Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Ferry Lovely Find

I know I'm not alone in loving vintage children's books, I also love finding Australian story books. With all my boys having been born here in Sydney I am enjoying building up a little collection of books featuring koalas, kangaroos and all things Aussie for their "library". I was thrilled to come across this delightful book last week in Vinnie's that is both vintage and Aussie!


These are just a few of the charmingly illustrated pages. My boys love going out on the harbour ferries so this book will no doubt become a favourite. It was published in 1966 by Angus and Robertson, I never even knew they were a publishers as well as a bookseller. What also interests me is that the book features glimpses of the Sydney Opera House which was designed in 1957 and finally opened in August 1973. The outside must have been completed by the time of this book's publishing unless the illustrator was going off the projected drawings.

6 comments:

Michelle said...

That's so colorful, I love the engineer and his tattoo... I have a weakness for children's books- it seems I can't leave a thrift store without one! I just picked up one of Syd Hoff's books, Oliver, today. And the funny thing is my husband and I don't even have kids to read them to yet! One day though ;)

Missa said...

I have such a weakness for the illustrations in vintage childrens books and the ones from the sixties are my favorites. Great bit of historical sleuthing too!

Sonya --Dime Store Thrift said...

What Fab illustrations!

Mushee said...

Gorgeous books!

Jenifir said...

I was four when our family visited Australia in 1972. We stopped in Sidney before visiting family in Melbourne. I remember going accross the harbour in what I believe was a hydro-foil. I remember the bridge and the Opera House which was still under construction. We swam at a large outdoor swimming pool, stayed at hotel still under construction that seemed very fancy and ate at a world famous Chinese Restaurant. When we went to the beach the water was out of bounds due to sharks and one of the days there was a very serious smog warning. I also remember the train to Melbourne as we had our own compartment. Despite being so young, I have very clear, good memories of the city. My children have enjoyed the Blinky Bill books my sister and I were given while we were there.

Anonymous said...

I love this, beautiful illustrations. I'm addicted to fairy tale books from the same era for similar reasons: the drawings are just so magical....