Best in Children's Books, Volume 4 by Mary Macnab

Each volume contained a mix of classics, non-fiction, and also new stories.

Each volume has a different collection of images on the spine, drawn from from some of the main stories in the volumes, to enable children to quickly select their favourite story from the shelf without having to scan the contents of the book. However, at least one volume appears to have been reprinted (Volume 18, which changed the country visit story) without any obvious indication other than the table of contents.Įach book was issued with a full colour dust jacket, but the volumes are much more commonly found without the dust jacket. Other reprints have the same contents and images, but a different coloured spine which often correlates to the colour of the duotone images inside the volumes.

The number of each volume is not indicated on the external binding, but can be found only via a very small number on the bottom right of the title page or on the back flap of the dust jacket if you have one (you can see in the image to the right that the title page of this volume is marked with a tiny ’15’.) A couple of volumes were reprinted with slightly different contents, and these are typically designated by the addition of a lower case “a” following the volume number (i.e. In total, there were 42 volumes published. The ‘Best in Children’s Books’ series was released through the Doubleday Book Clubs from 1957 to the late 1960s.

Best in Children's Books, Volume 4 by Mary Macnab