Trying to find set of "Tete-Beche" books from my childhood- Double books
March 31, 2018 7:37 PM Subscribe
In my childhood, I was given a set of classics, about 12 volumes. These were children's versions of classics like Tom Sawyer. The trick was, there would be one book on one side of the volume, and another one the other-- upside down. So I'd read one story, then turn the volume over and read the other book. I want to find a set of these.
I learned these are called Tete-Beche (head to tail) book. Well, I'm trying to track a set of these down to give to a young relative. The covers and binding were pink (hardback, but that cheap cardboard inside the cover), and they were smaller than a normal hard-back, maybe about 6X9?
I thought they were published by Dell or Ace or one of the big imprints of the time. Anyone know what these are? This gift gave me many hours of pleasure, and made me a lifelong reader, and I'd love to do that with my young niece. Any ideas?
I learned these are called Tete-Beche (head to tail) book. Well, I'm trying to track a set of these down to give to a young relative. The covers and binding were pink (hardback, but that cheap cardboard inside the cover), and they were smaller than a normal hard-back, maybe about 6X9?
I thought they were published by Dell or Ace or one of the big imprints of the time. Anyone know what these are? This gift gave me many hours of pleasure, and made me a lifelong reader, and I'd love to do that with my young niece. Any ideas?
Best answer: We were given this set as a kid -- Dandelion Library. The bindings are various colors, and there's no Tom Sawyer (Tom Thumb is one of the classics), but pasting it just in case it's the tete beche set you're looking for.
Googling "flip book Tom Sawyer" pulled up the Companion Library. This matches the size you described, but the binding are different colors.
Glancing through the image search results for "flip book" with any of the titles you remember might help you find what you're looking for, even if that's a less accurate phrase than "tete-beche"...that's what they seem to be called by book resellers on amazon/ebay/etsy.
posted by neda at 9:29 PM on March 31, 2018 [3 favorites]
Googling "flip book Tom Sawyer" pulled up the Companion Library. This matches the size you described, but the binding are different colors.
Glancing through the image search results for "flip book" with any of the titles you remember might help you find what you're looking for, even if that's a less accurate phrase than "tete-beche"...that's what they seem to be called by book resellers on amazon/ebay/etsy.
posted by neda at 9:29 PM on March 31, 2018 [3 favorites]
Response by poster: Oh, thanks! It is that Companion Library, exactly. I remember the "Black Beauty/Call of the Wild" combo. But it's almost $200! I have to debate about that, but really, it's so exciting to see it, and now I see all the bindings are different colors.
posted by my-sharona at 1:52 PM on April 1, 2018
posted by my-sharona at 1:52 PM on April 1, 2018
I had these too as a child and knew what you meant right away but neda beat me to it--anyway, I'm posting to say shop around on eBay and sites like Abe Books before you just go with the first price that pops up on Amazon (which is often inflated). For example, here are 14 of the books on eBay for $59.95. It also looks like there are individual volumes available online for much less than $200 for the set you're looking at.
posted by tiger tiger at 3:40 PM on April 1, 2018
posted by tiger tiger at 3:40 PM on April 1, 2018
Look for a vintage second hand book store. They often carry these at one of our local ones. If you can find a store that combines books with collectables they will likely carry these from time to time and charge about twelve dollars for them.
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:37 PM on April 2, 2018
posted by Jane the Brown at 12:37 PM on April 2, 2018
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posted by Rash at 8:38 PM on March 31, 2018