Today we have The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer, Native Universe: Voices of American Indians by Gerald McMaster & Clifford E. Trafzer, & Spirit Capture: Photographs from the National Museum of the American Indian. Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Assistant tinyurl.com/y7d8bcpt

✨🎄Merry Christmas🎄✨ Today’s selection is Christmas Is a Time of Giving by Joan Walsh Anglund, published in 1961 by Harcourt, Brace & World in New York. Wishing everyone a happy holiday! Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant tinyurl.com/39jnwubx

Today’s selection is The Father Christmas Letters by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Baillie Tolkien and published in 1976 by Houghton Mifflin in Boston. Wishing you a peaceful Christmas Eve and a little wonder to carry into the morning. Melissa, DCLA tinyurl.com/4mphvrv2

Sit, Stay, Sleigh This week’s feature is Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold, illustrated by J. Otto Seibold, in this delightful deluxe edition published by Chronicle Books in San Francisco in 2007. —Melissa, DCLA tinyurl.com/yc7ey3st

Scottish wood engraver, illustrator, & painter, Agnes Miller Parker created wood engravings for The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, designed by British book designer John Dreyfus & printed in New York at Bert Clarke's & David Way's Thistle Press in 1964. tinyurl.com/3x9cxyk3

Typography Tuesday These script typefaces are samples from Specimens of Printing Types from Stephenson, Blake, the Caslon Letter Foundry, Sheffield, published in Sheffield, England by the iconic British type foundry Stephenson Blake & Co. in 1959. tinyurl.com/36s8p3fa

We’re spending time with The Tomten, adapted by Astrid Lindgren from a poem by Viktor Rydberg and illustrated by Harald Wiberg. The Tomten reminds us there’s magic in stillness, wonder in winter nights, and comfort in knowing someone is keeping watch. tinyurl.com/spap89ed —Melissa, DCLA

As any of our regular followers know, we just love chickens! This handsome fellow is an illustration from Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35) by naturalist artist & illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), published in London & New York by The Studio in 1945. tinyurl.com/4af9m9r2

December 9th was John Milton's birthday (1608-1674). To honor his memory (& highlight the work of a woman wood engraver) we present these white-line wood engravings by artist & printmaker Mary Elizabeth Groom (1903–1958) from Milton's Paradise Lost (Golden Cockerel Press, 1937). tinyurl.com/59mj3ydr

❄️Baby, It's Cold Outside❄️ This week’s featured title, Is That You, Winter?, was written and illustrated by Stephen Gammell and published in San Diego by Silver Whistle/Harcourt Brace in 1997. tinyurl.com/52y8xzar Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant

This wood engraving of a White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is by British author & wood engraver Eric Fitch Daglish from his 1948 book Birds of the British Isles, published in London by J. M. Dent & Sons in a limited-edition of 1500 copies. tinyurl.com/57vx3ufy

Wood Engraving Wednesday We've been highlighting typography from The Curwen Press Miscellany & this volume also includes samples of 3 wood engravings. Shown here are prints by Eric Gill (1882-1940), John Nash (1893-1977), and René Ben Sussan (1895-1988). tinyurl.com/2rba8drt

Here are some type borders & ornaments specimens from The Curwen Press Miscellany, edited by Curwen Press typographer Oliver Simon (1895-1956) & published in London for the Curwen Press by the Jewish publishing house Soncino Press in a limited edition of 275 copies in 1931. tinyurl.com/3p39zz7y

Typography Tuesday SAN SERIFS Here are a few san serif typefaces, with a focus on Curwen type from The Curwen Press Miscellany, edited by Curwen Press typographer Oliver Simon and published in London by the venerable Jewish publishing house Soncino Press. tinyurl.com/27urs3pt

On November 24th, 1864, Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Montfa was born in Albi (southern France). Here we highlight Toulouse-Lautrec, Paris, Lautrec, and Affiches de Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: dix reproductions en couleurs. tinyurl.com/32fwds2a Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

This week, we step into the enchanted world of Edda and the Oak, written by Elia W. Peattie & illustrated by Katharine Merrill. Published in 1911, this magical tale brings together nature, mystery, and quiet wonder beneath the branches of an ancient oak. Melissa, DCLA 🍄 tinyurl.com/3a3639h8

Toadally Autumn As the leaves begin to turn and the air grows crisp, it feels like the perfect time to wander into the timeless world of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, illustrated by Michael Hague. tinyurl.com/4jzukwxh —Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant

