[ Planter's Nut and Chocolate Company.]

Dedicated to the Children of Canada. Book No. 1 by Mr. Peanut. [with:] Planters Paint Book. No. 2. With the compliments of Mr. Peanut… [and:] Around the World with Mr. Peanut. Book No. 3.

[Toronto:]: Planters Nut and Chocolate Company, ca. 1954.]. First edition. These three items were printed in Toronto to advertise Planters peanuts to Canadian children. These works were seemingly not published for an American audience (under these titles, at least) and were likely part of a push to develop a Canadian market for the American Planters brand. Note that, while these items are often misdated to the 1920s and 30s, each one contains advertisements for Planters Homogenized Peanut Butter that match 1950s-60s newspaper ad campaigns. In addition, the laid-in order forms in the second two volumes are dated 1954. Illustrated throughout all three volumes in color and black-and-white. The black-and-white pages are meant to be colored in. Color centerfolds in the first two volumes. Order forms laid into the second and third volumes. Minor edgewear. A child’s markings on a couple of the coloring pages. A near fine set of scarce Canadian advertising ephemera from Planters Nut and Chocolate Company. Publisher’s color printed paper wrappers illustrated with the iconic Mr. Peanut. Three volumes, oblong quarto (10 x 7 ”). [32]; [28]; [28] pp. Item #17526

Though the American agricultural scientist George Washington Carver (1864 – 1943) is often credited with the invention of modern peanut butter, the first “peanut paste” was actually patented by the Canadian chemist Marcellus Gilmore Edson (1849 – 1940) in 1884. National Peanut Board. “Who Invented Peanut Butter?” (webpage).

OCLC records four copies of Around the World with Mr. Peanut, two in the United States (Hagley Museum, Virginia Tech) and two in Canada (Queens University, Toronto PL), and two copies of Dedicated to the Children of Canada (UCLA, University of South Carolina). We could not locate any other copies of this Planters Paint Book, though the Hagley Museum also holds a copy of a work titled Planters Jolly Time Paint Book. It is unclear whether these are different works or the same work under different titles.

Price: $350.00