helen gentry

This new, uniform edition of the eight "Little House" books is something to be grateful for, indeed. It is designed by Helen Gentry and illustrated with an authenticity that reflects eight years of perambulatory research. Children have loved these warm, tender family stories since they were written and have gained from them a fine sense of values and a vivid picture of our pioneering days in the 1870s and 80s. In fact, no writer for children has excelled Mrs. Wilder in portraying the past. Her stories are based on her own happy childhood, when the family was a closely-knit unit and pleasures were derived from simple things. Laura is five years old in the first book, and grows older in each, so that the last two include courtship and marriage. The one exception is I, which deals with her husband's boyhood. -Saturday Review, November 14, 1953

Helen Gentry was co-founder and part owner of the publishing firm, Holiday House, the first American publishing company dedicated solely to children's books. In addition to overseeing all design and production at her own firm, she occasionally served as a consultant for other publishers.

Gentry, a master printer and self-taught book designer, was a pioneer in producing fine books for children. Prior to the mid-1930s, books for children were almost always a product of the lowest standards of good printing. Gentry insisted that typography, illustration, printing, and binding be of the highest standards so that books could be preserved and treasured for generations. She was most noted for her use of type interacting with illustration, often used in the "Little House" books.
- posted by pioneergirl at 11:23 PM