Sarah Stilwell Weber advertisement for Kiddie Kars (1920): beautifully framed antique illustration

When not creating covers, SS illustrated books, magazine articles, and advertisements Kiddie Kar, Rit Dyes, Scranton Lace Company, and Wamsutta Mills. So popular were her Kiddie Kar ads that in 1920, Lippincott republished them in a small book called Kiddie Kar Verses. The book contained nine Kiddie Kar illustrations each accompanied by verse written by Richard J. Walsh.

A review of the book that appeared in a 1920 issue of The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer [Volume 53] reported that “there never were jollier pictures than those which show the youngsters with their Kiddie Kars both in and out of doors and each of these pictures is accompanied with appropriate and happy versus describing the fun and adventure which this popular toy furnishes. Lining leaves and pages are attractively decorated [by SS] and the whole make-up of this nursery gem is calculated to make entrancing hours of recreation for small tots.” 

Richard Walsh was advertising executive who, it seems, worked frequently with Lippincott. He later recalled the poems he wrote for H. C. White Company’s patented toy. “The versus,” he confessed, “are, of course, frank imitations of Stevenson.”