Have you ever seen the movie You've Got Mail? The bookstore set in that film was directly modeled on the New York City children's bookstore Books of Wonder. Opening as a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop in 1980, its founder Peter Glassman intended for it to be devoted primarily to antique children's books, but soon expanded to offering new as well. The store grew quickly, moving in 1982 to larger quarters, adding a second location in 1986, consolidating to a still larger building in 1996 and moving once more in 2004, to the location they still have on West 18th Street. They've managed to host an incredible array of author appearances over the years, and their story is quite the inspiration to a bookstore like our own.
But what makes them particularly of interest to us is their publishing line. In 1985, Books of Wonder established a joint imprint with William Morrow & Co. Starting with one title per season, the imprint grew until it included 67 (that we know of) titles. These books were not designed as inexpensive "value" books. They were beautifully crafted and many of them offered new artwork for the books, featuring then up-and-coming artists like Barry Moser, Michael Hague, Paul O. Zelinsky, Michael Foreman, Jerry Pinkney and Trina Schart Hyman. Other more established artists included John Tenniel, Jessie Willcox Smith, Arthur Rackham and N.C. Wyeth. BoW also became the first to republish all 15 titles in the Wizard of Oz series with John Neill's original art.
Unfortunately, when HarperCollins acquired Morrow in 1999, many of their titles went out of print, so they have become something of a treasure trove to seek out. Unlike other series—Illustrated Junior Library, Children's Classics or Scribners, for example—the books don't all have a consistent look on a shelf; some are more tall or slim, and the dust jackets don't always match. Though they can be pricey on occasion, they're not usually too difficult to locate and they're a lot of fun to find and read. We list the entire collection (with ISBNs) for your searching convenience. Happy hunting!
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