gretel SO many times it is beginning to finally fall apart. so big and the little book are also common around here- i loved to read her those two as she was entering the big girl world. and we like kindergarten is what i used to prepare cate for school.
but most of all, i love her faith based illustrations in classics like prayers for children, a child's garden of verses, and especially, my big little golden book about god. i love the words and illustrations to that book so much that i found an abused copy and ripped the pages out to hang on cate's clothesline above her bed so she can see those images and think of the words as she falls asleep:
besides the warmth and earthiness, i love to look at eloise wilkin's illustrations for the color and style inspiration for clothe-making and crafting. the vintage smocks the little girls are always wearing melt my heart. i love all the little aviator caps, cardigans, twirly skirts, and wooly coats. the wall paper patterns and upholstery designs are also always inspiring...
luckily, the little golden books illustrated by eloise wilkin are still widely available and can be found often at thrift stores, on ebay and etsy, and even on amazon. and they couldn't be more highly recommended by this vintage book lover.
so thanks, eloise! (and don't you just love that name? it's on my girl list).
Oh, the memories! We have many of these on our shelf, handed down from my mother's childhood collection. Thank you for the inspiration to glean inspiration from this treasured source.
Posted by: Tina | January 14, 2009 at 02:33 PM
Oh, memories! I love these books. We have many on our shelf handed down from my mom's childhood collection. Thank you for the inspiration to glean inspiration from these treasures.
Posted by: Tina | January 14, 2009 at 02:41 PM
oh I love a few of those books too.. my kids love "the monster at the end of the book" my mother used to read that one to me and "the little red caboose" oh there are so many...I could go on
I love that you hung them on a line in her bedroom.. that looks gorgeous!!
Posted by: This Girl Loves to Talk | January 14, 2009 at 02:46 PM
My mother saved all of my old Golden Books from when I was a kid (circa 1980, $.55 each) and now I read them to my 3 year old. He's currently lovin' The Tawny Scrawny Lion and The New Baby. I, too, *heart* Eloise Wilkin's art, though have you noticed (as I'm sure you have, as you've posted a page from We Help Daddy) that EVERY SINGLE PAGE that features the daddy also features a pipe dangling from his lips. EVERY PAGE. How much tobacco does one man need to smoke in a given day, even if it is 1952???
Posted by: chickenjulie | January 14, 2009 at 03:37 PM
i agree! many fond memories of those books and illustrations...love the clothesline, too. very sweet.
Posted by: gina | January 14, 2009 at 03:37 PM
the one about the little girl, and her mom has a baby, and she does everything with her doll that her mom does with the baby... I can't belive I can't remember the name of it- but that one was my FAVORITE!
Posted by: Mandee | January 14, 2009 at 04:10 PM
I just bought a copy of Eloise Wilkin's BABY DEAR. I was thrilled. I can remember being a little girl and my mom reading that to me. I love kids books too. A little bit of an obsession.
Posted by: Cherry Tree Lane | January 14, 2009 at 04:24 PM
AMEN! Imagine my excitement when my babies looked like Eloise Wilkin kids (seriously, people have stopped me in public to tell me so). My favorite of hers because it holds so many memories is the Nativity book. LOVE IT! And all the religious books have been church bag staples for us for years. I love that they come in board books, too. Does anyone remember the book, "Little Mommy"? It has a blonde girl wearing white tights and a cute dress on the cover and I think she's rocking a baby doll. It was my other fave.
Posted by: Jamie | January 14, 2009 at 04:24 PM
gorgeous!!! such a great collection. I love the golden book...I don't have enough of those. it is amazing though, that my kids love those books as much as I do...with all the bold modern fast paced around them, they still are mostly attracted to the soft and simple. Thanks! Great post!
Posted by: sarah jane | January 14, 2009 at 05:53 PM
Baby Dear is my favorite from Eloise! I have the original copy we had growing up but I tracked down a copy for my sister for Christmas and she was thrilled. I saw a baby book somewhere that used Eloise's baby illustrations and it was SO beautiful. I wish I'd been pregnant so I could have justified buying it.
Posted by: emily kate | January 14, 2009 at 06:17 PM
I also LOVE LOVE LOVE older illustrations like these! it would be cool to frame a bunch for a baby nursery wouldn't it?! someday for you i hope!!!
tara
Posted by: tara pollard pakosta | January 14, 2009 at 07:28 PM
not lame AT ALL... the goldens are my fav too. makes me want to dig mine out of the attic.
Posted by: Nicole | January 14, 2009 at 07:57 PM
OH and eloise is on my ALL time favorite girls name list.. JUST LOVE IT
Posted by: Nicole | January 14, 2009 at 08:00 PM
I loved the Pokey Little Puppy growing up. I got one for my son. WIsh I still had the one I grew up with though.
Posted by: cat | January 14, 2009 at 08:06 PM
Omg, I have the book of that little girl making pies on the lower right corner of your mosaic. I LOVE that book. I don't remember the title though. I'm sure it's stilil being well kept at my mom's house.
Posted by: amanda | January 14, 2009 at 08:29 PM
The girl making pies is "We Help Mommy."
