The Water Goats And Other Troubles [1910]

We love this book for its understated cardboard-like cover; reminiscent of our love for kraft paper and brown paper packages tied up with strings.

Ellis Parker Butler was a teenager on his family farm in Iowa when in order to help support his family, he started writing charming stories with down-to-earth characters. Banker by trade, writer on the side, Mr. Butler wrote more than 30 books and 2000 stories and essays. Pretty great for a guy who dropped out of high school at 17. Parting advice in his 1937 obituary read: “Write the way you want to. Never sacrifice quality for quantity; go to school if you want to, but if you are going to write, you will regardless of schooling.”