Blue Goops and Red: A Manual of Polite Deportment for Children who Would be Good, Showing How and How Not to Behave Everywhere

Gelett Burgess

Published by Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York, 1909

About this Item

A wonderful didactic children's book that takes as its theme 'turning over a new leaf', from an important figure in the San Francisco Bay Area literary renaissance of the 1890s First Edition. The most difficult to source of the goop books and here in amazing condition. With illustrations throughout, and half-page leaves to turn over for each moral lesson. Poems to describe how to behave in different situations, such as 'when spoken to', 'at a picnic', 'getting dressed', 'in cold weather'. On reverse side of blue goop leaves, short narratives describing what the goops did wrong in each picture, and what they should do. Facsimile signature of Gelett Burgess below dedication. Publisher's advertisement facing title-page. Frank Gelett Burgess (January 30, 1866 September 18, 1951) was an artist, art critic, poet, author and humorist. Particularly through his iconoclastic little magazine, The Lark, he is best known as a writer of nonsense verse. He was the author of the popular Goops books, and he is generally considered to have invented the blurb. Burgess wrote and illustrated several children's books about the habits of strange, baldheaded, idiosyncratic child-like creatures he called the Goops. He created the syndicated comic strip Goops in 1924 and worked on it to its end in 1925. Burgess founded the San Francisco Boys' Club Association, now the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, in 1891. The Club was the first of its kind west of the Mississippi River. The word "blurb", meaning a short description of a book, film, or other product written for promotional purposes, was coined by Burgess in 1907, in attributing the cover copy of his book, Are You a Bromide?, to a Miss Belinda Blurb. His definition of "blurb" is "a flamboyant advertisement; an inspired testimonial". In a decorative cloth binding. Externally very good, just a little shelfwear and mild damp staining to front board. Internally, firmly bound. Bright and generally clean aside from a few handling marks as expected with a children's book. There has been some previous colouring in, and some ink notes written by a child above the signed dedication page, not affecting the text, and in the contents. A few small closed tears to pages. Very Good.

Seller Inventory # GEN24-H-1

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blue Goops and Red: A Manual of Polite Deportment for Children who Would be Good, Showing How and How Not to Behave Everywhere
• Publisher: Frederick A. Stokes Company, New York
• Publication Date: 1909
• Binding: Cloth
• Illustrator: None
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Children's Books