Posted by: chickenjulie | January 14, 2009 at 09:45 PM
The love fest continues . . . We Like Kindergarten and Baby Dear are two of the most reminiscent books of my childhood. I still have our original Baby Dear - in very well loved condition. I even named my doll Baby Dear when I was 3 and I always dreamed of having a little baby book for my doll like the little girl in the story. I need to track down a copy of We Love Kindergarten. One of the reasons I always loved that one is because one of artworks on the wall has the name Amy on it. You are so awesome to post this. Love it! :)
Posted by: another amy | January 14, 2009 at 10:49 PM
Great post Kelly! We collect the classic Bambi books around here, for my sweet Keston's deer obsession. I think my most memorable Little Golden Book was the Sesame Street one "There's A Monster At The End of This Book". Awesome. I should lie and say it was something better though...
Posted by: shawn | January 14, 2009 at 11:15 PM
i love the little golden books! i used to like looking at the back to see how many of the little characters (poky little puppy, tawny scrawny lion, etc) were featured in books that i owned.
"the monster at the end of this book" was my favorite, by far.
Posted by: rose | January 14, 2009 at 11:29 PM
Kelly,
I have been lurking about your blog for some time now (like a year), and you are amazing! You are inspirational, and make me want to be a better mommy, housewife, and more crafty! It is not lame AT ALL to love golden books the best! They are definitely a favorite in our household too! I read my old ones to my children all the time, and even bought an Eloise Wilkin collection book with like 10 of her most-loved stories. It is beautiful. I love the vintage design-- it makes me want to pull out my apron and bake something with my two little ones! If I started wearing hats and gloves, would people laugh? I am sorry this is such a long post, but thanks again for allowing a peek into your sweet life!
-Olivia
Posted by: Olivia Lyman | January 14, 2009 at 11:36 PM
A couple of people commented that "There's Monster at the End of This Book" was a favorite. Mine too, so when we went down to visit Brazilian friends, we took a bunch of books and toys for their 2 and 4 year old, including that one. Apparently, the humor doesn't translate because the 4 yo was terrified of the book! By page 4, he was in tears and begging us to put it away. (He left it with his parents. His dad is a psychiatrist. He laughed and said it would be good therapy practice for him.)
Posted by: Lisa Anderson | January 15, 2009 at 06:42 AM
I have always loved Eloise's illustrations! I have some of the book from my childhood and picked up others along the way. Baby Dear is a story my daughter loved so much while I was pregnant, she could recite it from memory.
Posted by: Mandy | January 15, 2009 at 08:33 AM
As soon as I typed my comment I realized that *I* can recite Baby Dear from memory too. LOL
"Baby Dear is my brand new baby doll. Daddy brought her to me on a very special day. It was the day he brought Mommy and our new baby home from the hospital...."
Posted by: Mandy | January 15, 2009 at 08:34 AM
My mother and I share a love of Wilkin's books. They are just so sweet...I love how they capture domestic life with little ones. My favorites are We Help Mommy and We Help Daddy. Interestingly, I have 2 copies of WHD, one with daddy smoking a pipe on a few pages and one where the pipe has magically disappeared!
Posted by: Mary | January 15, 2009 at 10:18 AM
you are so cute and fun. how can you even stand yourself? ;)
Posted by: kristen Van Dyke | January 15, 2009 at 10:57 AM
Okay, so seriously, I have been meaning to write about the EXACT same thing! I am in love with Eloise Wilkin books- definitely my favorite children's illustrator ever. My parents gave me "Baby Dear" with my own little baby doll when they brought my sister home from the hospital when I was 2 1/2 and I have loved her books ever since. I have always adored all the little tiny details she put into every picture! And I loved what you wrote about her and her books, Kelly. As always, you have such a beautiful way of capturing with your words what I feel in my heart.
Posted by: andi | January 15, 2009 at 04:43 PM
I have been obsessed with that illustrator since I can remember. My cousins (who I spent all holiday breaks with) had the entire little golden book collection (an ENTIRE hallway of shelves). I devoured those. Thank you for posting this. It is good, and sweet, and Lord knows we need that in our world. Those illustrations are everything that life should be, but cannot be-
Posted by: creole wisdom | January 15, 2009 at 11:09 PM
i love the clothesline- what a cute idea!
Posted by: glor | January 16, 2009 at 08:41 AM
Those are the images of my childhood. Warm safe thoughts about God and how Hansel and Gretal will be safe in the end. It is wonderful that they are so widely available now so that we can share them with our children.
Posted by: jendoop | January 16, 2009 at 10:47 AM
thanks for this, kelly! i have so many memories of the golden books and other old children's books my parents had kicking around (i was the 5th of 7 children, so my parents had "old" books when i was around). your post makes me want to go raid my parent's garage for all the old books they still (hopefully) have.
Posted by: nama | January 16, 2009 at 01:23 PM
where did the baby go? by eloise wilkin was my absolute fav when I was little! I think the house in the book still dominates my decorating style after all these years :-) such good memories!
Posted by: Lori | January 18, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Hooray. What an idea. And wouldn't you know? I have two lovely copies of that book in my girls' shelf. Tomorrow there will only be one. The other one is going to make such a sweet decoration. Thanks very much for the fine idea.
Posted by: julie | January 20, 2009 at 11:30 PM
I used to have that Hansel & Gretel book as a child! This is such a cute post, it made me all nostalgic. I just discovered your blog, its such a lovely blog.
Posted by: nancy | January 27, 2009 at 09:02 AM
i love little golden books too! and i have the same books that you mentioned, hansel and gretel was also my daughter's fave (she's 5), but now her favorite is 'A Fly Went By' (w/c is not a golden book). do you know that book? i love it too! :)
Posted by: yvette | January 30, 2009 at 05:34 AM