Scuffy, Tootle and Other Creations
by Tibor Gergely

ALICE D. SCHREYER
 

F
 

"^RO.M the pages of Golden Books and the pen of Tibor
Gergely, a cast of magical and mechanical creations
emerged wdiich has captivated children for thitty-five
\'ears. Golden Books was conceived by Simon and Schuster in
1942 in conjunction with Western Printing and Lithographic
Company and the editorial and design assistance of the Artists and
A\Titers Guild. The series of sturdy, attractive and inexpensive
children's books proved a startling publishing success. In 1958
Simon and Schuster sold their half-share; rhe scries, now published
by Western as Golden Press, is still a staple of the childten's book
market. Tibor Gergely, a Hungarian-born artist and illustrator,
was associated with the series from its beginning until his death last
year; the Tibor Gergely Collection, recently established in the
Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia, reveals both the
unique qualities of text and illustration of Golden Books, and the
particular aspects of Gergely's art which made him one of the
most popular and long-standing of the Golden Book artists.

The collection, which consists of close to 3,000 items, repre¬
sents e\'ery aspect of Gergely's career. It includes watercolor and
pen-and-ink drawings, tissue and transfer sketches, mock-ups and
dummies, proofs and printed copies for fifty books by various au¬
thors and nineteen by Gergely himself. In addition the collection
contains examples of his political cartoons, commercial art and
magazine illustrations.

As a young man in Budapest Gergely was associated with a
group of artists, philosophers and wTiters which included the
Marxist critic Georg Lukacs and the poet Anna Lesznai (at that
time married to Oscar Jaszi), who later became Gergely's wife.