I had this book as a child in the early 1970s. I'm pretty sure it was
simply called "Marta". It was illustrated in colour, and may have been
a translation into English.

Marta is the youngest and smallest of several siblings, too small to
join in their boisterous games. So she wanders away, and gets lost in
the woods, before being rescued.

I'd like to know the name of the author of this book, so that I might
be able to track down a copy for my own children. It doesn't seem to
be in print anywhere.

Daniele

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Request for Question Clarification by juggler-ga on 23 Nov 2003 17:44 PST

In what country did you first obtain this book?  

I notice that you use the British spelling of "colour," so would I be
correct in assuming that you're not in the United States?

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 23 Nov 2003 20:23 PST

Does this book sound right?

"Marta, by Marguerite Vance; with drawings by Mildred Boyle.
New York, London, Harper and Brothers, 1937.
56 p. incl. col. front., col. plates. 17 cm."

[Found on the Library of Congress Online Catalog ( http://catalog.loc.gov/ )]

If you believe that it is correct, I can post a used bookseller who
currently lists this book.

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Clarification of Question by duckstab-ga on 24 Nov 2003 00:15 PST

I had the book as a small child, when I was just old enough to be able
to read. This must have been around 1974. We were living in Lusaka
(Zambia) at the time. The book could have been published anywhere (I
can tell you for certain it wasn't Zambian, though...). The spelling
of "Marta" and theme of getting lost in the woods helps suggest a
certain European identity of the book, though obviously it doesn't
determine anything conclusively.

This was a book for small children (not just girls). I was able to
read it for myself, or at least I remember being able to read it for
myself, at age five or six. It wasn't long. The illustrations took up
most of each page.

Details I think I recall of the story (I might be misremembering, though):

   Marta sits on a log or tree-stump, crying.

   Her rescuers are non-human: secretive inhabitants of the forest
(animals? elves?)

   In the book's last scene she finds that she has grown as big as her
brothers and sisters.

On a previous search I came across the Marguerite Vance book, and I
believe it's actually "Martha, Daughter of Virginia" (and not my book
at all).

Thanks for your help.

Daniele

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Clarification of Question by duckstab-ga on 24 Nov 2003 06:33 PST

I wrote: 

"On a previous search I came across the Marguerite Vance book, and I
believe it's actually "Martha, Daughter of Virginia" (and not my book
at all)."

In fact I see now that Marguerite Vance wrote both "Martha..." and a
book called Marta, described in the US Library of Congress as "56 p.
incl. col. front., col. plates. 17 cm".

It seems longer than I remembered, but in any case juggler-ga's
research indicates it's not the one anyway.

Daniele

I should note that earlier this afternoon I contacted a dealer who has
a copy of Marguerite Vance's "Marta" listed on abebooks.com.  The
dealer was kind enough to skim through the book and describe it to me
over the phone. Based on the dealer's description, Vance's "Marta"
doesn't have anything to do with a little girl lost in the woods.

I did not see any description myself of Marguerite Vance's book.  So I
trust in what Juggler has said and assume that it is not the right
book.

Could it be a book by Bessie Comfort, formerly Marchant,(1862-1941)?
The 1940 publication of her book "Marta the mainstay" [A story for
girls] was illustrated.

I haven't seen the book, and do not know what it's about.

I came across this book while searching the WorldCat database, which
is basically a listing of holdings of libraries around the United
States and a few libraries in Europe:

Marta   by Maria Luisa
Juvenile Audience
1972
"A Spur Honeybook - Number 2"
Translated from Spanish

The only libraries listed as owning it are the British Library and the
Trinity College library in Dublin, Ireland.
I'll let you know if it can be purchased anywhere.

Bowler-ga

Some additional information on the book mentioned by bowler-ga:

Marta / [text by Maria Luisa] ; [illustrated by M.R. Batlle;
translated from the Spanish by Patricia Neillands]
Series: A Spur honeybook; no.2 
Publisher: Bourne End (88 Blind La., Bourne End, Bucks.) : Spurbooks Ltd, [1972]  
[22]p : chiefly col ill ; 27cm  
ISBN/ISSN: 090287506X  

In 1972 Spurbooks also published the following books by Maria Luisa:

Monica. A Spur honeybook; no.1 
Eva. A Spur honeybook; no.3 
Susana. A Spur honeybook; no.4 

All these books were by Maria Luisa, illustrated by M.R. Batlle and
translated from the Spanish by Patricia Neillands.

See:
http://www.copac.ac.uk/copac/

I think that bowler-ga has found it. The description, date, length and
so on all fit. I haven't been able to find any reference to the
content of the book, so I'm not certain, but it looks right. If
there's some way of settling any remaining doubts then I think we can
safely consider this question answered by bowler-ga.

Because the author's surname and the title of the book are also first
names, searching for anything to do with this book is going to be a
bit of a bore. I did a bit of Spanish-language searching, but all I
managed to come up with was lists and lists of names...

Regards,

Daniele