What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I need help. I had a book as a child, and would desperately like to find it again. It was a natural history book. I can't remember the title or author. This is from the late 1950s. The book was divided into sections: Insects, birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, trees, flowers, and minerals.
It was a large book. It had two entries per page. One entry on the top half, the other on the bottom half. Each entry was divided vertically into text and illustration, and was checkerboarded--that is, if the top entry had illo on the left and text on the right, the bottom entry would have text on the left and illo on the right. I loved this book--the illustrations were beautiful and evocative-- and miss having it in my library. A reward will be given to anyone who can assist. Is there a database of books published by year and subject that i can search? Thanks!

Yes, you can do an advanced search on Worldcat with key words "natural history" or science or similar, and limit it to a single year or a range of years.

It's a bit tricky because, for example, searching "natural history" on books from 1950-1960 brings up 9,100 print books, including things like Pliny's Natural History - so it's using the pub. year of that edition, rather than the original publication date.

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%3...

You can further narrow it down from there (English language, etc.) but sometimes the danger is making your search too narrow.

If you're certain it's a book for juveniles, that narrows it down to 209 results:

http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%3...

Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm afraid I'm doomed. I'll keep looking though. SOMEBODY other than me must've had this book.........

Use google images to either search on key words, or search on individual titles.

Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm afraid I'm doomed. I'll keep..."

Hang in there Wolf, this might take awhile but as you said, surely someone else has read this book.

Was it a general natural history book? Or, was it one geared to the area you lived in as a child? If so, where did you live?
I was thinking it might be one of those guides.
Example: Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of New England

To Jaye: It was a general natural history book, not regional. I have THE WORLD WE LIVE IN, which came out in the 1950s also. It's not the dollar Golden Book series either, which are paperback-sized. I still have most of them. The illustrations in the book I'm looking for are very similar to those, if you know what I'm talking about. I'll never forget the illustration (those in the book are about 5 x 6 inches) of the coyote baying at the moon in a driving snow.......

Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm afraid I'm doomed. I'll keep..."

If you're wanting to see inside a book and Google Books and Amazon aren't helping try OpenLibrary.com. It's free and they have lots of books, especially older ones, all scanned in. Someone directed me to it and I found a poetry book I was looking for that way. :)

Also, I know Disney had a lot of nature books out around that time. Might it be one of those? (I've seen them in used bookstores. They don't have Disney characters, just lots of illustrations.)

Teri-k wrote: "Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm afraid I'm doom..."


Teri-k, after going to openlibrary.com what should I click to arrive at the scanned books?

Teri-k wrote: "Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm afraid I'm doom..."

I'm pretty sure it's not Disney--the illustrations were very realistic. Sometimes I get very angry at my folks for giving my books away, although they meant well. How could they know that had a child who valued his books as much as his friends?

I like to hear that you valued your childhood books like this. I'm going to follow this and also see what I can come up with. Good Luck!

I don't think this is it but it is similar?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Golden-Tr...

And is it geared toward children?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/A-Natural-His...

Wolf wrote: "Teri-k wrote: "Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your comments/suggestions--unfortunately, seeing the titles/authors may not help. And without the ability to see the cover or look inside these books, I'm ..."


I had the same thing happen to me with childhood books.

Growing up we had a 10 volume set of "The Young Folks' Shelf of Books" that I loved reading. My mother gave the set of books to my older sister after she had children. 3 kids and frequent moves and the books disappeared - never to be seen again I thought.

I had stopped by a library book sale in a large city and they had just set out the 10 volume set of books in excellent condition that someone had donated, which I promptly snapped up. I felt like I had been reunited with a long lost friend.

MomToKippy wrote: "I don't think this is it but it is similar?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Golden-Tr......"

No, that's not it, but thank you for bringing this book to my attention. The book I had was not necessarily geared for children--at least, not very young children. The illustrations were very realistic, and the accompanying text was, well, like a textbook. Each page had two entries, one on the top half, and the other on the bottom half. Each entry was divided into two sections left and right. If the top entry had illustration on the left, the text would be on the right. The bottom entry was reversed--text on the left, and illustration on the right....

Were the illustration in color or back and white? Do you remember some of the animals featured? I read you mentioned a coyote and went image searching from there and found this book: https://junehunterimages.wordpress.co...

Birds and Animals in the Rockies seems like a lovely book but it's probably not the one. Any unusual animals/plant/mineral you think were mentioned that could narrow the search? Some quote?

Also, did it seem to be a book of animals from your country only or worldwide (like, very general, from dogs to giraffes)?

Last, any chance this was an encyclopedia of some kind? Were the animals organized from A to Z and all that?

Good luck!

Edit: I came across these other books as well: http://theanimalarium.blogspot.mx/201...
http://www.fulltable.com/vts/aoi/m/ma...


Could you describe the type of illustrations the book had? Were they very realistic?

Thank you for your input. No, that isn't the book. The illustrations were in color, and were very realistic, like those paperbacks Golden Book nature guides. As I mentioned elsewhere, the book had a distinctive layout. The book was divided into mammals, reptiles and amphibians, birds, insects, sea life, trees, flowers, and minerals. Each page had two entrIes--one on the top half, one on the bottom half. Each entry was split into a left-and right section. If the left section was illustration, the right section was text. The bottom half would be reversed--text on left, illo on right. I have never seen another book like this.

Wolf wrote: "I need help. I had a book as a child, and would desperately like to find it again. It was a natural history book. I can't remember the title or author. This is from the late 1950s. The book was div..."

Wolf wrote: "Thank you for your input. No, that isn't the book. The illustrations were in color, and were very realistic, like those paperbacks Golden Book nature guides. As I mentioned elsewhere, the book had ..."

Erika wrote: "Were the illustration in color or back and white? Do you remember some of the animals featured? I read you mentioned a coyote and went image searching from there and found this book: https://junehu..."
I finally found my book...after going to the Library of Congress in Washington DC, I did a search through their databases by subject and year of publication---after narrowing it down to three likely candidates, I found it...https://www.amazon.com/Hammonds-Natur... When they brought the book to me and I looked inside, I was in tears. I immediately went to ebay and bought a copy. REUNITED after so many years!!!!!

Best ending ever !

That's so great!