Most people, when asked about their favorite book, will invariably include a book they read as a child. Hemingway famously proclaimed that "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn". Twain's book, like its predecessor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, were books whose intended audience was young readers. Such books speak to us on multiple levels. As literature, they are well-crafted and clever with memorable characters and conflicts, but they matter to us for more than these reasons because we discovered them at a formative period of our lives. Their ideas helped to form our own, and so they are more personal ...
Read more about Children's Books and Toys
New Haven: S. Babcock, (c. 1840). 48mo. 16pp. Seven full-page illustrations of elephants. An naturalistic and moral introduction to elephants, including their habits, environments, and uses, with unsubtle scoffs toward animal cruelty. Minimal expected wear, else fine in yellow printed wrappers. More
(N.p. c. 1850). 24mo. (8)pp. Illustrated in black & white throughout. The intrigue of this booklet originates from its likely pirated content. The engravings are eclectic—an image of a rabbit is accompanied by the British royal seal and the seal of the Ancient Order of Foresters—and poorly printed. Also included..... More
NY: Baker, Crane & Day. 64mo. 8pp. A sweet collection of lyrics using a question-and-answer motif to laud the wonderful characteristics of the author's mother. Each stanza is headed by an engraving showing mother and child at progressive stages in the child's development, from sleeping in a bassinet to praying..... More
Derby: (John Drewry), (1790). 32mo. 24pp. Twenty-four woodcuts scattered throughout illustrate a variety of rebuses and lyrical puzzles. Decorative borders adorn the title page and the beginnings of each of the book's sections: riddles, "several comical Questions," and "merry Tales and comical Jests." An impressive and entertaining compendium, suitable for..... More
NY: The American Tract Society, (c. 1827-1833). 64mo. 16pp. Seven total engravings, including one on title page and two full-page. A familiar child's tale advocating for devotion, humility, and graciousness. Begins with a page of verse, summarizing the story's salient points. Mild edgewear and minimal, if any, internal foxing, else..... More
Jaffna: Strong & Asbury Printers, 1873. 48mo. (8)pp. Illustrated with a woodcut title-page decoration, plus two others in the text. An American-style chapbook, entirely in Tamil. Printed at what was formerly a print shop belonging to missionaries, but which by about 1855 was owned and operated by native Sri Lankans..... More
London: A. Park, (c. 1810s). Octavo. (8)ff. Colored engravings illustrate this sometimes scientific, sometimes fantastic paternal account of the state of the Earth, and all its peoples and regions, and its moon. Bound in plain printed wrappers, which assign the book to the publisher's series of "Humpty Dumpty's Tales," the..... More
London: Dean & Son, (c. 1860). 32mo. 8pp. Engravings of bucolic English scenes adorn the prose tale of the pious Dutch farmer and his influence on British soldiers, and the following poem entitled "The Seed and the Prayer". Very rare, with no physical institutional holdings, and even rarer for its..... More
NY: Kiggins & Kellogg, (c. 1850). 48mo. Illustrated throughout with full-page black & white engravings and smaller vignettes. This near-miniature chapbook contains a tale about American colonization and independence, told to a young audience in order to explain the significance of the July 4th holiday. Fine in printed buff wrappers..... More
Boston: Taggard & Thompson, 1858. 16mo. 31pp. Nine full-page color engravings, illustrating key scene's in the titular fox's antics in his journey to find food for his family. He finds a farm, confounds the animals, and captures a goose, only to again resort to his cunning ways to escape the..... More
NY: Kiggins & Kellogg, (c. 1850). 8pp. A charming alphabet chapbook with a couplet for each letter, and each page illustrated with a single woodcut. Near fine in orange printed wrappers, mildly creased. More
Taunton: J. Poole, 1809. Seventeen engravings, many hand-colored, guide the young reader through Alphabet Hall and its lettered and numbered inhabitants. Then follows nine stanzas-worth of virtuous maxims, then, strangely and in distinctly smaller type, "On Aerial Castle-Building," which admonishes the reader against daydreaming and unproductive scheming. Gift inscription on..... More
