'KNIGHTLY LAYS FOR KNIGHTLY DAYS' WILLYS KNIGHT CAR 1920'S ADV.BOOK, ILLUSTRATED

Description

FEATURED:  The only known copy of an amazing tour de force advertising book for the famous WILLYS KNIGHT AUTOMOBILE, dating to the 1920's, written by CHARLES Y. KNIGHT, the credited designer and builder of the 'Silent Knight' sleeve-valve Engine, which has been modified and used continuously since its creation in automobile engines world-wide. This engine system used in the WILLYS KNIGHT cars, produced by Willys Overland Automobile Co, Toledo, Ohio, is continuously praised throughout this amazing and really clever fun book, as is the car itself, and illustrated, on every page.  We find all sorts of very famous people & historical figures- Adam & Eve,  Shakespeare, Nero, all the European Monarchs of the 20's, Napoleon, Little Bo Peep, Christopher Columbus, Lot's Wife, etc. are used in this very creative and whimsical advertising book to promote the various great things about the car, its engine, its performance, comfort, etc. And, to accent all of this wild rhyming text, we see the most wonderful Art Deco-influenced artwork on every double-sided page, in bright colors, illustrating the text and characters the author refers to.  We frankly have never seen an advertising campaign piece like this anywhere, and this was just not found online- anywhere! We feel it was written and published perhaps for dealers or special customers, but we have no real clues inside this as to its evolution or who got copies of this.   The art is signed 'TAIT' or 'T', but the artist stated on the inside back cover is a Basil M. Tate, who we found doing landscape paintings which were nothing like this. There is a lot of mystery surrounding this book, which we will leave to the buyer to try to solve. It is a fascinating slice of American Auto Advertising at its most creative and best, we feel.
CHARLES Y. KNIGHT, the 'writer and director' of this unbelievable book, began as a printer and newspaper publisher in Indiana with the 'Dairy Produce' farm journal.  Dissatisfied with the engine in his personal car in 1902, he wanted a better engine, and built one, with a double sliding sleeve valve idea, which worked great,  and was rolled out at the 1906 Chicago Auto Show, as the 'Silent Knight' touring car. He took the engine to England and France,  as he had no action from US firms for it, and sold the rights to Daimler, Mercedes, and even Bentley and Rolls Royce had interest!
He came back to the US, and licensed the rights to several American auto firms, including the Willy Overland Auto Co., in Toledo, Ohio, which in its day was the second largest auto maker in the US, or so we were told.   Over
30 firms, in 8 countries,  used his patents, and his systems are still in many cars today. The Willys Jeep was famous in WW II,( the Jeeps in MASH are Willys!) and turned into the "Jeep" of today.
The Willys-Knight car was built from 1915-1933, and according to this book, was the car everyone in the world wanted;  Mr. Knight tells us clearly and amusingly why that is, page after page.  We were unable to find anything about Mrs. Emma Wood, who did the colorings, and no facts about the mysterious artist, Basil M. Tate/Tait. The Caslon Press did other publications for Willys Overland and Willys Knights cars, but nothing even came close to this tremendous item!  Mr. Knight outdid himself with this book, which we feel he did with the passion and pride he had for the engine system he had created.  They just don't do Advertising like this these days, folks, and haven't in a very long time.  You will love reading this & sharing it with friends, enjoying the artwork and clever thinking that went into each page of this amazing piece of American automobile history and advertising, and you perhaps will be the only person in the world who has this, if all our research is accurate, as we could not find this online anywhere.
MEASURES: 7.5 inches X 10 inches; 24 pages, all double sided, a Soft Cover book totally illustrated, page after page, and with rhyming text referring to the Willys Knight car and its engine and incorporating historical and storybook characters into the wild and very clever promotions of this car and its systems.  Written by the inventor of the    sleeve, Charles Y. Knight, for the Willys Overland Auto. Co, in Toledo, Ohio in the 1920's, and profusely illustrated by one Basil M. Tate/Tait in a very Art Deco-influenced style, with bright colors used to accent those super fun illustrations and stories. Printed by the Caslon Press in Toledo, who did other work for the car company during this time.  The book is intact, has been read with some normal age/wear condition areas, as all fun and clever books have been, and will be a delight to have in your library of rare, unique paper items and you will be the envy of everyone who sees it.  A very, very scarce item, never on the public market before, and one that will increase in value, and continue to give you chuckles and laughs for years to come.
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