Carpe Libris: A History of Toys

“Seize the Book!”

A History of Toys
(by Antonia Fraser)
Antonia Fraser
N.P.: Delacorte Press, 1966, Pre-publication issue with $20.00 price on DJ

Of Particular Note: This pre-publication issue priced at $20 preceded the trade publication edition, which has $22.50 on the dust jacket.

Dedication: To Rebecca, Flora, Benjamin, Natasha, and Damian Fraser who first inspired and then impeded the writing of this book.
Narrative Description:

Second book (after Dolls in 1963) by now famous Lady Antonia Fraser, recipient of many literary awards including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and author of acclaimed biographies and women's history works including Mary Queen of Scots, Cromwell: Our Chief of Men, King Charles II, The Weaker Vessel: Women's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England, The Warrior Queens, and The Six Wives of Henry VIII; editor of the series on the Lives of the Kings and Queens of England.

This richly illustrated book takes a social/anthropological approach to toy history, "exploring development from the earliest surviving examples of Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations, through the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the rise of the German toy industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the nineteenth-century optical toys and theatres to the highly organized, mass-production of toys today with emphasis on the influence of the American toy industry." Complete with index and recommendations from the author for further reading on this subject. A refreshingly scholarly approach to the topic that will be of interest to collectors and historians alike.
Condition Book: Very Good / Dust Jacket: Good
Light shelf wear affecting spine and tips; dust jacket has 1.5 cm tear with small chips at top of spine and bottom tips, not affecting text. Dust jacket has not been price-clipped and therefore shows both the $20 and the $22.50 prices.
Physical Description
Illustrated: 72 full color photographs and 230 in black and white
Binding: Hardcover. Red cloth over boards with gilt lettering on spine; decorated end papers depicting Dean's rag-doll cutouts.
Size: 11.2" h 8.7" w 1.2" thick; [1-8] 9-256 pp
CL Stock # 626
Price: $ 65.00 (extra postage required)
This item is listed under: Toys, Customs & Folklore, History & Geography. (any of these links open in a new browser window)

I have rather studied books than men. - Francis Bacon (1661)