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JOHNNY
APPLESEED




Kellogg, Steven, JOHNNY APPLESEED: A Tall Tale. NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (FICTION: ages 10 to 14). (Harper Collins). Bibliography, afterword. 208 pages
~~~ From Publishers Weekly: Johnny Appleseed (his real last name was Chapman) is reintroduced in this succinct rendition of the life of a beloved American folk hero, from his birth in Massachusetts in 1774 to his death in Indiana in 1845. Kellogg chronicles Johnny's travels throughout the land, his legendary scattering of appleseeds (originally culled from the orchards he frequented as a child) and his storytelling of Bible and adventure stories to the children and adults he meets along the way, which were embroidered as they were passed along by word-of-mouth). Kellogg's illustrations illuminate a man that all schoolchildren know, in a polished blend of fact and fiction. All ages.

$17.00



Durrant, Lynda, THE SUN, THE RAIN, AND THE APPLE SEED: A Novel of Johnny Appleseed's Life. NEW copy, hardcover with dust jacket. (FICTION: ages 10 to 14). (Houghton Mifflin Company). Bibliography, afterword. 208 pages
~~~ From Publishers WeeklyDurrant's (The Beaded Moccasins: The Story of Mary Campbell) well-crafted fictional account of Johnny Appleseed's life reads like an adventure tale. "One for doubt under the hoe, / One to sprout, and one to grow." Johnny's father might have been a drunk ("Nathaniel Chapman's very soul stank of applejack") and an army deserter, but with this homily he plants a seed of inspiration in his son, who lights out for the wilderness to start apple orchards for pioneers. As he crisscrosses the Midwest, "Johnny Appleseed's" fervor about his mission and his ascetic lifestyle (he owns only the clothes upon his back, a saucepan that doubles as a hat and cornmeal, and his seeds and a Bible given to him as gifts) quickly makes him the stuff of legend. "You're all the talk of the Ohio, upstream and down," says a settler near Cincinnati. Though his mystical religious beliefs (he considered himself betrothed to a pair of stars he called "spirit-wives") make some folks nervous, they're won over by his sincerity and bravery (during the War of 1812, he ran for three days and nights to warn settlers of impending native attacks). Durrant weaves history and politics into her chronicle of Appleseed's colorful life, along with generous helpings of suspense, including a run-in with bears when Johnny inadvertently tries to share their hollow log. Lively, homespun descriptions ("Whenever he tried to reason it out, his brain would get as muddled as a corn-and-cranberry pudding") and an informative afterword round out the tale.

$15.00




PAUL BUNYAN




Auden, W.H., PAUL BUNYAN. NEW copy, trade PAPERBACK. (Faber & Faber). With an essay by Donald Mitchell. 150 pages.
~~~ is is the lively, witty and often moving text of W.H. Auden's libretto for Benjamin Britten's operetta about the giant logger of American folklore. The idea was first floated in 1939, soon after Britten's arrival in New York, and Paul Bunyan proved to be his first full-length work for the musical theatre. The words are now part of the canon of Auden's early verse.

$10.95


Shepherd, Esther, PAUL BUNYAN: Twenty-One Tales of the Legendary Logger. NEW copy, trade PAPERBACK. (Harcourt, 2006). Illustrated by Rockwell Kent. Ages 9 - 12. 233 pages.
~~~ Paul Bunyan was never "stumped," and no job was ever too big for him and his blue ox to handle. From Michigan to Minnesota, from North Dakota to the Pacific Northwest, wherever Paul went, he liked to do things in a big way.
~~~ In Esther Shepard's classic collection, originally published in 1924 and now available in this handsome new edition, the Paul Bunyan stories are superbly told in folksy narrative and robustly illustrated with Rockwell Kent's line drawings. These twenty-one tales about the super lumberjack are a unique American contribution to the world's folklore. .

$5.95




Dance, Daryl Cumber (ed), FROM MY PEOPLE: 400 Years of African-American Folklore. VG/VG, hardcover with dust jacket. (WW Norton, 2002). 736 pages.
~~~ "What an astonishingly rich collection of African American folklore Dance has produced! A major contribution to African American scholarship." -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

