The article about Books, Reading and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle mentions The Marvels and Mysteries of Science, one of the first books that I ever owned.
I saw this book as an endlessly-fascinating treasure trove; I felt the same way about several other books that I owned as a child. I didn't realise at the time that a few of my best books, including Marvels and Mysteries, were published by the same company. I wasn't interested in any background information: all I cared about then was a book's content.
I learned a while back that some of my favourite books came from Odhams Press, which published a whole series of reasonably-priced, high-quality gift books for children. There were many more Odhams books than I ever saw at the time; I wish that I had been given more of them, considering how immensely just a few of their children's books enhanced my early life. Reading an Odhams book for the first time as an adult is just not the same!
A typical Odhams children's book, one that I wish I had owned:
My original copies were lost along the way, but some years ago I found replacements for Marvels and Mysteries and other books such as The Golden Gift Book and Wonders of the World online. The books were just as I remembered them. I was overwhelmed with nostalgia when I opened them and saw the familiar text and pictures.
The Golden Gift Book (1939) is a typical Odhams gift book and in my opinion is the jewel in Odhams' crown.
The title page and endpapers:
I was very strongly imprinted with many of the stories and pictures in The Golden Gift Book when I first encountered them.
As examples of the wonders within, I have selected just five of the many stories that I particularly like. I think that whoever matched the illustrators to the stories did a very good job. Although the pictures unfortunately don't reproduce at all well, the copies give some idea of what the much superior originals are like.
The Cockatoucan, written by E. Nesbit and illustrated by Edgar Spenceley, is about a girl called Matilda and her severe nursemaid who pay an accidental visit to a magical kingdom.
The nursemaid is transformed into a slot machine:
Veryneat Villa, written by Phyllis Mégroz and illustrated by Muriel Gill, is about two stern old ladies and their little maid Susan.
Susan arrives at Veryneat Villa:
The Affair at Noah's Ark, written by by Herbert McKay and illustrated by Helen Monroe, tells of a crime investigation by a toy called Jointed.
Jointed is a witness when Rabbit and Noah, two of his suspects, are brought to trial:
The Griffin and the Minor Canon, written by Frank R. Stockton and illustrated by L. Bowyer, is about a cleric who befriends a griffin.
Here the minor canon defends his church against locals who want to destroy a stone effigy of the griffin:
Koko, The Thingumabob was written by Anthony Armstrong and illustrated by Reginald Mount. In this typically amusing story, a king receives a present of a baby basilisk. He hands it over to the keeper of the royal stables, which contain some strange creatures:
Wonders of the World (1930), which contains many examples of 'the Marvels of Nature and of Men', introduced me to many of the world's exotic places and man-made attractions such as temples and statues. Just as the science book did, it added a whole new dimension to my life.
Odhams published several books similar to The Golden Gift Book. The titles are often very similar, which can cause confusion: they contain permutations of keywords such as Gift, Golden, Wonder and Children.
Here are more examples of books that I didn't see as a child:
Odhams Press dates from 1920. In addition to gift books, they published many other types and series of books and a wide range of newspapers, comics and magazines.
Sadly, Odhams Press closed in 1968 for financial reasons.
The famous Odhams building in Watford with its innovative clock tower, which holds a water tank that is used for printing:
