The baby was in and out of hospital for surgical procedures. The school system wanted no part of a mother who wrote books and a child with disabilities. Public schools were not yet required to admit children with disabilities. Barbara home schooled with a curriculum she received through the mail. Visual artists from the co-op, musicians, and friends from the theater came to help.
Her neighbor, Verna, gave her a small letterpress. Printing writing by and for children, Ten Penny Players evolved from a theater to a publisher of small books made for little hands to hold in quiet reflection. Barbara's father, David, had been a book collector whose love for books was greater than his love of family or his children. Her appreciation for books was learned in his library, endlessly dusting volumes, carefully holding fragile leather to protect even more fragile spines. She had studied fine art print making at Hunter College, but put aside the acids and etching press to make the loft child safe.
At the New York Small Press Book Fair, held in Bryant Park (autumn, 1977), Barbara exhibited her letterpress books. The audience at the fair assumed her highly illustrated books were for children, but she insisted they were for everyone.
Little Poems
Athelantis Perry 1977-8
August 1978
Knee Scene
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