On The Road Again This week we’re adventuring with The Traveling Musicians by the Brothers Grimm, featuring a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster who decide they’re tired of being underappreciated and overworked, so they hit the road to become musicians. -Melissa, DCLA tinyurl.com/5actpbje

A House Sparrow Feathursday Once again, we highlight one of our favorite common birds, the cheery House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). Besides being a delightfully homey bird, it is also considered a symbol of lust, sexual potency, commonness, and vulgarity. Ooo, la, la! tinyurl.com/4v79mptr

As October ends, we bid farewell to spooky season with What’s a Ghost Going to Do? (William Morrow & Co, 1966) by Jane Thayer, illustrated by Seymour Fleishman. This heartwarming tale follows Gus; a ghost faced with a haunting dilemma: the only house he’s ever known is being torn down. Melissa, DCLA

These preening Oystercatchers are from Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35) by noted British naturalist artist & illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe, published in London & New York by The Studio in 1945. The illustrations come from the chapter on “Poses and Action Studies."

A Wicked Wood Engraving Wednesday In 1985, Barry Moser printed his edition of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at his Pennyroyal Press. The images shown here are reproductions of Moser's original wood-engraved prints in the 1986 University of California Press edition.

These initials were designed by Dutch book & type designer Jan Van Krimpen in 1925 for use by Harold Curwen's Curwen Press. The alphabet shown here appears in The Curwen Press Miscellany, edited by Curwen's typographer Oliver Simon, published in London for the Curwen Press by Soncino Press in 1931.

October 27th, 1923: Roy Lichtenstein was born in New York City. On his birthday, we celebrate the pop artist w/ images from Pop Art One (Publishing Institute of American Art, 1965) & Roy Lichtenstein: Drawing First:50 Years of Works on Paper (Skira, 2015) Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

This week, we're going door-to-door looking for candy with Lilly and Billy in Trick or Treat written & illustrated by Louis Slobodkin (Macmillan, 1959). this charming Halloween story captures the excitement & mischief of a classic night of trick-or-treating. Melissa, DC Library Assistant 🎃🍬🍭

The 56th Annual Morris Fromkin Lecture is happening next week! To register to attend this event in person or via Zoom, follow this link! uwm.edu/libraries/sp... Hope to see you all there!

This week we present 2 wagtails: the Grey Wagtail & the Pied or White Wagtail. About these images: a color lithograph by Charles Tunnicliffe from his book Bird Portraiture (The Studio, 1945); a wood engraving by Eric Fitch Daglish from his book Birds of the British Isles (J. M. Dent & Sons, 1948)

For Spooky Month, we bring you these creepy wood engravings by Swiss graphic & stained-glass artist Felix Hoffmann for the 1965 Limited Editions Club production of Bram Stoker's masterpiece Dracula, printed with 33 wood engravings, with eight in three colors, at the Press of A. Colish.

Here are some calligraphic initials by the German calligrapher & type designer Anna Simons, pared with a proprietary typeface designed by German type designer & fine press publisher Willy Wiegand. These examples are from an Italian edition of Dante's La Divina Commedia (Munich: Bremer Presse, 1921)

Today we celebrate the poet Robert Pinsky, born October 20th, 1940. The images are from Pinsky's 1998 fine press edition of The Rhyme of Reb Nachman, designed and printed in a limited edition of 125 by Caryl Seidenberg of the Vixen Press. Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

Ghost Lake Energy 👻🌊 This week, we’re diving into Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet, written and illustrated by Milwaukee-based artist, author, and educator Geo Rutherford. tinyurl.com/ya549v4h —Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant

A Stonechat Feathursday The European Stonechat has been reclassified in Muscicapidae, the family of Old World Flycatchers, following genetic DNA analysis. The common name for the bird derives from its call, which sounds like two stones knocked together. tinyurl.com/4hczwtxd

For Indigenous Peoples' Day, we have Speaking with Light (Radius Books & Amon Carter Museum of Art, 2022) curated by Will Wilson & John Rohrbach. This work brings together Indigenous photographers who are redefining how their cultures, histories, & communities are seen. Melissa, Stockbridge-Munsee

Glow Your Own Way This week’s eerie spotlight is on Mystery of the Lonely Lantern (1976), a Halloween mystery written by Florence Parry Heide and her daughter Roxanne Heide, with shadowy illustrations by Seymour Fleishman. --Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant tinyurl.com/3usw6rxs

