Last-Minute Christmas Shoppers, Your Moment Has Arrived!

Due to popular demand, more items have been added to our Adopt-a-Gift-Book catalog. Adopt now to avoid disappointment and in order to ensure you receive your gift card in time for Christmas. Or, perhaps consider adopting a gift book as a gift to yourself… and to AAS!

Choice selections still remain available for adoption. Here are a few highlights from the new offerings:

“Yes, I broke my slate, and I’ll break the next one too–I want an iPhone like all the other kids have!”

“Naughty Boy” from The Diadem. Philadelphia: Carey& Hart, 126 Chesnut Street. 1845.

Catalog Record | Enlarged Image | Adopt a Gift Book Home

Not all children were idealized in gift books. Here, a young boy has gotten in trouble at school. He stands pouting in a corner, his shirt ripped, with his book on a bench and his slate shattered into a hundred pieces on the floor. His curly hair and chubby cheeks will not get him out of his punishment this time!

Adopt me for $50

(If this “Naughty Boy” image looks familiar, it’s because we used it in an earlier “What Caption Would You Write” contest on Past is Present.  It appears here with the winning caption, but you can read the other entries here.)


“Illuminated Title Page
, from The Chaplet of Literary Gems: a Present, Worthy of all Occasions. Claremont, N.H.: Claremont Manufacturing Company, between 1850 and 1858.

Catalog Record | Enlarged Image | Adopt a Gift Book Home

With the establishment of lithography, many gift book publishers added color illustrations to enhance the eye-catching value of their annuals. Most often a single color lithographed title page was inserted. Some were quite elaborate, but most, such as this example from a small New Hampshire publisher, featured just a few colors to brighten up the title page design.

Adopt me for $25

Many more await your perusal in the 2012 Adopt-a-Gift-Book Catalog!

Published by

Elizabeth Watts Pope

Curator of Books, American Antiquarian Society

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