I’ve been on a vintage book kick for some time now, which of course has meant the exponential growth of my books wishlist. I’ve managed to add a few of them to my physical collection, and I’m pretty eager to add the others on my list.

My most recent acquisition was the 1951 volume Folk Toys; Les Jouets Populaires by Emanuel Hercik. Hercik undertook the task of cataloguing the development of the folk toy from ancient times through the 1950s in the interest of preserving a record of a basic human tradition and encouraging others to dig deeper themselves. He did so by illustrating them in precise, unpretentious line drawings and paintings.

There is a short intro chapter, which has me itching to explore the historical development of the toy further, but what’s most impressive are the illustrations. While most of us probably lost our interest in toys after the age of 10 or so, this book makes it impossible to indifferently skim through it. Many of the toys are familiar, but there are toys that are unusual and imaginative. I did recognize a few near the end from a collection my mother had that she let us play with when we were little.

The book contains 176 colour plates, so there are way too many for me to photograph and post here, but I’ve included a few favourites. You can see more from the book via tooknap’s vintage toy set