The Jaunts of Junior, Arthur B. Phelan
I discovered The Jaunts of Junior within Mus White's From the Mundane to the Magical and Beyond: Photographically Illustrated Children's Books 1854-1945. The image included in From the Mundane (Junior pulling a mouse's tale) , struck me as an incredible photograph given Jaunt's 1911 year of publication. The photographer of Jaunts is Arthur B. Phelan. It is authored in verse by Lillian B. Hunt. The fact that Phelan is listed before Hunt, is quite telling. The photo-montage pictures tell the story better than words; in fact, they are the story.
This tale is similar to Tom Thumb. Junior, a boy "barely as high as your hand" visiting the "Big, Big Land," is having many adventures with things one would find in any house. While some of the verse may seem dated ("Junior lived in Weenyland...," "...he brushed them off like a man.,") the 23 full-page B&W photographs are incredible and remain enjoyable to all ages. Junior meets up with a house cat 5x his size, carries a butter knife twice his size to slice cake the size of a dining-room table. And as he runs across piano keys, his piano reflection keeps pace beside him. Upon its release, Jaunts sold for $1.25. Now, 100 years later, you can still find it second hand (or many hands later) for as little as $16. The cover alone is quite beautiful with red-floral embossing and gold-leaf embossed lettering. With each page, Phelan leaves us puzzling how the image was created, again, so early in the last century. The fact that you have landed on this page, makes you photo-curious enough to discover this book for yourself, and you should!
This tale is similar to Tom Thumb. Junior, a boy "barely as high as your hand" visiting the "Big, Big Land," is having many adventures with things one would find in any house. While some of the verse may seem dated ("Junior lived in Weenyland...," "...he brushed them off like a man.,") the 23 full-page B&W photographs are incredible and remain enjoyable to all ages. Junior meets up with a house cat 5x his size, carries a butter knife twice his size to slice cake the size of a dining-room table. And as he runs across piano keys, his piano reflection keeps pace beside him. Upon its release, Jaunts sold for $1.25. Now, 100 years later, you can still find it second hand (or many hands later) for as little as $16. The cover alone is quite beautiful with red-floral embossing and gold-leaf embossed lettering. With each page, Phelan leaves us puzzling how the image was created, again, so early in the last century. The fact that you have landed on this page, makes you photo-curious enough to discover this book for yourself, and you should!
 The Jaunts of Junior cover. 1911 photo-montage picture book by Harper & Brothers. Photographically illustrated by Arthur B. Phelan. | Find it & Leaf through for yourself! |
 The Jaunts of Junior - 1911 photo-montage picture book Published by Harper and Brothers. Photographically-illustrated by Arthur B. Phelan. |
 The Jaunts Of Junior - a 1911 photo-montage picture book published by Harper & Brothers. Photographically illustrated by Arthur B. Phelan. |
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