A Swan Upping Feathursday The annual British Swan Upping, an annual ceremony and census of all unmarked Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) on the River Thames, occurred this year July 14-18. tinyurl.com/bdat4j2u

👻Fairytale Friday: Spooky Edition🎃 Spooky season (my favorite) is upon us! This week, we're diving into the first American edition of Maurice Sendak's Seven Little Monsters, published in New York by Harper & Row in 1977. It's spooky, silly, and oh so Sendak. 👹Melissa, DC Library Assistant

Here are wood-engraved birds by Spokane, Washington printer & printmaker W. Gale Mueller from his Forty Years of Birds ‘n Blocks, printed from the original blocks at his Millstone Press in 2009 in an edition of 53 copies. Today we show engravings from 2004-2008, the final engravings in the book.

Here are 4 engravings of rural Wisconsin by Wisconsin born & educated artist Curt L. Carpenter from An Innocence of Prairie by Wisconsin educator, writer, & folklorist Robert E. Gard published by arborist R. Bruce Allison. Curt Carpenter made these prints from engraved end grain maple.

Typography Tuesday Feral Font was created by Kalmyk-American poet, artist, and AI researcher Sasha Stiles and American artist, writer, and UW-Milwaukee art professor Nathaniel Stern using the Neural Network Font Type (NNFT), a custom AI typeface. tinyurl.com/2w2t6jz3

On September 29th, 1547, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born in Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. To celebrate we have The Dialogue of the Dogs (The Allen Press, 1969)) originally collected in Novelas ejemplares, published in 1613. Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

L'Amour qui Pousse sur les Arbres Yesterday marked Shel Silverstein’s (1930-1999) birthday, which makes this the perfect week to share his timeless work, The Giving Tree. tinyurl.com/mwz89dn7 –Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant–Melissa, Distinctive Collections Library Assistant

Here are some wood engravings that serve as short-story title illustrations by American wood engraver & painter Gillian Tyler from the 1978 publication Banquet: Five Short Stories, published by Michael McCurdy's Penmaen Press. The title-page calligraphy is by American calligrapher Margaret Shepherd.

Typography Tuesday Today we are presenting more specimen pages from Specimens of Printing Types and Ornaments Cast by James Conner & Son, printed in New York by William L. S. Harrison for James Conner & Son in 1852. tinyurl.com/a5cwcfvh

On September 22, 1919, the American Federation of Labor organized a coalition of 24 unions, led by the AA in a strike for the conditions of steel workers. The images come from The Great Steel Strike and Its Lessons by William Z. Foster Amanda, Special Collections Graduate Intern

Fairest of All 🪞 This week’s tale draws us deep into the shadowed woods with Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Brothers Grimm classic translated by Randall Jarrell and illustrated with chilling beauty by Nancy Ekholm Burkert. tinyurl.com/4ve2fnw2 --Melissa, DCLA

Here are a couple of raptors found across parts of North American & Eurasia: the Merlin (Falco columbarius) & the Long-eared owl (Asio otus). These wood engravings are by British author & wood engraver Eric Fitch Daglish from his book Birds of the British Isles, published by J. M. Dent & Sons, 1948.

Here are some unidentified "circus-style" wood types printed by Racine-based book artist & letterpress printer Caren Heft from her 2012 artists book The Human Volcano: The Stories of Captain Don One Man Sideshow Sword Swallower, Fire Eater, & Tattooed Man, printed at Heft's Arcadian Press.

Peas de Résistance The Princess and the Pea, retold and illustrated by American illustrator and children’s book author Rachel Isadora. Published by Puffin Books in 2009, this edition transports Andersen’s classic into an African setting. tinyurl.com/ynp4nj66 –Melissa, DCLA

A Raptorous Feathursday This week we present a few raptors from Bird Portraiture (“How To Do It” Series No. 35) by noted British naturalist artist and illustrator Charles Tunnicliffe (1901-1979), published in London and New York by The Studio in 1945.

Shown here is wood engraver Thomas Johnson's 1887 interpretive engraving of American painter John White Alexander’s Portrait of a Child, reproduced in Interpretive Wood-Engraving: The Story of the Society of American Wood Engravers by William H. Brandt, published in 2009 by Oak Knoll Press.