Cozy Corner Italian Style - La Valigetta delle Meraviglie

The second printing of the Italian version of the Cozy Corner book is from 1955, and was part of a boxed set of books called La Valigetta Delle Meraviglie which loosely translates to The Suitcase of Wonders.

It is an appropriate name as the set of six books was collected in what looks like an old fashioned suitcase, complete with applied "travel" stickers featuring characters from each book.

The books in the set are Snow White, Bambi, The Three Caballeros, Cinderella, Alice, and Peter Pan. The contents of this second printing are identical to the first printing, with one addition. Our old friend Dinah makes an appearance on the last page, the copyright page. Yet one more example in support of my argument about the Dinah Goebel, and discussed in excruciating detail here.

Cozy Corner Italian Style - Sinfonie Allegre

This is the Italian version of the Cozy Corner book, from publisher Mondadori, 1951 first printing (there is also a second printing). It is part of a series called Sinfonie Allegre (loosely translates to "cheerful symphonies"). Interior reprints all the Samuel Armstrong paintings from the Cozy Corner book,

plus additional pages with frames from the film.

Collins Wonder Colour Book

As with the Little Golden Books, the Cozy Corner book was printed in several foreign countries as well, although not under the Cozy Corner imprint. This is the English version, published by Collins. It is the same content, just slightly narrower.

The endpapers however are completely different.

And there is an additional page at the beginning with a clever bookplate motif (this copy apparently once belonged to a lovely English lass named Jennifer),


and another at the end with the copyright and printing information (a rarity in English books!)


It is unclear whether or not this new art is by Samuel Armstrong, but I doubt it.

Cozy Corner Book

This is the book for which the painting in yesterday's post was created. This book is somewhat of a puzzle in and of itself. It appears that this is the only one of the Disney Cozy Corner books to have multiple printings.

The first printing from 1951 is identified in several ways, the first of which is by its back cover, which bears a list of other books in the series, as well as its stock number, 2074-25, located in the lower right corner.

The other - and more obvious - indication of a first printing are the endpapers. In first printings the endpapers are a bizarre shade of yellow-green.

The list of titles on the back cover of the second printing is quite different, and there are no duplications from the first printing as far as the Disney titles are concerned. The titles on the second printing also help date it to 1954, the publication dates of the Lady, Ben and Me, and Stormy titles. The stock number also changed, now 2417:29.

Endpapers of the second printing are a striking magenta color.

Below is a scan of the first page of the book, showing the painting from yesterday. It is always sad to see how poorly these paintings are reproduced in the books of the period.

Cozy Corner Book Art - Samuel Armstrong

This is one from my walls, an original page painting by Samuel Armstrong from the Cozy Corner book. This is page 1. Pardon the flash glare in the upper left corner.