Category Archives: 1970s

350S: Out of Print Witchcraft Book

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The details of what I’m looking for are as follows:
– I’m looking for a book on witchcraft that is almost certainly now out of print, having been published between the 1960s and the 1980s.
– The cover is solid pale pink with some black illustrations. I believe that there is a clothed pre-Raphaelite woman on the cover, and an image of her nude appears a few pages in.
– The title did *not* explicitly mention witchcraft, Wicca, magic, or spells. It may have used the word “potions” but I believe the title only referenced the making of natural cosmetics and/or other natural goods.
– I borrowed this book from the Hillsborough County (FL) library system in the late 90s or very early 2000s, but after searching their catalog I do not believe it to still be in circulation.
– I specifically remember one spell from the book, that prescribed eating an apple with your back to a mirror to discern your future lover. Unfortunately this is a commonly published spell so it may not narrow it down.
I think that is all I have to go off of, but would be more than happy to answer any further questions.

350E: Supposedly Heroic Girl Dies in Apartment House Fire (Solved!)

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Looking for a 1970s ya fiction book about a girl who died in an apartment house fire. Everyone thought that she was a hero because she alerted the other tenants to the fire so they could get out. Actually, it was her brother who had done the alerting while she went back to her apartment to get her shoe box of paper doll families. This was a much darker sequel to a book about a brother, a sister and another girl. Think the title may have been something like “The truth about (girl’s name)”, but not positive. Don’t remember author but know I read it right after it came out somewhere between 1969 and 1980.

349Z: Shadow people in the backyard of a big house

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Around 1975 my teacher read the class a story about a family that moved into a huge house.  Their children discovered a family of shadow people living in the backyard.  The living children can see the shadow people because of their size – the shadow people can only be seen by living people whose size is smaller than their own.  I couldn’t get the concept of the book and my teacher, whom I adored, was a large woman so she used herself as an example of why the living adults in the big house could not see the shadow people.  I have fond memories of the feeling the book imposed but that is all I can remember of the book.

 

349V: Spun around and upside down

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I am trying desperately to find a beloved book from my childhood.  I do not remember the name, but I do remember a few details.

It had to be spun around and upside down as it was read; the characters were on some sort of adventure.
The characters to best of my memory were pink or purple blobbish type things…
It was a hardback book
I was born in 1967, so this could have been a 60s or an early 70s book.
I have looked and looked for the book to no avail.

349H: 60s or 70s Black and White Silhouette Book

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I’m trying to find a book for a friend and wanted to see if you might be able to offer any advice. My friend’s late father was a photographer and had a black and white nude silhouettes book published back in the 60s or 70s. Unfortunately, my friend’s copy was lost many years ago and never found. I don’t have the title, but it would have been published under Bill Coco or Francis V. Coco. Any advice on how I might be able to try and find it? All suggestions are welcome! I’d love to try and make my friend’s holiday by finding this! I hope you can help. 

 

349G: Selfish Witch, Disguised as Regular Girl, Does Selfless Favor

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Looking for a beautiful line-drawn picture book from earlier than 1975, about a witch and her daughter who live beyond the seven valleys and the seven seas. The daughter witch is selfish, and does not come home to her mother on time. Her mother sends her away until she can do a selfless favor for someone, while disguised as a regular girl. She is dropped off outside a village. Eventually, she finds a little boy who is also being punished, and helps him peel mounds and mounds of potatoes. She falls asleep doing this, and her mother comes to collect her. Ends with a line something like, "but she could never stand the sight of another potato."