About this Item
This is a very unusual book. I found only one other copy for sale on the Internet. But the one I'm selling will be the Only signed copy for sale on the Internet. The impersonal inscription and signature can be seen in the photo of the front cover. It reads: 'Every good wish from Betty Paterson.' There's no other signed copy of any book of hers for sale on the Internet. As is the case with the other book for sale, there are losses at the corners of the covers. On my book there's also a bookseller label at the bottom of the front cover. It says Margareta Weber's Bookshop, Melbourne. The covers are pretty clean, one stain at the top front corner. There is also some toning at the margins. The name of the publisher is off the bottom edge of the rear cover. The loss there has removed the first part of the name, but the other seller has it at Victoria Publicity. There is also a tiny rectangular bookshop (same one) label off the bottom edge of the first page. There is no date of publication in the book. The other seller states that it is 'circa 1940.' On the front inside cover of my book, just off the bottom edge, there is a very small gift inscription dated March, 1945. So we know the book was published no later than that. The pages in my book are exceptionally clean. I found one speck on one page. The pages are unnumbered. I counted 32. There is a 3/8th inch tear off the top edge of the first page and a 1/16th inch tear off the top edge of the last page. There is a 5/16th by 3/16th inch loss off the bottom edge of the last page. Those are the only tears and losses on the pages. All of the pages have creasing and crinkling at their corners. There are no markings in the book. There are no attachments. And the signed inscription is the only writing to be found anywhere. The binding of the book is a stapled one. The covers are detached from the textblock. All of the pages are very solidly bound, nicely tight, from the first to the last. All of the sketches are in black and white (the other seller shows some colored in but unfortunately that was not done by the artist).The descriptions that accompany each sketch are funny. 'Anne favors the couch in the lounge, as its material is soft to the touch, and has a certain piquant flavor which titillates the palate.' 'Passing onto the older fry, Carolyn is definitely a doubter, and is ready to lodge a complaint if Mummie dishes up the same old stuff again.' 'Cups are fascinating objects, with limitless possibilities in their depths. Dorothea is teetering on the brink, but Dennis is prepared to drain his cup-- and life-- to the dregs.' 'Ronald, whom breakfast has left replete and ruminative, savors the remnants of the banquet on his silver spoon.' 'Elizabeth Paterson was an Australian commercial artist, cartoonist and illustrator. She was best known for her pictures of babies and young children. She was born in Carlton, Victoria in 1894. Her sister Esther Paterson was also a commercial artist, illustrator and cartoonist. Their uncle was Scottish-born landscape painter John Ford Paterson. Paterson sent her first drawing to The Bulletin in response to a bet by cartoonist David Low. Her drawing was published, she won the bet and began her career contributing illustrations to magazines. By the mid-1920s she and her sister had established themselves as commercial artists who were 'the cleverest designers in Australia' of posters, illustrated books, calendars and Christmas cards. In 1922 they held a joint exhibition in Queen's Hall, Melbourne, which was opened by Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Her drawings of young children were noted for their 'fetching impertinence'. Her 1931 solo exhibition was opened by Melbourne's lord mayor, Harold Gengoult Smith, and in 1935 the lady mayoress, Mrs A. G. Wales, did the honours. Paterson was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1966 for her service to art and the community.'. Seller Inventory # 005000
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