Ok, my in-laws drive me crazy, but I loved my granny-in-law. She was an old time teacher, early 1920’s and we got along great. Apparently she had a collection of kids books in a kind of wooden book holder that resembled an old time school house. An evil aunt/niece duo grabbed this at granny’s death and sold it to the highest bidder, probably for less than $25, venal beings that they are. The rest of the family has lamented the loss endlessly, it’s been 15 years and I still hear about it at every family gathering.
I have searched the web to find one of these for a couple of years now (on and off, not two years continuously, that would be stupid), but can’t find anything. I’m appealing to dopers to either recognize this collection or point me in a good search direction.
I’m thinking it could have been My Book House, a multi-volume collection of stories for children? It was in print for ages, and went through several editions with changing contents. The first edition was in 1920, then 1921, ‘25,’ 28, '32, '34, '37, '50, and through the early '70’s. I don’t know if they really came in a house bookshelf, though.
Here is a '37 edition. They were known for having large works of art on the covers, but I don’t know if that was true for the earliest editions. They are quite popular as far as I know (at least with the sort of people I know, who all want to read a lot to their children and the older the better), but you should be able to find them on abebooks or ebay, or even at your own used bookstore if you’re lucky.
Aha! Got it! This site says that the original edition came in 6 volumes in a wooden house. Your greedy relatives should be smacked over the head with a board; the first volume alone goes for $400. (Please don’t faint.)
I have a couple of these books lying around the house. Now I’m going to go home and see if they’re the original edition. Unlikely, given the number of editions that have appeared, but hope springs eternal!
