Once Upon a Time

the 1905 obituary of John McLoughlin, Jr. , in Publisher’s Weekly declared,“Every child in the land knows the McLoughlin books. . . . In fact,the history in the last decade of colored toy books for youngsters is the history of Mr. McLoughlin and his firm. ” McLoughlin Brothers held an important role in the children’s book publishing world. In fact,as my husband, the late Arthur Liman, and I discovered in our research, the firm was instrumental in creating it. The publisher’s preeminence in the field was the result of its entrepreneurial spirit,creativity,competiti- ness,foresight,and perseverance How was it,then,that Arthur―an intense attorney with character- tics similar to that of McLoughlin Brothers―ended up sitting behind a collectors’ convention booth selling children’s books and games,all the while reading a brief? Or charging at lightning speed,flashlight in hand, amidst rain and mud in the early morning hours,through a remote co- try antiques fair? Or mysteriouslyvanishing from a critical corporate c- ference to negotiate,instead,with a slightly disheveled dealer waiting in his office,or to aggressively bid by phone at a London auction? And what were all those mail ordercatalogs,letters of offerings,and bills of sale for Aunt Mavor’s Present McLoughlin Brothers books doing commingled with court papers? for a Good Little Girl Published by George Routledge & Co. , For twenty years, Arthur was this crazy closet collector. His London and NewYork big-deal clients could never have imagined where or how he spent his 1856 weekends.