The Tale of Cuffy Bear

New York: Grosset & Dunlap (Sleepy-Time Tales, Presumed 1st Edition, 1915). Pictorial hardcover with tan boards, black and red titles and illustration, 112 pages. No dust jacket, if issued. Penciled gift inscription dated Dec 25, 1916 on FFEP. Pages soft and toned. Straight spine; binding and hinges somewhat loose, but text block intact.

Defects: Boards age worn with some discoloration. Spine extremities frayed, with a 1-1/2" split in cloth at bottom front. There are two missing pages: 33/34 and 63/64. Frontispiece is also missing. Green crayon scribble on page 80 (see our photo).

ABOUT THE BOOK: Cuffy Bear is the beginning of Arthur Scott Bailey's animal story series. It is a wonderful beginning to a a delightful series. Cuffy lives in a cave with his father, mother and little sister, Silkie. What follows is a lively little book with animal adventures, scientific realism, and a whole lot of fun. Cuffy is a little bear cub with an endless amount of energy. If he isn't eating the farmer's picnic, he is either trying to end a porcupine or hiding from hornets in a pond. He is always sniffing out food and is only still when he is sleeping. Review from goodreads.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arthur Scott Bailey (1877 – 1949) was an American writer. He was the author of more than forty children's books. Bailey's writing has been thus described by the Newark Daily News: "Mr. Bailey centered all his plots in the animal, bird and insect worlds, weaving natural history into the stories in a way that won educator's approval without arousing the suspicions of his young readers. He made it a habit to never 'write down' to children and frequently used words beyond the average juvenile vocabulary, believing that youngsters respond to the stimulus of the unfamiliar." His work also includes the comic strip Animal Whys, which was syndicated in 1937.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR: Harry L. Smith was an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. He illustrated a number of Arthur Scott Bailey's children's books.