Boston: Mayhew & Baker, 1858. Square octavo. (32)pp., including wrappers. One of the Fireside Picture Books. Illustrated with nine large engravings and two smaller vignettes by "Morte". Each illustration is accompanied by one of the nine verses from the Mother Goose nursery rhyme, "There was a Little Man, and he..... More
New Haven: J. Babcock, 1822. 16mo. 32 pp. Illustrated with eight plates, each bearing two engravings by Alexander Anderson. This is the first part of an abridged version of Hundred Wonders of the World, also published by Babcock, and for which an advertisement appears on the title-page verso. The text..... More
Philadelphia: Morgan & Yeager, 1832. 32mo. 32pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece and five engraved plates, all of which are hand-colored. The text of this moral tale in verse was adapted from the original French story written by Madame de Beaumont. Catherine Ann Dorset chose to write anonymously, even though she..... More
Philadelphia: John S. Cotton & Co., (c. 1860). 16mo. (16)pp. Every other page bears a full-page engraving, hand-colored, to detail the honorable naval escapades of the titular Fred Fearnought as he rises through the ranks and proves himself with suitable acts of derring-do. Bound in plain printed wrappers, with other..... More
London: Orlando Hodgson, (c. 1840). 16mo. 6ff., + wrappers. Each leaf presents the reader with a half-page illustration of activities suitable for the time of day described in the verse below them. The images are hand-colored in a variety of shades, giving them uncommon depth. The book weaves counting from..... More
Gainsbrough: H. and G. Mozley, 1800. Frontispiece and twenty-seven other woodcuts throughout provide visual aid to this young girl's alphabet. The chapbook has intentions beyond its overt rhetorical claim; it uses the mnemonic device of the English alphabet to educate young girls on the proper components of a woman's wardrobe..... More
Cincinnati: U. P. James, (c. 1860). 24mo. 31pp. Illustrated throughout with stock wood engravings to accompany alphabets, vocabulary lists, grammar lessons, and short poems and moral stories. Crisply printed and, save expected minor soiling to exterior, remarkably clean in blue wrappers. Fine. More
London: Harris, John, 1808. 32mo. (15)ff. Fourteen engravings, two hand-colored, mostly depicting the anthropomorphized characters from the lyrical tale for children. Butterfly's Ball has inspired several other works, including a 1973 picture book by Alan Aldridge and William Plomer, an animated short, a rock opera, an orchestral composition, and a...... More
Poughkeepsie, NY: Artists and Writers Guild, 1935. Square octavo. (14)ff., + opaque tissue sheets. A clever, interactive book calling on children to use scissors or a penknife to cut out the negative space in a printed image, and to fill in the then-missing background with colored paper so that, when..... More
London: J. S. Publishing & Stationery, (c. 1860). 32mo. 8pp. Decorated throughout with borders and captioned engravings. The primer's eight pages provide a fairly comprehensive introduction to reading and rhetoric, beginning with the English alphabet (including dipthongs) and concluding with narratively coherent sentences. Bound in teal wrappers with printed covers..... More
Guildford, Surrey, England: Genesis Publications Limited, 1985. 48mo. xxviii, 160pp. A reduced facsimile of the edition published by J. Newbery, London, in 1766, illustrated throughout with numerous woodcuts. Carl Geri's Introduction to the text provides both bibliographic and literary context. Bound in full orange leather over boards with two raised..... More
NY: McLoughlin Bros. (c. 1900). Small quarto. (6)ff. The bulk of the book is devoted to paper toy soldiers, among them infantrymen, cavalrymen on horseback, cannons, and a drummer, all in the 19th-century uniforms of the British army. All are set on perforated pages, on each of which is printed..... More
New York: Minard W. Wilson, c. 1850. Octavo. 24pp. Illustrated throughout with woodcuts and wood engravings of various sizes, and likely from a variety of sources. The final engraving—a portrait of John Wesley—is signed "Jocelyn NY." According to OCLC, this primer was issued under at least three New York imprints..... More
