Greetings, Atticites! The season o' spooky stuff is once again upon us, so I thought I would share one of my "accidental collections." Accidental collections are where, over the years, I purchased items just because I liked them, and not because I was trying to complete a set of anything. So, the items I'm about to show you are in no way complete, but they do live in a special place in my youth. So, let me start this post with a proper introduction...
Good Evening. Tonight I bring you a collection of books that, while not terrifying, may have made your youthful slumber slightly more difficult. These are the stories of the supernatural collected for youths by the great Alfred Hitchcock himself...
Ok, maybe he really didn't collect the stories himself, but starting in 1961, kids could get story collections published by Random House that were branded to, and introduced by, Alfred Hitchcock. Here is the first one...
I first found this tome hiding in my school library. The cover alone made it worth checking out...
The illustration wraps around the whole book in glossy glory!
The end pages are beautifully illustrated as well. British illustrator Fred Banbery did all the artwork.
The fly pages with more fun art...
Ah, here we are...The introduction by Mr. Hitchcock! Now, I'm pretty sure he never wrote any of these (even for his TV show- which was put together much like these books) but I bet you can't read them without hearing his voice!
Even the individual stories are illustrated. This is from "The Wastwych Secret."
A look at all the stories. Robert Arthur, who created the Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series for Random House, collected and arranged these. Interestingly, he didn't pull them all from youth publications, but also culled adult sources as well. He was a firm believer that kids should never be talked down to, and his Three Investigator stories make this point very clearly. The mysteries work for both kids and adults.
In the 1980s, these books were rereleased in paperback. They were not even close to as nice as the originals. Although the cover (non-wrap around) illustration was ok, there are NO illustrations in the book at all.
And now for a book that was released in 1963...
This book is different in that Robert Arthur actually wrote all the mysteries. They are actually good puzzles, with no cheating and last minute "the butler did it" solutions.
And the Banbery illustrations are just as wonderful as in the first tome. This is for "The Mystery of the Seven Wrong Clocks."
So, these are my first two! The funny thing is that the stories and puzzles still hold up, owing much to Arthur's philosophy on kids' books. For the next couple of weeks, I'll share a few more.
Until next time, keep searching for treasure!
