Antique Little Red Riding Hood Book
by W. Gunston; Illustrated by M. E. Edwards



In my sorting, I found this 19th century  Little Red Riding Hood book by W. Gunston and illustrated by M. E. Edwards.    I know quite a few doll makers who love Little Red, so I thought I'd share about this book here.  I intend on using this book as an inspiration for a new antique inspired doll for the Maida Dolls Group Storybook Dolls Challenge.  The group is open to anyone genuinely interested in making antique inspired dolls.  It is moderated, but is free to join.



This book was was printed by Th. Dupuy & Fils Printers of Paris & London.  Thos.  Nelson & Sons, New York, is the publisher, listed on the front.  The book measures 3 and 3/4 inches wide by 5 inches tall.  I've only seen one of these little gems online, and apparently it was part of a series of books by W. Gunston called "Nursery Gems."

There is no publication date on the book, but there is an inscription in the book which says Margaret Dodge, 1885, Uncle Joshua.   This link to an 1881 Publisher's weekly lists that Thos. Nelson had published two titles in the Nursery Gems series - Puss in Boots and Little Red Riding Hood.  The inscription was interesting to me, because my family tree goes back to the Dodge name.  In fact, there is a Joshua Dodge who is my direct ancestor (although the date of this inscription wouldn't match to that ancestor). 



The illustrations in this book are rich and tender.  I believe they are lithographed, but I'm not sure of the process.  I suspect it was multiple plates.  I wanted to share this book with people, as I couldn't find any images of it online (yet).   The book is fragile, and I couldn't scan it, so had to make do with taking pictures of the pages. I'm sharing a few images here of this book here.  

You can enjoy the entire book at this link  You'll notice I have duplicates of some of the images and some closeups of others.  Please don't use the images themselves for any commercial works but feel free to use them for your personal enjoyment and inspiration.  Enjoy!





4 comments:

Mary Ann Tate said...

What a lovely little book to own:) Thanks for posting the pics on the link.

marian said...

oh what a treasure!! i too am an insatiable collector and i especially love to collect vintage children's story books. I did go and look at the entire book and i drooled over those adorable pictures! thank you for sharing this beautiful little gem :))

JeriLyn said...

very neat you have all those books!

Jan Conwell said...

You're going have so much fun with your doll. :~)


"Do not let what you cannot do
keep you from doing what you can do."

John Wooden