Teddy's World - Hardcover

Elffers, Joost; Vries, Mirja De

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0971897506 ISBN 13: 9780971897502

Publisher: Joost Elffers Books Llc, 2002

Synopsis

A one hundredth anniversary celebration of the teddy bear depicts the popular stuffed toy in a variety of nostalgic and surreal settings, in a photographic collection that invites readers to consider personal feelings of emotional attachment. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review

With the same unique sensibility that gave us Play with Your Food, Joost Elffers and photographer Mirja de Vries bring bear lovers a new twist on old teddies--one that combines sentimentality with strong imagery of the secret world of bears. Each large page is a gloriously rich photo, some as stark as a single well-loved bear in black and white with the caption "The End of the Affair." Others are beautifully colored, with tapestries and clothing as important as the bears themselves. From camping to visiting museums to ear repair at a bear hospital, our fuzzy friends are shown enjoying lives to the fullest--entirely separate from their human companions. Children in particular will enjoy pages like Teddy in the bath, accompanied by a starkly typed note saying "at least it wasn't the washing machine. I wouldn't have survived that a second time." Most pictures have small captions, but a few pages are text-heavy, exploring the beginnings of teddy bears, bears in history, and their beloved roles at bedtime. For kids or collectors, Teddy's World will be a slightly mysterious, entertaining glimpse at what your bear gets up to when you leave the room. Didn't you already suspect it? --Jill Lightner

From Library Journal

The first stuffed toy bear appeared in 1902, and it became universally known as the "Teddy" bear after a political cartoon depicted President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub. Teddy bears are now hot collectors' items, and these three centennial books reflect the interests of adult collectors and enthusiasts. Schiffer's guides for collectors on many topics are well known, and this one by Hockenberry follows the Schiffer format, with a historical summary of early companies in the development of the teddy bear and a decade-by-decade chronology of collectors' bears with excellent color photographs and estimated values. Pfeiffer's book is a wonderfully illustrated and detailed history of the German Steiff company, maker of the most sought-after bears. Historic photos, dating from the founding of Margarete Steiff GmbH in 1880 to the present, provide an overview of the company's products and methods of construction. Current values are not given. Teddy's World, on the other hand, is a fantasy picture book with large color photographs of teddies posed in a variety of action and landscape settings. Envisioned by the creator of Play with Your Food, it contains 182 pages of full-color photomontages and several fold-out images. It is intended as a fun book, with very little text or collector's information. Of the three, the Hockenberry book is most useful for collectors and would be welcome in public library collections. The other two will appeal to enthusiasts, but are not essential purchases. Constance Ashmore Fairchild, formerly with Univ. of Illinois Libs., Urbana-Champaign
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Joost Elffers Books Llc
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0971897506
• ISBN 13: 9780971897502
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192