Happiness for Sale

Decorative matt unclipped dustjacket is illustrated on the front and rear with a navy-blue line daring and text box with decoration. Dustjacket is worn in multiple areas – along the front top edge especially at the back strip, each of the four corners, and on the top of the interior jacket flaps. Dark beige cloth boards have a red image to front board, decorations to front and rear at the spine with red text to the spine. The back strip has a small dent on the lower edge but otherwise spine, boards and corners are in excellent condition. All corners are sharp with no bumping. Spine is straight with no cracking to the endpapers. Text block is solid with all pages firmly attached. The front free endpaper has a gold cross sticker attached. Slight age tanning throughout. Interior pages are in perfect condition - clean, with no tears, cracks, or other previous owner marks.

"Happiness for Sale" is the story of a little girl, Prudence Parker, who believes she is a poet and brings gladness and warmth to all the hearts who know her. Illustrated with black and white line drawing and red decorations.

Grace Noll Crowell (1877 – 1969), while today relegated to the status of "minor poet" she none the less was the author of 36 books and approximately 5,000 poems. Her first full book of poetry published in 1925 received first prize from the Texas Poetry Society and in 1935 she was appointed Poet Laureate of Texas, a position she held for three years. Much like the heroine in this story Crowell first attempted writing poetry at age 8, but her family mocked her efforts and it would be another twenty years "until love and romance and a home…awakened the desire to write poetry again".

Lee Mero (1885 – 1977) "became the one man in Minneapolis who had to think in terms of Christmas all year round". After studying at the Minneapolis School of Art and later at the Chase School of Art in New York City he spent time in New York and Chicago, eventually returning to Minneapolis be became successful concentrating on Christmas greeting cards, which in 1937 led to his work as a freelance artist. He was a longtime contributor to the Augsburg Publishing House's famous annual Christmas publication. He continued to find success freelancing in design, decorative illustration, creating mottos, and greeting cards until his retirement around 1971.