Illustration: <i>Collector's Items</i>
1977; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 6; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/chl.0.0506
ISSN1543-3374
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoIllustrationCollector's Items Marian Parry (bio) The Bear's Famous Invasion of Sicily, by Dino Buzzati. Illustrated by author. New York: Pantheon, 1947. Out of print. Fletcher and Zenobia Save the Circus, by Edward Gorey. Illustrated by Victoria Chess. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1971. $4.95. Penny, by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers and Marvin Bileck. New York: Viking, 1966. Out of print. What If?, by Joseph Low. Illustrated by author. New- York: Atheneum, 1976. $6.95. Womenfolk and Fairy Tales. Edited by Rosemary Minard. Illustrated by Suzanna Klein. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975. $5.95. The application of Jung's ideas to children's literature has proved remarkably fruitful, particularly in articles which have appeared in this journal. Yet for some reason no mention has been made as yet of the Archetypal Collector of Illustrated Children's Books. In an art form where the basic assumptions are usually fantastic, it must follow that the Collector is no ordinary creature. What is he like, this Imaginary Collector, the model for the widely varying real collectors? I see him today as a lionlike creature, upright and often rampant. He has a powdered mane and 18th-century dress because of his devotion to elegance, form, charm, and the values of reason. The first assumptions in illustrated children's books may often be fantastic, but they are followed out in a reasonable and consistent manner. The Collector's library is large, and the furniture in it is small; children come there to read in peaceful comfort. They must take off their shoes before they go in. Except for this detail, the reading room is exactly like the magic children's rooms in public libraries. [End Page 239] There are other rooms in the Palace of Illustrated Books, of course. The Imaginary Collector has genius, money, and space without limit. He has solved many seemingly insoluble problems which need not concern us here—such as how to display original book art in an unfolding consecutive sequence. It goes without saying that all his books have the best stories and/or the finest pictures. He buys many copies of each book; so he rarely has to think of touching the books in his innermost room, the Collector's Collection. The Collector's Collection contains, in mint condition, one copy of every beautiful children's book which has ever been published. Very occasionally all other existing copies of a book are read "to pieces" by children. In ordinary libraries the vanishing of books is taken for granted: even the Archetypal Collector can't prevent it. And so it happens that at times museums and rare book libraries send emissaries to the library begging the Collector to allow them to display books from his inner collection. He always refuses, with a stance more rampant than usual: "You may display any of my other books, gentlemen," he says. "The choice is large. Isn't it a pity that you didn't collect children's books in the long period when illustration was out of fashion in New York art circles? I can remember when the word 'illustration' was an insult to a picture. Illustrated children's books were an economic miracle put together for a fraction of the cost of other illustrated books by laboring artists and devoted editors and art editors." A lecture, even by this remarkable creature, can become boring. The emissaries gnash their teeth and yawn at the same time: the Collector sees that it's time to end the conversation and get back to his books. "My servant Ariel," he says, "will be delighted to show you the books which can be sent out for public display. I am sure you will not object to removing your shoes." And with gestures more courtly than his words, he bows them out of the palace office. The Collector returns to the world of illustrated children's books, a world of imaginary worlds. Each fantasy book has its fantastic first assumptions: Sit still as mice on this occasionAnd listen to the Bear's InvasionOf Sicily, a long long whileAgo when beasts were good, men vile. [End Page 240] The first assumption of the Bear...
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