Mystery book

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Stevious
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Joined: 23 Sep 2019, 11:45

Mystery book

Post by Stevious »

I'm trying to track down a book for my mother. It's either a girls's annual or girl's story collection from the 30's (most likely) or early 40's. The cover is a girl with red cheeks (upper, hopefully) and she's holding a basket of apples. Mum thinks it my have been called 'Rosy Apples' or some variation (Rosy, Rosie?). She lost this book years ago and I'd like to find it again for her. I've tried all the searches I can think of...

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colcool007
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Re: Mystery book

Post by colcool007 »

Hi Stevious, welcome to the House of Fun. Have you checked out the annuals section on the main site?
I started to say something sensible but my parents took over my brain!

Stevious
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Joined: 23 Sep 2019, 11:45

Re: Mystery book

Post by Stevious »

Yeah, I did have a look. Having now gotten more details from Mum, it seems she was given the book in 1937 by an elderly neighbour and then lost it again during air-raids. The book could well be Victorian if the neighbour had owned it for years, so the dates I quoted in my original post are too late. She's adamant about the cover image, a girl of about 12 with an apple basket over her arm with possibly a red/maroon background and she reckons it's an annual of some sort rather than a one-off story collection.
I know this isn't a comics question as such, but some collector's interests might crossover into this area (I hope!)...

Kashgar
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Re: Mystery book

Post by Kashgar »

Hi Stevious,

There is certainly no book listed in the British Library catalogue with the title 'Rosy/Rosie Apples' so it seems
unlikely that that would have been the title. There were all sorts of annuals and gift books being published in
the late Victorian and Edwardian period that could have had the type of cover image that your Mum remembers.
Your best bet may be to let your Mum have a look at the images of such annual/gift book covers that are available online
in case anything rings a bell. One cover that comes to mind that has some of the elements your Mum remembers is that of the
'Father Tuck's Annual' for 1919/1920.The cover consists of a girl and boy in Dickensian costume, both children having red, rosy cheeks
and the girl, who is wearing a red cape and bonnet is carrying a basket of apples and oranges. She is also carrying a small dog and the
background is of a Dickensian coaching inn. The spine and rear cover of the book are red/maroon. Not by any means ticking all
the boxes but you never know. Best of luck with your search.

Stevious
Posts: 3
Joined: 23 Sep 2019, 11:45

Re: Mystery book

Post by Stevious »

Many thanks Kashgar - I appreciate you taking the time to write. I'll take a look at that book cover...
Funnily enough, I work at the library. That's the frustrating thing - if I could find out what the book actually is, I could order our copy and photocopy the cover and contents page for her...I thought I'd found it the other day - 'Rosie Cheeks Story Book' or something similar, but no such luck. The search continues...cheers, mate!

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stevezodiac
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Re: Mystery book

Post by stevezodiac »

I went to the ephemera fair this morning. Someone had quite a few Chatterbox annuals from 1898 to around 1920. I checked all the covers but no luck.

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