Words of gold from Paul Margulies

Paul Margulies authored a children's book in 1969 titled Gold Steps, Gold Stones, with lavish illustrations by James Kenton (J.K.) Lambert. It was published by Harlin Quist, who was known for his elaborately designed books and standard of excellence in children's book publishing in the 1960s and 1970s.

I found this copy of a first printing languishing inconspicuously on a corner shelf of a resale shop and, though unfamiliar with the author, illustrator, and publisher, recognized the book as a quality piece of work worth having and researching.

Margulies wrote this fantasy tale of a boy's journey and adventures for his children, one of whom grew up to become an Emmy Award-winning actor. Her name is Julianna Margulies (popularly known for her roles in ER and The Good Wife, among other television and film roles). Her father authored one more children's book that I know of, this one specifically for her: What Julianna Could See.

 Paul Margulies was an advertising writer, who wrote something much more memorable in popular culture than this children's books. For an Alka-Seltzer ad campaign, he came up with the well-known television jingle: "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh wait a relief it is." I'd bet, though, that for Julianna and her sisters, their father's most memorable writing had to be the books he wrote for them.


Gold Steps, Gold Stones is about a boy who who lives in a house made of gold and embarks upon a journey of fantasy for which he has a gold box he cannot open until the journey is completed. He becomes a boy King in a strange new land, helps people in need, and leaves at the end of his one-year tenure for a desert island. There, a stone walkway leads to a stone cottage, all of which turn to gold as he makes his way inside, where he discovers he has actually arrived home.

Having ended his travels, he is finally able to open the gold box he has carried so long and faithfully not opened. Now the open box reveals a miniature version of the room he and his family are sitting in.The inside of the box's lid reveals images all the people he helped on his journey. Had he opened it during the journey, he wouldn't have seen anything. But he did as his father told him, helped people where he could, and was able to return home to a golden home where the sun shone splendidly upon the walls where his family dwelled. It's not to hard to find the lessons or moral of this charming little story.

J.K. Lambert's colorful illustrations evoke a fantasy world appropriate for the dream-like travels of the young boy who became a King and found gold in his family and accomplishments away from them.

The omnipotent book

Ever ponder the symbolism of books? The book as metaphor?

J.E. Cirlot did, among other things, in his Dictionary of Symbols, published by the Philosophical Library in 1962 (Translated from the Spanish, Diccionario de Simbolos Tradicionales, by Jack Sage).

Here's what Cirlot wrote about the book as a symbol, viewed through the amalgamated lens of history, philosophy, and mythology:

A book is one of the eight Chinese common emblems, symbolizing the power to ward off evil spirits (5). The book 'written inside and out' is an allegory of the esoteric and exoteric, cognate with the double-edged sword projecting from the mouth (37). Broadly speaking, the book is related--as Guenon has suggested--to the symbolism of weaving. The doctrine of Mohiddin ibn Arabi in this respect may be summarized as follows: "The universe is an immense book; the characters in this book are written, in principle, with the same ink and transcribed on to the eternal tablet by the divine pen...and hence the essential divine phenomena hidden in the "secret of secrets" took the name of "transcendent letters." And these very transcendent letters, or, in other words, all things created, after having been virtually crystallized within divine omniscience, were brought down to lower levels, by the divine breath, where they gave birth to the manifest world.' (25)

Divine, omniscience, transcendent, universe... Sounds bibliomnipotent!


  (5) Beaumont, A. Symbolism in Decorative Chinese Art, New York, 1949.
(25) Guenon, Rene. Le Symbolisme de la croix. Paris, 1931.
(37) Levi, Eliphas. Les Mysteres de la Kabbale. Paris, 1920.

National Bookmobile Day

Today, April 13, is National Bookmobile Day, which is coordinated by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, the Association of Bookmobile and Outreach Services (ABOS), and the Association for Rural & Small Libraries (ARSL).

You didn't know there was such a day designated for bookmobiles? Neither did I until I read the Bookmobileana post on Larry T. Nix's excellent library history blog, Library History Bluff Blog.

From the ALA site, these words describe what the day is and why there is a day for bookmobiles:

National Bookmobile Day (Wednesday, April 13, 2011) celebrates our nation’s bookmobiles and the dedicated library professionals who provide this valuable and essential service to their communities every day.

National Bookmobile Day is an opportunity for bookmobiles fans to make their support known—through thanking bookmobile staff, writing a letter or e-mail to their libraries, or voicing their support to community leaders.

In honor of the day, here are some pages from a vintage children's book from my collection about a bookmobile: Here Comes the Bookmobile, by Dirk Gringhuis (Albert Whitman & Co., Chicago, 1952), signed by the author.