Between the Covers

Unbound. Five partial line blocks from one of Gelett Burgess's Goops books that had been repurposed for a McNeil Laboratories advertisement circa 1930s. Zinc metal plates mounted on wood blocks of various sizes from approximately 2" x 2.5" to 6.5" x 4". A touch of damage to the head of one Goop, likely from the blocks being cut down from a larger full-sized image, else near fine. Laid in is an Autographed Letter Signed from Grace McNeil along with an envelope and the tattered original mailer from McNeil Laboratories. Grace McNeil was the wife of Robert Lincoln McNeil, who in 1933 founded McNeil Laboratories which is now part of Johnson & Johnson. She apparently sent the wood blocks to a friend to use and explains in the letter: "These are the remnants of the 'Goops.' The book of the original design was once lent to I-don't-remember-Whom. So this is all! I don't seem to have a printing of a third flyer [advertisement], which there is a die of. If you can use them the printer can cut away the names, as we had done."

The Goops were a popular series of seven children's books published by Burgess starting in 1900 with *Goops and How to be Them* and ending with *New Goops and How to Know Them* in 1951, the year of his death. The books taught children manners by exposing readers to the poor behavior of the ever bumptious Goops children depicted through pictures and verse. The line blocks here show Goops cooking, sitting at a table eating, walking with packages, and using an early telephone. McNeil Laboratories incorporated the Goops into their advertising by cutting down some of the line blocks used to print their books and recycling select images that best fit their marketing needs.

A nice example of licensing for this popular 20th Century children's book and the recyclable nature of materials during The Great Depression.

Item #374420