Useful Gifts

This step-by-step drawing guide from acclaimed cartoonist E.G. Lutz has helped budding artists hone their skills since 1913.

E.G. Lutz provides simple, step-by-step instructions for constructing over one hundred distinct drawings, including lighthouses, horses, dragonflies, parakeets, and human expressions. The guide also demonstrates how to detail completed line art and how to draw subjects in profile as well as in front view. Younger artists will be especially enchanted by the sweet animal illustrations.A world-renowned cartoonist, E.G. Lutz’s 1920 book Animated Cartoons greatly influenced Walt Disney’s early career. Lutz also the author of Drawing Made Easy (1921), a popular guide for young artists. His enduring work is marked by a straightforward style of prose and illustration. Lutz’s style is preserved in this facsimile reprinting of his very first work.What to Draw and How to Draw It is a wonderful gift for beginning artists, who will delight in these charming creations from E.G. Lutz.

The 1921 step-by-step guide to drawing by E.G. Lutz that’s remained a classic for aspiring artists for over a century.

Learn the basics of illustration from influential cartoonist and early animation pioneer E.G. Lutz and start drawing today with Drawing Made Easy. This fun, whimsical beginner’s guide from a century ago offers today’s young artist clear step-by-step instructions and fundamental techniques for approaching a range of useful subjects.  

Easy-to-follow visual examples and straightforward written instructions show how to vividly render a wide selection of flora, fauna, and people in a variety of settings and scenes. Beautiful flowers, soaring birds and butterflies, galloping horses, playful people, and so much more are brought to life on the pages of this lovingly reproduced facsimile reprint. 

E.G Lutz has been guiding aspiring artists across generations, beginning with a young Walt Disney who was inspired by a copy of Animated Cartoons, Lutz’s early guide to animation published in 1920. Now see why Drawing Made Easy remains an essential guide more than one hundred years later. 

The McGuffey Readers are among the best known schoolbooks in the history of American education, having sold more than 120 million copies since the time of their first publication in 1836.

The tried and true McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader develops basic reading comprehension skills for children as young as three all the way to adults learning to read. Using stories, word lists, phonics charts, and 19th-century illustrations, it is a timeless teaching tool. This is the revised 1879 edition. 

Robert’s Rules of Order: The Original Guide to Parliamentary Procedure

This definitive guide to parliamentary procedure is used daily by private, governmental, business and social organizations large and small. A historic reproduction edition, this paperback is easy to have for quick reference.

Discover one of the most influential textbooks of all time, considered the third-best selling book of all time in America and the most cherished guide to spelling in American history.

With its distinctive blue cover, it earned the nickname the blue-backed speller and was used over the span of nearly a century. This lovingly reproduced hardback is an exact reproduction of Noah Webster's 1824 edition of the American Spelling Book. An essential gift for any history or language lover, this guide remains an inspiration for new generations of spellers today.

The Landmark American Guide to Housekeeping 

First published in 1828, with other thirty-two edition later, author, journalist, abolitionist, and women’s rights activist, Lydia Maria Child wrote this popular book as a nineteenth-century manual for homemakers. Including historic recipes, remedies, advice on parents, and tips for housekeeper, this landmark publication defined a uniquely American approach to homemaking for generations.

This book revolutionized 19th-century American architecture and changed forever the type of building that was done in our country.

With its bold designs and striking color, this ABC book, originally illustrated in 1923 by acclaimed American artist Charles Buckles Falls, continues to enchant modern readers.

Known for his graphic design and illustration, Falls applied his talents to the world of children's early learning books. The captivating, colorful, and bold timeless drawings were cut on wood blocks, lending the prints a tactile, enduring feel. The ABC Book helped prove that American authors could produce exceptional illustrated children’s books on par with their British peers.

Originally published in 1896, bestselling author and naturalist Frances Theodora Parsons  wanted to create a children's reading book designed to help children develop their reading skills while learning all about plants and developing a lifelong interest in nature.  Full of intricate sketches and illustrations and designed to follow a plant's life throughout a child's school year, this children's botany guide is full of interesting details told in a sweet and friendly narration. Considered one of best children's books of its day, this guide will delight children, adults, and botanical enthusiasts alike.

Historic Herbal Medicine

Nicholas Culpeper was a seventeenth-century English botanist, herbalist, physician and astrologer. Published over 350 years ago as a practical health guide, The Complete Herbal (1653) is still a definitive herbal guide for today. It contains a rich store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge, including herbs and where to find them, herb presentation, plasters and more. 

Originally published in 1895, this beautifully illustrated reference book will help you identify 30 common mushrooms and differentiate among edible and poisonous varieties.

Also included are tasty recipes meant to showcase the earthy flavors and range of textures of edible mushrooms. A treat for mushroom hunters and/or lovers of antiquated books.

Discover a Lost Classic ABC Book from L is for Locomotive to Z is for Zeppelin

Acclaimed American artist and illustrator Charles Buckles Falls followed up his successful and groundbreaking ABC Book with this striking Modern ABC Book, published in 1930. Featuring modern Art Deco–inspired lettering and vibrant coloring, Falls’s stylish woodblock alphabet remains attractive and enticing today. From “E is for Electric Engine” to “S is for Skyscraper,” these incredible illustrations reflect the excitement of new technology and industry that continue to define the American spirit.