Anna and The King of Siam

Anna and The King of Siam, published in 1944 by the John Day Company.  Illustrated by Margaret Ayer.





Whenever I find a treasure in an old and rare book shop or a favorite Antique store, I can't wait to learn about the history of the book.

It was like that when I found this beautiful edition of The King of Siam by Margaret Mortenson Landon.

In 1927 Margaret and Kenneth Landon signed up as Presbyterian missionaries to Thailand.  While living there Margaret read about Anna Leonowens who was governess to the Siamese Royal Family.  Here is a link to photographs of the family.

In 1937 after returning to the States, Margaret began her research into the life of Anna Leonowens.  The result in 1944 her novel became an instant bestseller.  





In 1950 she sold the musical play rights to Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammenstein II, who created the musical The King and I.

In this beautifully illustrated volume published by in 1944, you will also find Margaret Landon's story about how she wrote this book.  With serendipitous meetings and book discoveries her own story seems as magical as that of her heroines.

One of my favorite movies has always been The King and I.  I can almost feel how she must have felt seeing Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner dance across the screen to the music SHALL WE DANCE.

I have just placed this book in my shop For The Love of Old Books on etsy.


The song for this post is Shall We Dance, and if you would like to peek at the scene from this wonderful movie, just scroll to the bottom of my blog and see my Ipod.

Little Women, 1947

Can never seem to resist a drive to Concord and a visit to Orchard House.  On my trip yesterday,  I found a beautiful volume of Little Women, published in 1947.

Everyone knows how much I adore everything that Louisa May Alcott has written.

Can't you just see Jo running up that walkway into Orchard House?

I have come across many different versions of Little Women,

but this one is the same kind of edition that my mother gave to me when I was a little girl.

Published in 1947, the illustrations in this book are gorgeous.



The quality in the papers that they used in this book let you know this edition was something really special. This copy is beautiful, clean and the end pages are blue.

Illustrated by Louis Jambor, this book has the most incredible illustrations,

and I was told by the shopkeeper in Orchard House that the black and white illustrations are her favorites.

There are so many black and white illustrations in this edition.  This is the edition Orchard House has chosen to feature in their Gift Shop, but unlike this one, their editions are a reprint of this edition.


"The special contents of this edition are copyrighted, 1947 by Gorsset & Dunlap, Inc. printed by Kingsport press. Inc., Kingsport, Tennessee."

I placed it in my Etsy Shop For The Love of Old Books today.  

I just love all the black and white illustrations, there are many inside this delightful volume.

Of course I can never resist taking the book to be photographed in front of Orchard House, the home where Little Women was written and took place.  I have been finding lots of treasures For The Love of Old Books, but I still get a thrill when I find an old volume of Little Women.

The song for this post is from the movie soundtrack, this song is Orchard House.

Here's a little gift I brought back for you.  I took the photo yesterday and created this keepsake just for you.