Art Young's "Types of the Old Home Town" - book release and presentation at Byrd's Books

Join us as we’ll celebrate the first ever publication of the lost and last manuscript of the “Dean of American Cartoonists” (a 40 year resident of Bethel Conn.), Art Young!

Types of the Old Home Town is a fond memory of small-town America, through illustrations and writings about characters or “types” such as The Lamp Lighter, The Village Grouch, Our Oldest Inhabitant, The Village Belle, The Retired Farmer, and more. Many of these images first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1920s. If you are a fan of local history, storytelling, or Americana, this book and event is for you.

Local storyteller Marc Moorash (who made the film about the Stony Hill Inn - And the Swans Still Swim) will give a presentation with unreleased images, tales about some of the characters in the book, a little history on Art Young’s years in Bethel, and stories into how the manuscript was discovered and brought to print.

Types of the Old Home Town is published by the Bethel Historical Society in conjunction with the Art Young Gallery and Seraphemera Books. The book will be available on January 14th, 2015 - Art Young’s 149th birthday. The book is an artistic piece to properly give homage to Art Young’s legacy - there is a numbered and limited first edition of 333 books. They are all handmade and hand-stitched, hard-covered and dust-jacketed books. Further, three random books in the run will have authentic Art Young autographs inserted into them as an added collector’s treasure!