The D'Oench Family's Copy of The Chas Addams Mother Goose

An interesting copy of The Chas Addams Mother Goose (New York: Windmill Books, 1967) came up on the AbeBooks platform this past May, offered for $700 by a Middlebury, Vermont, bookseller named—I kid you not—Browsing Is Arousing. The book was described as signed and inscribed by Charles Addams with an original drawing of a hockey player. The only seller image, alas, was a tiny thumbnail of the front dust cover which only got blurrier when enlarged.

The Chas Addams Mother Goose

AbeBooks listing accessed May 11, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Charles-Addams-Mother-Goose-DRAWING-INSCRIPTION/32414355675/bd

I was quite naturally intrigued by all this but I was
unwilling to commit $700 to this book as I sometimes
do in my Sight Unseen ventures. This time I wanted
to see this hockey player to make certain it was the
genuine work of Addams. The seller complied with my
request for an image, explaining that the endpaper
was a deep blue and that he had eliminated the color
from his image.


The handwriting and signature struck me as genuine, as
did the drawing. I was delighted to see that the hockey
player is none other than Pugsley of the Addams Family.
Addams signed it in the year of publication. So I went
ahead and bought the book, taking it off the AbeBooks
market: 

Here then are my own images of the book. Write if you prefer thumbnails. 

05290

Gert and Dave Cooper's Charles Addams Library

No home should be without a Charles Addams library. Of course, some Addams libraries are more special than others. Gert and Dave Cooper were fortunate enough to have five books personalized for them by the master between 1976 and 1982. These five books were sold together at Bonhams last year for $4,845. Two months later they were relisted individually with Raptis Rare Books of Palm Beach for a combined total price of $7,750.

Three of these books have original Addams drawings. The featured characters are Grandmama for Mother's Day 1976 in The Chas Addams Mother Goose (1967), Pugsley for Father's Day 1978 in The New Yorker Album of Sports & Games (1958), and Wednesday for no particular 1976 occasion in that year's collection Favorite Haunts. Who says Addams wasn't a family man? There are also personalized copies of Monster Rally (1950, inscribed 1978) and Creature Comforts (1981, inscribed 1982). Here they are, in no particular order. A couple of Bonhams images and numerous images from the Raptis website are interspersed with the listings from AbeBooks.

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/creature-comforts-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Title page

Listed on AbeBooks August 20, 2021 and subsequently sold

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 20, 2021 and sold by January 1, 2022 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Creature-Comforts-Addams-Charles-Chas-Simon/30985552688/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=readmore_low

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Title page

Peter Arno https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-new-yorker-album-of-sports-and-games-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Listed August 20, 2021

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 20, 2021 and sold by January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/New-Yorker-Album-Sports-Games-Addams/30985552690/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_high

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/monster-rally-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 14, 2021 and accessed January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Monster-Rally-Addams-Charles-Chas-Simon/30980895133/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_low

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/the-chas-addams-mother-goose-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

Charles Addams AbeBooks listing posted August 14, 2021 and accessed January 1, 2021 https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Chas-Addams-Mother-Goose-Charles-Windmill/30980895134/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_high

As mentioned, we have an image from Bonhams of the copy of Favorite Haunts with the drawing of Wednesday. While I haven't seen this one listed on AbeBooks, Raptis does have it available on their own website:

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Raptis may need to acquire a bigger scanner if they want to match Bonhams.

Title page

https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/favorite-haunts-charles-addams-first-edition-signed/

The original Bonhams sale:

Charles Addams Bonhams, June 17, 2021 https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/26890/lot/96/?category=list

Note:  Now it's time to check your own Charles Addams library for books with original drawings. I'll be right here should you find something good.

03949

Charles Addams Book Promotions

EBay paper seller 237 is currently offering a number of original promotions for Charles Addams's books. These volumes, mostly cartoon collections, are all terrific and are well worth hunting down. As you can see, even the vintage ads look great.

Monster Rally, 1950

Image added August 25, 2015

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/551198441868342678/

Homebodies, 1954

Nightcrawlers, 1957

Dear Dead Days, 1959

Black Maria, 1960

Black Maria, 1960

Drawn and Quartered, 1962 reissue

The Groaning Board, 1964

The Chas Addams Mother Goose, 1967 

The World of Charles Addams was published three years after the cartoonist's death in 1988. This ad comes from another eBay seller.

The World of Charles Addams, 1991

eBay Link

Note:  If you like these ads, my other posts about Charles Addams are sure to delight you.

01606