(Outcault, R. F.) BUSTER BROWN'S BOOK OF TRAVELS. St. Louis, U.S.A.: The Brown Shoe Co., (1912). FIRST EDITION. Oblong 32mo - 3-1/2" x 5". Staple bound glazed paper wrappers with titles printed in black and red, and color drawings of Buster Brown, Mary Jane and Tige to front wrapper, and an advertisement for Buster Brown Blue Ribbon Shoes to back wrapper with minor spotting for what is a very attractive copy of the book. [16] pp. including wrappers. Illustrated by R. F. Outcault with full color drawings on every page; Buster Brown, Mary Jane and Tige travel by train to visit sites of various industries associated with the production of Buster Brown Blue Ribbon Shoes. Their travels take them to a ranch, a tannery, the cotton mills, a lumber camp, a coal mine, the Buster Brown Shoe Factory, the iron mills, a farm, a flour mill, a paper mill and a gold mine; each page features a full color drawing of the traveling trio at one of these locations, along with a four-line poem about the industry being visited; the fourth line of each poem is invariably "The Buster Brown Blue Ribbon Shoe." If one were to suspect that this book was just one long cute advertisement for Buster Brown Blue Ribbon Shoes, one would be correct. The condition of the book is NEAR FINE. Only one copy located on OCLC/WorldCat (The Strong: Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play). EXCEEDINGLY RARE; and a very lovely copy as well. # 000983