Sunday, January 5, 2020

Book cover: "... but once a year ..."


  • Title: Good question. There is some inconsistency on the punctuation.
    • Cover: ...but once a year...
    • Title page: ...but once a year
    • First page: ...but once a year...
    • WorldCat: But once a year
  • Author and illustrator: Russell T. Limbach (1904-1971)
  • Publisher: American Artists Group, Inc., New York
  • Publication date: 1941
  • Pages: 32
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Dust jacket excerpt: "All over Farmer Brown's home and the apple tree alongside it, where the Squirrel family lived, and over all the countryside, was snow — deep, soft snow that had been piling up for days. Rusty and Junior, the two little Squirrel twins, scurried around, stopping often to take a look into the house — a long, long look — first through one window and then through another. ... You'll like this story of strangeness and heart-warming sentiment, in which Russell T. Limbach tells how the Squirrel twins learn about Christmas. And you'll love his wonderful pictures of all the Browns and the Squirrel family."
  • Provenance: This copy once belonged to Nancy Ruth Rosenberg.
  • First sentence: "Strange things had been happening at Farmer Brown's house on the hill."
  • Last sentence (a line of dialogue from Farmer Brown): "Only, as you've heard me say, humans are funny people."
  • Random sentence from the middle: "It was not at all like Jimmy to behave like this."
  • Reviews of this book: I cannot find a single one.
  • About the author: According to brierhillgallery.com (which showcases some of his great works), Limbach was an Ohio native who left art school "to become an apprentice in the sketch room of a small lithographic plant ..., learning and refining his technique under the guidance of four experienced staff artists." He studied in Europe for a brief time and was eventually in charge of the Graphics Division of the WPA Arts Project in New York. ... Around the time he published this book, he joined the faculty at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. ... Shortly after his death in January 1971, The Evening Independent of Massillon, Ohio, published an editorial praising his life. An excerpt: "While lithographs were his specialty, he also was artistic with the brush and in later years did considerable photography. ... Mr. Limbach did not have a wide acquaintance in Massillon which possibly accounts for his works not being recognized here as appropriately as they should have been for a native son. A quiet, unassuming person, he made no boast of his accomplishments for which all Massillon should be proud."

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