White Africans and Black by Caroline Singer and Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge

I bought this book in 2001 from the wonderful used book store (now closed) Acorn in Grandview because of the beautiful pencil and charcoal drawings. There are no whites in the book so I was a little puzzled by the title—the authors say it’s because all Africa was controlled by whites. Originally written in 1929 and published by The Methodist Book Deport , Cape Coast, Gold Coast,  it is extremely respectful of the beauty and culture of black Africa, but the authors comment on the presence of the Europeans and their culture throughout the book as they travel in Africa for 14 months.  There is an inscription in mine from the original owners: January 1945, Marilyn Phyllis Birch, A memento of our field of foreign service. Daddy and Mother (beautiful script).

One of the first things the authors mention is that photographs do not do justice to the shading and tone of African skin--but their drawings certainly do. The people are all beautifully drawn--very well muscled, graceful, and beautiful. They comment on relations between men and women, slavery (which had been outlawed, but still was obvious in 1929 as it is 80 years later), funeral customs, polygamy, religion, the culture of the "Creole" West Indians who had returned to Africa but weren't really African, food, bathing, language, work attitudes. The illustrator is Cyrus Baldridge, and  his wife, Caroline Singer is the writer. Her writing style is unusual. She uses almost no active verbs, lots of descriptive clauses, and sometimes word repetition, and so her writing develops sort of a calming rhythm. I would love to see something else they've written--and they did a lot of traveling,

“Quiet is the bedroom which adjoins our own, occupied by a swaggering hawk-nosed Kissi, his childlike wife and half a dozen retainers who, though slavery is by law abolished, differ racially from their employer and obey him, without servility, but still as people owned obey.  That the young man is Moslem is evidence not by robes and sandals alone—for many pagans assume this dress without derangement of their inner life—but by his pretty one’s abasement, which has a subtly meretricious quality.  She is demure.  But I think she is so designedly, not unselfconsciously as pagan women are.  It is often stated by the governing whites—despite the missionary’s protest—that any pagan, Moslemized, has made an upward step.  This child, littered with European jewelry of dubious gold, is set apart from other women here by a mincing self-consciousness, equalled only by the preciousness of half-Europeanized women of the larger coast settlements, unduly inflated by newly acquired monogamy, Charleston sandals, and coverings for their upper parts.  A favorite toy, chosen for her charms and not her usefulness, the girl, as if in fearful anticipation of the day those charms may pass, undetected from behind her husband’s back, plunges long glances into the eyes of passing men, searching for reaffirmation of their potency.”

https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/cyrus-leroy-baldridge-illustrator-explorer-activist/ If I were collecting books instead of giving them away, this is an illustrator/author I would try to locate. https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/media/documents/baldridge-C.pdf A WWI illustration from “ I Was There With the Yanks In France (1920), a book of sketches by the artist Cyrus Leroy Baldridge, who had served as a war correspondent in occupied Belgium and France before America even joined the war. Baldridge later joined the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) and became the chief illustrator for the new Stars and Stripes military newspaper.”  https://library.wustl.edu/wwi-archives-dan-bartletts-books/

More books headed for new owners

Maybe I should rename this blog, "Off my Bookshelves." Some of these I read three decades ago, and haven't opened since.  I've been dusting them (occasionally).  Others I've used off and on for reference.

 Christian

Willard.  The divine conspiracy
Palms.  God guides your tomorrows.  PB
Smith.  The Christian's secret of a happy life. PB
Mow.  Your child.

Luther and Lutherans--these will go to the church.

Nelson. The Lutherans in North America. rev. ed. 1980.
Winter (translator). Discourse on free will, Erasmus Luther. pb
Lull. Martin Luther's basic theological wrings. 1989. pb.
Bayer.  Martin Luther's theology, contemporary interpretation. 2008. pb [decided to keep]
Pelikan, ed. Luther's Works, vol. 27, 28, 1964.

Not sure why I saved my college textbooks, but I did occasionally open them over the years.

Textbooks, history

Stearns. Pageant of Europe; sources and selections. Rev. ed.
Gewehr. American Civilization, a history of the United States.
Ergang.  Europe from the renaissance to Waterloo.

Children's books 

Over the years, I collected some lovely children's books for when I would have grandchildren and read to them as I did my own children.  But that was not to be.   I've pulled them off the shelves and I'll see if our niece who has 8 grandchildren wants them.  My priority in children's books is always the illustrations. I love these books, will be sad to see them go, but would love to have children read and enjoy them.

