Book Description:

Hardback, cardboard covered with colored paper, cloth binding

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover description: 

Watercolor and print illustration of underwater scene, modern style, including basic depiction of coral by means of circles, fish appear to be stamps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title Page: 

Title page is same as cover.  States: Swimmy, by Leo Lionni, picture of ‘Swimmy’ and underneath, “Pantheon”.

 

Title Page Verso Transcription: 

“For my friend Alfredo Segre who gave Swimmy his name.”

 

Spine Transcription: 

Leo Lionni     Swimmy        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Binding: 

Spine includes basic library wear, including three labels, two white, and one yellow.  Upper white label includes yellow dot, lower white label includes classification:  “LIONNI Leo 1963”. Color is ivory, some yellowing due to age, made of cloth, reinforced with clear packaging tape.  Font is Century Expanded Italic by Bitstream, designed by Morris Fuller Benton and Linn Boyd Benton around 1900-1904.  The name is colored with a cerulean blue, matching the watercolor on the title page, and title is black.  

 

Publication Information:

Copyright 1968, by Leo Lionni.  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.  Published in New York by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc., and simultaneously in Toronto, Canada, by Random House of Canada, Limited.   

 

Copyright information is listed on the first page of the story, “A happy school of little fish lived in a corner of the sea somewhere.  They were all red.  Only one of them was as black as a mussel shell.  He swam faster than his brothers and sisters.  His name was Swimmy.”

 

Font:

Font found using myfonts.com, “Shortly after the preparation of the original Century, the two Bentons (father Linn Boyd and son Morris Fuller) prepared a wider version for De Vinne’s press and called it Century Broadface.  In 1900 ATF released the design for the general use as Century Expanded, one of the most popular and effective of typefaces, to this day the text face of the New York Daily News.”  Designers: Morris Fuller Benton, Linn Boyd Benton

                                    Design date: 1900-1904

                                    Publisher: Bitstream

                                    Design owner: Kingsley/ATF

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

End papers: 

Original end papers are same prints of blue sea; appear to be stamps made with an oblong object, no text.  Beginning papers are same pattern.  Middle binding is torn, damage worst to where string pierces binding. Includes stamps: Center for Children’s Books, University of Chicago Library, Permanent Collection: 13764, Caldecott Honor Book-1964, $3.50.

 

Dust Jacket:

There is none.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dedication:

"For my friend Alfredo Segre who gave Swimmy his name."

 

Table of Contents:

There is none.

 

Size:

28 cm. vertical; 23.5 cm. width;1.3 cm. from cover to cover,

 

Pagination:  

[iii], [1], [ii], [4], [i], [6], [ii], [9-10], [ii], [13], [i], [15], [i], [17], [ii], [20], [i], [22]. [i], [24-26], [ii]

 

Font:

Font is Century Extended.  Color is black throughout the book. Under case letters are approximately 0.2 cm while upper are approximately 0.3 cm. Font size is 14.        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical Presentation of Text:

4cm by 17.5cm is largest text box, with five lines of text but with two indentations between. Smallest text block is one line, 0.4cm by 10cm. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Font is very clear, but because on the superimposition on top of the illustrations, it causes the visibility to lessen.  Harder to read when superimposed on top of darker backgrounds.  Black letters are clear than the illustrations placed beneath. 

 

Paper: 

Paper is thick, when held up to the light you cannot see the illustration on the previous page.  Edges have yellowed due to age and use, no pages are torn, but there are oil smudges and discoloration in various spots close to the edges of the pages.  Physical integrity of the paper has not been threatened. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number and Extent of Illustration:

There is an illustration on every page.  15 total full-bleed illustrations each span over two pages.  Each illustration fills up the majority/whole page, the smallest one is 23.5cm by 44cm. 

 

Illustrative Medium:

Each illustration combines the use of stamping, collage, and watercolor.  Similar to Eric Carle, Lionni took previously painted paper, cut it out into specific shapes, and then arranged it on the page. 

 

Illustration is 27.5cm x 43cm. Illustration consists of a blue background, consisting of three main shades/grades, stamped large black fish, which is not opaque, 36 small stamped red fish, and one small opaque stamped black fish.  It depicts the large black fish going after the small red fish, exposing many sharp teeth.  Text “One bad day a tuna fish, swift, fierce and very hungry, came darting through the waves.  In one gulp he swallowed all the little red fish.  Only Swimmy escaped.”  Text box is three lines, 15.3cm x 1.3cm, on the recto page side, L margin 2cm, R margin 4.1cm, top margin 5cm, bottom margin 20.6cm.

 

Manuscript Holdings:  

The University of Minnesota Libraries Children's Literature Research Collections contains an archival collection that contains some chalk illustration and colored page proofs.  Other manuscripts are held by Lionni's children and grandchildren in Italy. 

 

 

 

References:

 

Lionni, Leo. Swimmy. New York: Pantheon, 1968. Print.

 

"Century® Expanded - Webfont & Desktop Font." Century® Expanded - Webfont & Desktop Font. MyFonts, Inc., 1999. Web. 19 Feb. 2015. <https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/bitstream/century-expanded/>.

 

Leo Lionni Papers. University of Minnisota: Children's Literature Research Collections. 2006.<http://discover.lib.umn.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=umfa;cc=umfa;rgn=main;view=text;didno=CLRC-1988>