Thank you! You must come one day so I can show you around!!

Working on this exhibition was so much fun! Thanks again to everyone who made it possible

Eva Johanna Rubin, Klipp-Klapp-Theater (1996)

Wonderful (if slightly awkward to film with just one hand, sorry) 🙈
#picturebook
#illustration
#noveltybooks

Manchester Rare Books Blog Selling, Valuing Rare Books & Being a Bookseller Down the Rabbit Hole: A Personal Reflection on Nonsensical Book Collecting A personal essay by Susana Sanchez-Gonzalez on the joy of collecting illustrated children’s books, nonsense literature, and whimsical editions—driven by curiosity, not rarity.

New blog up Manchester Rare Books about my nonsensical collecting habits! MRB has a great range of books across all genres. Do have a look. I dare you to come tumble down the rabbit hole with me!
www.manchesterrarebooks.com/book-blog/yq...
#BookCollecting #RareBooks #ChildrensBooks #bookhistory

#phd #museology #bookexhibitions #affecttheory #bookishemotions #onob #libraryexhibitions #curatorialpractice #emotionalengagement #hookedbythebook #museologyofthebook #doctorinmuseology | Susana Sanc... I’m officially a Doctor in Museology (minor corrections pending, obvs.)! 🥳 After years of research, reading, writing, and rethinking how people emotionally engage with books in exhibitions, I’ve pas...

Reader, I did it!!👊

www.linkedin.com/posts/susana...

Delighted that the keynote during my week @calrbs.bsky.social is about the wonderful, kick-ass librarian Belle da Costa Green, by Phillip S. Palmer, Curator of Literary and Historical ms at the Morgan Library.

Or precisely because he *had* seen one!😁

I’ve been a bit lax with social media lately, but I’m planning to post plenty of images and thoughts from the course over the next few weeks. Come along for the ride—and let me know if you agree (or disagree!) with the ideas above.

To my knowledge, children’s book illustration is yet to be explored through an art-historical lens, so I’m hoping this talk is the start of a bigger research project, watch this space! 👀

I argue that the kind of playful, rebellious visual invention found in these books mirrors, and sometimes even anticipates, the spirit of avant-garde: Surrealism, Dada, Futurism, Cubism.

Children’s illustration wasn’t behind the curve—it was part of the curve.

#ArtHistory #AvantGarde #Surrealism

The artists I’ll talk about—Lear, Burgess, Duval, W.H. Robinson, to name a few—weren’t just illustrating nonsense texts. They helped build a visual language that would shape the experimental picturebooks of the postmodern era.

#IllustrationHistory #ChildrensBooks

My talk is called:
“Illustrating Nonsense: A Journey from Grandville to Newell — and Beyond.”

It explores how children’s book illustration has long been a space for radical visual invention—not just whimsy, but satire, critique, and experimentation.

#ChildrensLit #Illustration

First slide of my presentation with the title and contact details, and an image of a fish on stilts by Edward Lear

Just a couple of weeks until my specialist course on the History of Children’s Literature @calrbs.bsky.social begins! As part of this course, we have been invited to give a short talk on a topic of our choice, in my case, nonsense illustration. (A thread 🧵)

#CALRBSC #RareBooks #Nonsense

three little pigs carrying a ladder

But this one is credited to “Max” — and I can’t find any info on who he really was.

Does anyone know who Max was? Or where I might look to find out more?
#FiabeSonore #bookillustration #ItalianIllustrators #MaxFabbri #ChildrensBooks #illustrationhistory

Cinderella stroking a cat

I’ve since found out it comes from Fiabe Sonore, a 1960s Italian fairy tale series published by Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, often sold with vinyl records. Many of the illustrators used pseudonyms, like Michele (misspelt in the picture) = Angelo Bioletto, Pikka = Piero Cattaneo, Una=Ugo Fontana...

three little pigs laughing on a rocking chair

big bad wolf in red overalls

big bad wolf trying to get into the straw house and a scared little pig

This is an illustration from the first book I remember reading on my own. The translated text was awful, but the artwork stayed with me for decades.
🧵

Mmm...Petro Cuniculo doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it? (Less so for Spaniards like me 😅)

#childrensbooks
#illustration
#bookhistory

...The one tidying the shelves at the back whilst trying to see what they are reading 😅

One of the most comprehensive studies that I can find on this topic... Any other similar suggestions?
#childrensbookillustration
#bookhistory
#illustrationhistory
#childrensliterature
#picturebooks

Gorgeous!! 😍

📢Over the moon to have received a full scholarship to attend Jackie Stallcup's course on the History of Children's Literature @calrbs.bsky.social this Summer!!! Anyone else here planning to attend? I'd love to connect!👋
#rarebooks
#childrensbooks
#childrensliterature
#bookhistory
#grateful
#happy

Join us, Thursday, May 1 at 7:00 EST for the Julian L. Lapides Lecture "Seventy Years a Bibliophile" with Justin G. Schiller. Register at www.americanantiquarian.org/node/12912

Coincidentally, I read your post whilst George Michael's Praying for time came up on my playlist...Who wants to think, indeed...

Oh, just got to that part in the biography. Now I know what you meant! Andersen visit to Dickens is the funniest thing! Someone should take it to the screen!😄

Happy birthday, Hans! You are in good company here. Also, great biography!
#hanschristianandersen
#williamheathrobinson
#internationalchildrensbookday
#illustrationhistory

THE ILLUSTRATIONS OF JOSÉ CARLOS HD YouTube video by pete beard

Wonderful!
José Carlos de Brito e Cunha, known as J. Carlos (1884-1950) Brazilian cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer, introduced by Pete Beard
#illustrationhistory

youtu.be/uEpIFRm-TSg?...

Iban Barrenetxea
#illustration #picturebooks

Ukranian children's book illutrator Vyacheslav Legkobit (1941-197?) #illustration #picturebooks #history

That last one example is amazing!!

The Art of Book Covers (1820–1914) Selection of book covers produced during the bookbinding revolution of the 19th century and beyond.

A look at some of the most beautiful and unusual examples from the first 100 years of the “modern” book cover, since the rise of publishers' bindings circa 1820: publicdomainreview.org/collection/t...