Beaverdime Books

What sparked my initial interest in Brunswick Press was the Beaverdime Book series. These little books were first published in 1953. Titles were added over the years.  Then they were reissued in 1965 and 1975.  Altogether, thirty different Beaverdime Books were produced.

These books are adorable.  They are small in size, soft, and have bright illustrations. They are drawn from classic children's literature, familiar stories, fairy tales, or poems by writers such as Lewis Carroll, Robert Louis Stevenson, Hans Christian Andersen and so on.

I have managed to collect a few titles from 1965. The Story of Augustus is one of my favourites.

I love this inside cover to Augustus. The illustrations are so vibrant and fun. 

In thinking about childhood reading, I find the book series a fascinating artifact, because it brings together so many elements: goals for childhood reading, an aesthetic designed to appeal to children, marketing decisions, etc. Some of my work has been into home libraries for children from the early decades of the 20th century such as Journeys through Bookland and My Book House. (I hope to write about those here some time.)  Those series are weighty and serious. The books are heavy and ornate. They are clearly intended as an investment.

The Beaverdime books, with their soft, small stature, 10 cent price tag, and gas station marketing take a different approach to getting kids to read. (Although a lot of the literature overlaps.)

Sue Fisher, the curator at the Eileen Wallace Children's Room at UNB is also interested in these books.  She has a great post on her blog outlining more details and history.  Since writing that, she's met and interviewed Karel Rohlicek, who along with his wife Milada Horejs, were responsible for the illustrations and design of the books.  Emigres from the then Czechoslovakia, they moved to Toronto before coming to Fredericton to work for University Press of NB

Initially, I assumed Beaverdime Books were modeled on The Little Golden Books that began publication in 1942 in the US. A similar philosophy at work, it seemed. But in reading about that book series, I learned they were based on European books from the 1930s: such as the Pere Castor books in France.  Karel credited the design for the Beaverdime books to books his father had made for a Prague bookseller. All in all, it seems the trend in children's books in 1930s Europe eventually spread to North America.

In July, I am presenting a paper on the Beaverdime Books at the Child, Youth, and Place in Atlantic Canadian Literaturere in Wolfville NS.  A lot of the discussion of Atlantic Canadian literature circulates around regionalism, but in the case of the Beaverdime Books, regionalism is not particularly relevant. Their agenda is more obviously nationalist, even cosmopolitan.  Sue Fisher believes they are completely unique in Canadian children's publishing at this time -- and I would agree.