Children's book illustrations

I have a collection of children's books. It is my largest collection by far. It started with my father's childhood books, everything from a baby's first picture book to hardcover classics like Robin Hood to the biography William Penn: A Friendly Boy (my father was raised a Quaker.)

The collection has grown over the years to probably 200 titles. I mostly collect them for the artwork. Doesn't matter their condition if the price is right and the illustrations catch my eye. The more beaten up ones have been used for my kids' school projects or for my craft projects. The nicer ones I keep intact and read with my boys.

This is the first time I've photographed the images and played with them in Photoshop. (I'm wary of copyright laws....) I pulled out a few books today with the idea of making my new header above. The photograph in the background is a shot I took a few years ago of the maples just changing along the Hudson River. Not as much color here yet this year.

Here are the 5 books I used for the collage above.

Color images in the header: On the Farm by Ramboro Books, London, 1984. (I would've thought it was an older book given the adorable scenes.)

Red stamp-like illustrations: Old Wives' Lore for Gardeners by Maureen and Bridget Boland, 1976. (Not a children's book, but part of my gardening book collection.)

The fall scenes: We Are Neighbors, A Ginn Basic Reader from 1964.

The "Autumn Woods" poem: Away We Go, 100 poems for the very young compiled by Catherine Schaefer McEwen, 1956.

Color photo shoot and line drawings: a Magic Pictures "rub a Pencil and Pictures will appear" coloring book from 1941.