ABC for Tiny Schools (1975)

ABC for Tiny Schools (1975)
William Cheney
Miniature codex. Bound by Bela Blau. HxW mm. pages. Acquired from Bromer’s, 5 February 2023.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Alongside the alphabet mnemonic “A was an Archer who shot at a frog”, “A was an Apple” was a staple for the early primer publishers such as Dean, John Evans, J.L. Marks and J. & C. Mozley. Kate Greenaway revived it in the 1880s. Among the more interesting successors in the 20th and 21st centuries are Ben Sands (1966) with his bold lino-cuts, Tracy Campbell Pearson (1986) with her lengthy leporello, Allison Murray (2011) with her introduction of animals and Gennady Spirin (2020) with his watercolors echoing Arthur Rackham, the Pre-Raphaelites and the Renaissance. William Cheney’s type and Bela Blau’s binding of it in the ABC For Tiny Schools (1975) bring to it a handmade elegance in miniature.