Fourteen Titles in the Recreo Infantil Series

Madrid: S. Calleja, 1900. Pamphlet. Near fine. Nice examples of the small-format stories published by Spanish children's book specialist Saturnino Calleja's "Recreo Infantil: Cuentos morales para niños" series. These child-size books, each 16 pages, measure (roughly) 2-7/8 by 4 inches, with a chromolithograph cover and one or more steel engravings inside. Calleja had a staff of writers who produced these short works anonymously, sometimes writing original stories and at other times adapting well-known tales.

Among the writers Calleja employed was the future Nobel Prize winner, Juan Ramón Jiménez. Calleja's small, attractive, and inexpensive stories were produced in such volume that the saying "to tell more stories than Calleja" (tener más cuento que Calleja) became a standard refrain in Spain.

The titles included here are 1) Barba-Azu; 2) La hija del molinero; 3) El hijo obediente; 4) La ingratitud; 5) Un joven afortunado; 6) Justicia de dios; 7) La madrastra; 8) La mentira más grande; 9) El pastor de liebres; 10) El premio y castigo; 11) La princesa fregona; 12) Quién de los dos corre más; 13) Roberto y Celia; 14) El tesoro engañoso. All books near fine, in wrappers sewn with thread. One of these is uncut (a single gathering of eight leaves); another has a chromolithograph back cover.