A first edition from 1970. Excellent reproduction throughout. Includes 614 illustrations with 111 in full color, numerous tipped-in plates, and a number of double and triple fold-out plates. Out of print.

From the publisher:

"Norman Rockwell's subject is average America. He has painted it with such benevolent affection for so many years that a truly remarkable history of our century has been compiled. Through wars, depression, civil strife, and the exploration of space, he has drawn subjects from the everyday happenings of which most lives are made. Millions of people have been moved by his picture stories about the awkwardness of youth and the comforts of age, about pride in country, history, and heritage, about reverence, loyalty, and compassion. The virtues that he admires are very popular, and because he illustrates them using familiar people in familiar settings with wonderful accuracy, he describes the American Dream."

These words from the text by Thomas S. Buechner, distinguished director of the Brooklyn Museum, explain Rockwell's enduring charm. And this volume, with its superb reproductions, including two-, three-, and even four-page spreads and foldouts in full color, finally does justice to an artist whose works have most often been seen only in the impermanent mediums of magazines and calendars. The author discusses Rockwell's life and career, from his early training, through the development of his mature style, to his recent interest in the major social issues of our time, particularly fascinating is the section devoted to the artist's technique, detailing the steps that may be involved from the first rough-idea sketch to the finished painting. Thanks to his exhaustive study of Rockwell and his work, Buechner is able to draw a lively word-picture of an extraordinarily interesting personality who also happens to be a unique phenomenon in the history of art and places him in the great tradition of the story-telling artists of the past.

More than 600 of Rockwell's best illustrations are reproduced, providing an unusually broad view of his work. He painted 317 Saturday Evening Post covers, all of which are included, along with representative covers and story illustrations for such diverse publications as St. Nicholas, Life, Look, Leslie's, the Literary Digest, and Ramparts. His advertisements, which have sold socks and cough medicine, coffee and bicycle tires, fountain pens and oil heaters, light bulbs and insurance, encyclopedias and tooth paste, are also here, as are murals, posters, greeting cards, Boy Scout calendars, and illustrations for Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Poor Richard's Almanacks, and the biography of an uncommon thrush named Willie. This rich selection provides an unparalleled panorama of nearly sixty years of American social history, seen from Rockwell's enormously popular point of view.

A full index of the works by category helps to make the volume an invaluable addition to the history of American illustration.

This came from the library of Burny Mattinson (1935-2023), an animator, director, producer, and story artist for Walt Disney Animation Studios, from 1953 until his death in 2023. Mattinson directed Mickey's Christmas Carol and The Great Mouse Detective. He was named a Disney Legend in 2008 and was the longest serving employee of The Walt Disney Company, with a career that spanned almost 70 years. His extensive library included numerous subjects and especially large collections of books on Disney, animation, and classic comic strips.

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