Kjelgaard, Jim.  Sam Savitt illustrator.  Two dogs and a horse. 1964.  I think I bought this at a library sale. It's short stories. The author wrote many animal stories, and I remember reading them when I was a child--he seemed fond of Irish Setters. This was published after his death at 49. Sam Savitt was a well known equine artist. He did a Guide to Horses poster that perhaps I had in the Veterinary library at OSU.

Henry, Marguerite. Wesley Dennis illustrator.  Misty of Chincoteague. 1947. 1951.  I read this in 3rd grade, but didn't own it.  I did own her Born to Trot and King of the Wind, so when I saw this at a sale, I bought it. In my opinion these two are the premiere dog and pony children's book authors/illustrators.  Can't be beat. There is a foundation named for this pony.

Mortimer, Anne, story by Matthew Sturgis. Tosca's Christmas. 1989.  Usually the illustrator doesn't have top billing, but in this case, she was an artist not known for children's books but for her floral paintings. Until the end of  2014 she had a painting blog, but is now doing that on Facebook.

Pryor, Bonnie.  Illustrated by Beth Peck. The house on Maple Street. 1987. 1992.  In the 90s I was doing some fiction writing, and I attended a two day workshop for children's authors and sat in a session by this author or artist, of which I remember nothing, but did buy two of her books.  She lives in Ohio and has written about 40 books.

Pryor, Bonnie.  Mark Graham illustrator. The dream jar. 1996. Pryor's specialty is writing historical fiction for children.

Rosen, Michael J. ed. Purr. . . Children's book illustrators brag about their cats. 1996. Rosen is a writer, artist and poet originally from Columbus and as I recall, we might have him at the Columbus Museum of Art or maybe visited an art exhibit about animals and bought this book--I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.  The proceeds of this book by illustrators that he edited went to benefit an animal organization.

"Scaredy Kate is a plump calico" belonging to Dyanne DiSalvo-Ryan, who says she had "her first and only litter of kittens on Father's Day, and bore them in the corner of my husband's closet surrounded by his sneakers.  We called them his Father's Day presents, and named the kittens Adidas, Nike, Converse, Etonic and Reebok."

Chorao, Kay.  The baby's bedtime book. 1984. Familiar bedtime poems and prayers--Day is done, Lullaby and good night, Minnie and Winnie, Now I lay me down to sleep--illustrated by Chorao.

Delval, Marie-Helene. Ulises Wensell illustrator. Translated from French. Reader's Digest Bible for Children; timeless stories from the Old and New Testaments. 1995.  Table of contents includes the chapter/verse citation; glossary in back. Illustrator was well known artist from Spain who died in 2011. Author is French and has written a number of Bible based books for children.

Riddles, Libby.  Shannon Cartwright illustrator. Danger the dog yard cat.  1989.  On our Alaskan cruise in 2001 we met the author who talked about the Iditarod which she won in 1985. Cartwright is both a writer and illustrator and lives in Alaska.  A customer review of her Finding Alaska, "Cartwright's art is delightful and at times very humorous. I recently heard that on the train-ride from Anchorage to Fairbanks, an announcement is made at the spot, where the train makes a stop in the middle of nowhere, when a delivery is being made for her, or when Shannon needs a ride to do her errands in the city!!"

Walsh, Vivian and J. Otto Seibold, illustrator. Olive the other reindeer. 1997.  Olive is actually a dog (a Jack Russel owned by the author) who heard the Rudolph song and thought "All of the other reindeer," was "Olive, the other reindeer," and so the story.  I think I bought it because it was about Olive.   This couple has written and illustrated a number of children's books. See Wikipedia.

McGeorge, Constance W. Mary Whyte illustrator. Boomer's big day.1994.  Snow riders. 1995.  My recollection is I met Ms. McGeorge at an authors' workshop or gathering and then bought her books at a book store. Snow Riders I thought was especially exciting because my brother and I used to make snow horses in the winter in Forreston.  I met Mary Whyte at least 10 years later and we have another one of her books, Working South, although it's not a childrens' book. She will be the judge at the fall OWS show.  I think Ms. McGeorge lived in Upper Arlington when I met her. Boomer was the first children's book for both according to the flap and Boomer was the name of Whyte's Golden Retriever. 

There's a lovely blog about the art of children's books, "The art of children's picture books," but it seems to be on vacation since August 2015.