The Parnassus Press records including administrative files, correspondence, manuscripts, notebooks, sketches, drawings and artifacts.

Founded in 1957 in Berkeley, California by Herman Schein and Ruth Robbins Schein, the Parnassus Press specialized in high quality illustrated children’s books that featured such well known authors as Ursula K. Le Guin and Theodora Krober. Known for their imaginative drawings and culturally diverse themes, the Parnassus Press was also distinct in publishing bilingual texts in Spanish, French and Italian that explored folk tales from countries such as Martinique, Italy and Mexico. Among their titles are included Wizard of the Earthsea, Ishi: Last of His Tribe, Bravo Marco!, Ramón Makes a Trade, To Catch a Mongoose, A Penny and a Periwinkle and The Emperor and the Drummer Boy. Their collaboration with the illustrator Nicholas Sidjakov, Baboushka and the Three Kings, won the Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American children’s picture book from the American Library Association in 1961. Several of their titles were also written and/or illustrated by Ruth Robbins who herself was a skilled artist and author.

30 cartons, 32 oversize boxes, 1 cardfile box, 16 oversize folders (98.95 linear feet)

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Collection is open for research.