Christina Ringsberg - Swedish Illustrator and Artist

Christina Ringsberg is a Swedish artist (born in 1938). She has illustrated several books for children, including this one "Nat i sommerhuset" (Night in the Summer Cottage) that was published in 1973.

I thought the illustration is just right for Halloween October :)

Sharon Kane - The Author and Illustrator of Little Mommy

This was one of me and my little sister's absolute favorite books when we were little girls. We loved the story and the wonderful pictures in it. The book was originally published in 1967 and was re-issued in 2008. If you have a little girl in the family I am sure she will adore this book. You can read about the author and illustrator Sharon Kane at her website.

Pierre Probst - French Illustrator of Children's Books

Pierre Probst was a French illustrator who lived from 1913-2007. I did not know his drawings when I was a child. I guess, because the books they were in were out of print by the time I was born. Anyhow, I have now found several books with his illustrations at second-hand bookstores, and I really like his drawings. They are fun and cute at the same time.

These two illustrations are from the book "Scamp on Holiday". Interestingly enough the Danish publisher has Pierre Probst down as both the illustrator and the author, but really it was written by the famous writer Enid Blyton. I only discovered this when I found an English cover for the book on Google. Also the Danish book was translated from French - and has 1953 as the year of Copyright - while the English version is copyrighted 1954. Odd.

Adele Werber and Doris Laslo - Illustrators

My daughter loves the book "Kattekillingerne, som gemte sig for deres mor" (The Kittens That Hid From Their Mother) that I bought second-hand when she was 4 years old. I have no information on the illustrators - of whom there were two - Adele Werber and Doris Laslo. Nor have I any real information on the author Louise P. Woodcock except a few listings on books she wrote. This book was written in 1957.

These are some of the sweet pictures in it.

Count the Baby Animals - Such Nice Illustrations

Marguerite Walters wrote this book in 1956 and it was illustrated by another woman - Virginia Plummer. Unfortunately - as is so often the case with writers and illustrators of children's literature - there is hardly any info about them on the Internet.

"Count the Baby Animals" was translated into Danish as "Tæl til ti" (Count to Ten). I loved it then and I love it now. Virginia Plummer had quite a unique style that really make the pictures stand out - both in choice of color in some and the extreme sweetness in others.

I had to scan the cover to show just how much love this book has been given over the years. Like an old cuddly teddy bear.

This last picture is one of my absolute favorites. It's has so much sweetness in it. 

(I adjusted the color to give it the colors it probably had when the book was newly printed in 1973.)

Baby Scraps from the 1960s

I scanned these scraps before I noticed how worn they were. Usually I don't bother with very worn scraps unless they are really old, but these are quite cute - and they are 45+ years old. I don't know whether they are from the same sheet, but it looks like the same artist drew them.

Ann-Madeleine Gelotte - Swedish Writer and Illustrator

This book "Her kommer vinden" (Here Comes the Wind) was read so much by me, my sister - and now my daughter - that it's beginning to look like it has been in the washer a couple of times. It was written and illustrated by the Swedish illustrator and writer Ann-Madeleine Gelotte in 1973 and translated into Danish the same year.

The story is about the wind who is bored and one day steals a hat from a little girl. At first the little girl is really sad, because she had taken her mother's hat without asking, and now the wind has taken it. But then she decides to get it back and eventually finds it in a tree where the wind has put all of her trophies. The wind loves the hat so much that the little girl lets the wind have it, and in return she gets all the trophies. Her mother doesn't mind about the old hat, and she and her daughter have lots of fun playing dress up with all the things the girl got from the wind.

1950s Illustrations by Sunny B. Cook

This book I bought at a thrift store some years back. I like the classic 1950s style that the drawings have.

I don't know anything about the illustrator other than her name  - Sunny B. Cook (at first I thought it was a man's name, but Mr. Sung kindly told me otherwise - see comments;). In Danish the book is called "Der var engang en lille dreng" ("There Was Once a Little Boy" written by Blossom Budney). It was originally published in 1956.

Garth Williams' Wonderful Drawings

These three images are from one of my favorite books from my childhood. I think the pictures are adorable. The author and illustrator of the book was the American illustrator Garth Williams who died in 1996. Originally the book "Baby Animals" was published in 1952. My Danish paperback edition was printed in 1974.

Two More by Marcel Marlier

Going through my old scans I found these two by Marcel Marlier that I hadn't posted earlier. Enjoy :)

Great Vintage Ads From 1915

These two ads I found in one of my antique Danish magazines. They are wonderfully detailed and I couldn't resist scanning them at 1600 DPI and then scaling the DPI to 300 to enlarge the pictures. Then I retouched them a little bit to remove some blotches they had gained over the past +100 years, and finally I removed the background, so they really came to their right. It worked out nicely I think. They are for sale as digital images at my Etsy shop. The woman is 31,547" tall at 300dpi and the girl is 14,023" tall.

Scraps from my childhood

As a girl I collected scraps - a lot of scraps. My sister and I would trade with each other like trading cards. We were very particular about which we wanted to trade and which we wanted to hold on to. I had a great fondness for the old scraps while my sister really liked the fairy tale scraps. To us it didn't really matter what shape they were in if the image was something we liked. We would also play with them as if they were dolls. Or glue them on objects as decoration.

Today I use them primarily for making collages that I frame and hang on my walls. I especially like the ones I made for my daugther's room.

In order not to destroy the scraps I scan and print them. That way I can use them over and over again without doing harm to the original scrap.

On my Etsy Shop I will be putting some of the scrap scans up for sale as digital images (scanned at 400dpi). And some I will sell off completely - the physical scrap itself - if they hold no sentimental value for me.

The boy and girl scraps are German reprints from ca. 1978. I think that the original drawings were done in the 1880s. The fairy tale scraps are scanned originals from the 1940s.

Embroidered Pillows

I really like the embroidered pillows that were made in the 1950s-1980s in Denmark. I have several that my grandmother and great-grandmother made many - many - years ago. I have a 1920s couch that they fit right into. However, I discovered that I also like the vintage pillows in my modern furniture as contrast. And in my rocking chair.

The great thing about these vintage pillows is that they come with a lot of different patterns and colors, so there is always somewhere that they will fit into my home decor :)

I have made an Etsy shop - AllRetroScandinavia - where I sell some of the vintage pillows that I find in antique shops here in Denmark. (To keep the shipping fee from skyrocketing I only send the covers.)