This Halloween Cotsen Turns Twenty!

Cotsen’s gallery may be closed to the public on our twentieth anniversary, but where ever you go trick or treating, have a hair-raising Halloween!  For a little late-minute inspiration, enjoy this oldie but goodie, Andrew Lang’s Green Fairy Book.

From “King Kojata,” a fairy tale from the Slavic tradition. Andrew Lang, The Green Fairy Book. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1892. (Cotsen 13655)

The prince (above) would not have found himself in this mess if his father the king had not been bearded by the demon in the well. Page 203 from Andrew Lang, The Green Fairy Book. (Cotsen 13655)

A princess and her dragon from “The Heart of Ice,” an unfamiliar fairy tale by the comte de Caylus in Andrew Lang, The Green Fairy Book, p. 119. (Cotsen 13655)

This dragon-riding beauty on the front cover of The Green Fairy Book could give Daenerys a run for her money! (Cotsen 13655)

 

New Exhibition: Flying Machines opens October 1st, 2015

finalflyer2jpeg

Exhibition flyer

Flying Machines: Science and Fantasy will be the next exhibition in the Cotsen gallery. Featuring mechanical flyers from the world of childhood; the show will include illustrated books, board games, an installation of toys, and a very special piece of realia on loan from the Museum Objects Collection.

Centered around two major themes, science and fantasy, the items selected track depictions of flying machines from the realistic to the magical in children’s literature. From the earliest fantastic ideas about man-made flyers, through inventive science fiction and real scientific experiments, into the whimsical machines of impossible flights. The exhibition features imagined contraptions from seven different countries over almost 100 years of flights of fancy (1892-1971).

To appease your curiosity for the next two weeks (since I’m sure you are all waiting with bated breath for the opening) check out some of the books that just didn’t quite make it:

75809frontboard

All About Airships, front board. London: Cassell and Company, Ltd., 1911 (Cotsen 75809)

7330page[7]

The Flying Grandmother, Page [7]. [Japan]: Libro, c1981 (Cotsen 7330)

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Wings for Per, Endpapers. Garden City, N.Y. : Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., c1944 (Cotsen 7248)

6492200page[10]

En aeroplane dans les 7 ciels, Page [10]. Bruxelles: C. Dangotte, 1918 (Cotsen)

58400spread[9-10]

Das grosse Erlebnis, Page spread [9-10]. Pössneck (Thüringen): Forkel, 1963 (Cotsen 58400)

49801page[26]

Airplanes: Stories and Pictures, Page [26]. Chicago: M.A. Donohue & Company, c1936 (Cotsen 49801)

31474titlepage

Air Babies, Title page. Denver: Bradford-Robinson, c1936 (Cotsen 31474)

21961spread[14-15]

Valériane in a Helicopter, Page spread [14-15]. New York: Franklin Watts Inc., c1960 (Cotsen 21961)

If you enjoyed those, the books that actually made it into the exhibition promise to be even better!

Flying Machines: Science and Fantasy

Opening October 1st and running until the end of year. 

Visit during the first 2 days to get a special gallery give away for children (hint: it’s a toy Styrofoam airplane!).  And there are more things that fly on Cotsen’s virtual exhibitions page

 

Exhibition title card

Exhibition title card