Rare antique 1901 \"The History in Rhymes and Jingles\" by Alexander Flick For Sale

TheSaalfield Publishing Companypublished children\'s books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children\'s materials in the world.

The company was founded in 1900 inAkron, Ohio, by Arthur J. Saalfield who had come to take charge of the Werner Company\'s publishing department. During its flourishing, the company published the works of authors includingLouisa May Alcott,Lewis Carroll,Horatio Alger,P. T. Barnum,Daniel Defoe,Colonel George Durston,Laura Lee Hope,Herman Melville,Dr. Seuss,Anna Sewell,Shirley Temple,Johanna Spyri,Mark Twain,Johann Rudolf Wyss, andRobert Sidney Bowen.

Saalfield published theNew AmericanizedEncyclopædia Britannicain 1903, and was sued for copyright violation.

The company also published educational toys and games, including the gameBlockhead!.

Among the artists employed by Saalfield was noted illustratorEthel Hays. She worked on a variety of the company\'s juvenile titles, includingPeter Rabbit,The Night Before Christmas, andThe Little Red Hen. Her most notable work came after Saalfield had secured the license from theJohnny GruelleCompany in 1944 to produceRaggedy Annand Andy material. Storybooks, coloring books, andpaper doll[1]booklets soon followed. Most of the artwork fell to Hays, \"whose exuberant, curvilinear style perfectly captured the whimsy and energy of Gruelle\'s characters.\"[2]Another artist/illustrator who did work for Saalfield wasFrances Brundage(1854 - 1937). Brundage, who also did work forRaphael Tuck & Sons, theSamuel Gabriel Company, and other publishers, illustrated many classic works for children, and had widespread popularity; books with her illustrations are actively collected.

In April 1977 Saalfield Publishing Company shut down, and its library and archives were purchased byKent State University.

Saalfield published theAmericanizedEncyclopædia Britannicain 8 volumes with a 4 volume supplement (when the British edition had 24 volumes). TheEncyclopædia Britannica Companyhad acquired all the rights to the encyclopedia in America. In addition,D. Appleton & Companyclaimed that the 4 volume supplement used material fromAppletons\' Cyclopædia of American Biography.

To avoid further litigation, the suit against Saalfield Publishing was settled in court \"by a stipulation in which the defendants agree not to print or sell any further copies of the offending work, to destroy all printed sheets, to destroy or melt the portions of the plates from which the infringing matter in the Supplement as it appears in theAmericanizedEncyclopædia Britannicahas been printed, and to pay D. Appleton & Co. the sum of $2000 damages.\"[3]

In the early 1960s, the Saalfield Publishing Company competed directly with rival publisherGrosset & Dunlapby issuing their own series of science books for children. Similar in format to their competitor\'s then highly popularHow and Why Wonder Bookseries, the Saalfield Science Series consisted of a set of soft-cover books on diverse science topics, aimed at capturing a share of the lucrative children\'s non-fiction book market.

Identical toHow and Why Wonder Books, the Saalfield Science Series consisted of a list of unique titles printed in the classic 8 1/2 X 11 inch page format, with a standard book length of 48 pages each. These books were also generously illustrated with many color and black and white drawings depicting a wide range of scientific concepts. There were only six volumes published in the short-lived series. They were:

1. ...5806 Dinosaurs[4]
2. ...5807 Water[5]
3. ...5808 The Dawn of Man[6]
4. ...5809 Man in Flight[7]
5. ...5810 Man and Missiles[8]
6. ...5811 Pine, Man and Ax[9]