$35.00



JOHN HENRY




Nelson, Scott Reynolds, STEEL DRIVIN' MAN: The Untold Story of an American Legend. NF/NF. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2006). 25 b&w illus. 224 pages.
~~~ From Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. According to the ballad that made him famous, John Henry did battle with a steam-powered drill, beat the machine and died. Folklorists have long thought John Henry to be mythical, but while researching railroad work songs, historian Nelson, of the College of William and Mary, discovered that Henry was a real person—a short black 19-year-old from New Jersey who was convicted of theft in a Virginia court in 1866. Under discriminatory Black Codes, Henry was sentenced to 10 years in the Virginia Penitentiary and put to work building the C&O Railroad. There, at the Lewis Tunnel, Henry and other prisoners worked alongside steam-powered drills, and at least 300 of them died. This slender book is many-layered. It's Nelson's story of piecing together the biography of the real John Henry, and rarely is the tale of hours logged in archives so interesting. It's the story of fatal racism in the postbellum South. And it's the story of work songs, songs that not only turned Henry into a folk hero but, in reminding workers to slow down or die, were a tool of resistance and protest. This is a remarkable work of scholarship and a riveting story.

$25.00




M. Jagendorf, NEW ENGLAND BEANPOT: American Folk Stories to Read and to Tell. VG/VG. Jacket in mylar protect. Gift inscription (not from author) on front pastedown. (Book given as gift to a library, but library never processed it, so there are no other marks anywhere on book). (NY: Vanguard Press, 1948). 6th Printing. Illustrated by Donald McKay. Introduction by B.A. Botkin. 272 pages.

$25.00


Peck, Catherine (ed), A TREASURY OF NORTH AMERICAN FOLK TALES. VG/VG, hardcover with dust jacket. (WW Norton, 1998). 380 pages.
~~~ "Like an old, old coin . . . bearing the sweat and palm oil of millions who've handled it, these anonymous stories and yarns, legends and myths, distill the collective experience of mankind." --Charles Johnson, from the Introduction A Treasury of North American Folktales is a celebration of the voices that make up America. Ranging from American Indian love stories to Davy Crockett's account of killing a bear with a knife, from Brer Rabbit's mischief to Johnny Appleseed's good deeds, from hilarious yarns about killer mosquitoes to eerie encounters with the devil, this collection of over 100 tales overflows with the richness of American tradition. This bountiful harvest of folklore contains tales from Alaska's Kodiak Island, the Cajun bayous of Louisiana, the Ozark hill country, the Hispanic Southwest, and much more. Here you will find American Indian tales of how the world was made; tall tales, brags, and lies; legendary heroes, heroines, and villains like Casey Jones and Annie Oakley; mythical characters like Paul Bunyan, John Henry, and Pecos Bill; tricks and tricksters; romantic tales; and scary ghost stories. This striking anthology is a book to keep, to linger over, and to read aloud to every generation.

$29.95


C.G. Knoblock, ABOVE BELOW: Tales and Folklore of the Fabulous Upper Peninsula. VG/Poor. Book is tight & clean. Jacket is in very poor condition with tears. SPINE OF JACKET COMPLETELY GONE. Jacket (front & rear panels only) in mylar protector. (Norwood, Mass: The Plimpton Press, 1952). Second Printing. SIGNED BY AUTHOR on front flyleaf, just abover owner's signature. Illustrated by author. 238 pages.

$25.00



PECOS BILL








UNCLE REMUS




Harris, Joel Chandler, UNCLE REMUS: His Songs & Sayings. NEW copy, trade PAPERBACK. (Penguin American Library). Penguin Classics. 222 pages.
~~~ Here is a collection of black folktales, proverbs, songs, and character sketches based on stories Joel Chandler Harris, a white Southern journalist, had heard as a child.

$12.00





RIP VAN WINKLE







Leonard Roberts (compiler), OLD GREASYBEARD: Tales from the Cumberland Gap. VG--/Poor. Slight waterstain along edge of opening pages: book otherwise tight and clean. Jacket in poor condition with tears and water-rippling. Jacket in mylar protector. (Detroit: Folklore Associates, 1969). With an essay by Donald Mitchell. 215 pages.

$25.00






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