Original Book Illustration Art

This noted Montana-born children's book author/illustrator is remembered for "The Runaway Sardine" (her first book, 1929) and her popular "Kristie" series as well as many other illustrated titles: "To Market! To Market!" (1930), "Till Potatoes Grow on Trees" (1938), "Too Fast for John" (1940), "The Topsy-Turvy Family" (1943), "The Greedy Goat" (1944), "Drusilla" (1963) and others. Offered here is the near-complete original ink-and-watercolor artwork for an early title illustrated by Brock: Louise F. Encking's translation of E.T.A. Hoffmann's classic "The Nutcracker and the Mouse=King," published by Albert Whitman & Co. of Chicago in 1930, when Brock was just starting out and hungry for work. Consists of 25 heavy onion skin leaves (each two sheets either stapled or tipped together at top), approximately 11½" X 14½", 14 containing a large single black ink line drawings (six signed by Brock at lower margin) and the remainder mostly containing two small drawings per sheet. All 25 have an overlay sheet on top of the ink drawings each bearing hand colored elements. Below each ink drawing Brock pens a caption (which often differs from that which appears in the published book). Very good overall. Minor occasional soiling (most about edges) and edgewear. Bold and handsome illustrations for almost the entire book, some with pencilled editor's notes in the margins, including one or two illustrations omitted from the published book. Front cover art is absent, present only in the form of an 8" X 10" glossy black-and-white photograph used for production purposes. The simple rear dust jacket art is present on a 12½" X 16½" heavy card stock board as well, along with an 8" X 10" glossy black-and-white production photograph of same. A fabulous and quite scarce archive that shows the creative process at work.