Colorful illustrations from 1938's "Jack and the Bean-Stalk"

I came across a copy of Jack and the Bean-Stalk with a missing cover, missing pages and torn pages. But it still contained a handful of vibrant color illustrations and those are what I want to share in this post.

This edition was published by McLoughlin Bros. of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1938 and illustrated by H.G. Nicholas.

The book is written for beginning readers. The typeface is huge, the words are simple, and the sentences are short. The book begins:

"Once there was boy, named Jack, who lived with his mother in a tiny house at the end of a lane. I am sorry to say they were very poor. All they had in the world was a cow called Milky White."

(According to SurLaLune Fairy Tales: "In some variants of the tale, the cow is named Milky-white. The cow is simply an animal to be sold in this version of the story. In some newer versions of the tale, Jack considers the cow to be his dear friend and pet. He is reluctant to sell the cow for this reason.")

Here are some of Nicholas' illustrations from the book...

(If that's supposed to be Jack's house in the background, it's hard to believe the were "very poor.")

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