EARLY CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

The Birmingham Central Library Collection, 1538-1830

Part 1: 1538-1799

Part 2: 1800-1820

Part 3: 1821-1830

Publisher's Note

We now offer a compact and affordable collection of children’s literature focusing on the period from 1700 to 1830. The collection is rich in moral tales, chap books and educational works and will be of interest to all those studying

• the history of education, 1700-1830
• the construction of gender roles in didactic literature
• the role of religion in education
• the development of science and mathematics as subjects
• the political dimensions of education
• linguistics and developmental psychology
• methods of story-telling
• representations of race and other cultures

The collection is based on the famed Parker Collection of Children’s literature at Birmingham Central Libraries. The collection is particularly strong for the early period and contains many rare items not to be found in other collections (eg the Opie collection).

The earliest books are mainly educational, and reflect the influence of the Renaissance revival of interest in the study of classical Greek and Latin; there are also several arithmetic books, explaining the newly “discovered” science of mathematics to both young and adult readers.

The earliest work in the collection is Culman's Sentiae pueriles pro primis Latinae linguae..., dated 1538. Primers were also used as a means of religious instruction: after the Reformation, authorised versions were issued to enforce conformity of belief. Even the limited amount of recreational reading material in the 17th century served an educational purpose - the collection has examples of adaptations of Aesop and other fabulists which gave simple moral instruction to their young readers.

The religious influence continued almost unchallenged until the mid 18th century, when a slightly more materialistic note enters such works as The History of Goody Two-Shoes, traditionally attributed to Goldsmith, of which the collection has an edition dated 1789. The book was originally published by John Newbery, an enterprising bookseller who took pains to make his volumes more attractive to children, decorating them with woodcuts and binding them in gilded floral paper. The collection recently acquired an apparently unique copy of the second earliest known edition of Newbery's Royal Primer, published about 1751:

He who ne'er learns his A,B,C
For ever will a Blockhead be.

This had an important influence on late 18th century editions of The American Primer, one of the most widely used of all American text books.

The collection also contains several books published by companies set up to rival Newbery's success, including the second (1799) edition of Keeper's Travels in Search of his Master by E A Kendall, an author well known for his tales encouraging kindness to animals. Newbery was not the first publisher to market books which appealed directly to children; the Birmingham collection has six volumes of Thomas Boreman's rare miniature books on the sights of London, published in the 1740s, and ten volumes from John Marshall's Infant Library, 1800, which was issued in a box imitating a glass-fronted bookcase.
The didactic purposes of literature so prevalent in the 17th century were also evident in the late 18th and early 19th centuries: the collection has many examples from this period which instruct children to practice charity, work hard and know their place in society, a particularly popular theme after the French Revolution. Many of the early 19th century books provide a very interesting picture of everyday life in middle class Evangelical families similar to those of the authors, an increasing number of whom were women. Maria Edgeworth, Lucy Cameron and Mrs Sherwood are all represented in the collection, which features a copy of Mrs Sherwood's Primer, annotated by the author and used at her own school.

There are 1,277 volumes in total, covering the writings of over 740 authors. Some of the titles featured are:

• The ABC both in Latyn and Englyshe (1538)
• J Wharton, The English Grammar (1654)
• T Gauge, he young man’s guide through the wilderness (1670)
• J Moxon, Mathematics made easie (1692)
• E Wells, The Young Gentlemen’s arithmetick and geometry (1723)
• Guy of Warwick (1736)
• C Cellarus, Geographia antique (1745)
• H Stebbing, The young Christian instructed (1749)
• The Royal Primer (1751)
• Tom Thumb’s play-book (1755)
• The complete French master for ladies and gentlemen (1764)
• Parental solicitude or, moral lessons for the instruction of youth (1770)
• Mrs T Slack, the pleasing instructor (1777)
• Jack the Giant Killer (1778)
• Brulart de Genlis, Theatre of Education (4 vols, 1781)
• S Trimmer, An early introduction to the knowledge of nature… (1781)
• Advice from a lady of quality to her children (1786)
• Brulart de Genlis, Tales of the Castle (1789)
• Riley’s historical pocket library (1790)
• The natural history of beasts (1793)
• Tom Telescope, The Newtonian system of philosophy (1798)
• J Alderson, Orthographical exercises (1800)
• A familiar introduction to botany (1800)
• S J Pratt, The paternal present (1802)
• A L Barbauld, Lessons for children (1803)
• The Eastern Turret; or Orphan of Navana (1804)
• The young lady’s pocket library (1807)
• Tom Tit, The Eagle’s Masque (1808)
• W Roscoe, The Butterfly’s Ball (1808)
• M Cottin, Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia (1809)
• A T Lambert, Advice of a mother to her daughter (1809)
• J Joyce, Dialogues in chemistry (1809)
• The History of Little King Pippin (1814)
• Dick Whittington & his cat (1817)
• J Giles, English parsing (1820)
• Cock-robin (1820)
• J Guy, Guy’s elements of astronomy (1821)
• B Hofland, The Barbadoes girl (1825)
• I Taylor, Scenes of British Wealth (1825)
• The adventures of Congo (1827)
• The history of Sam, the sportsman (1830)
• J Marcet, The history of Africa (1830)

A complete listing of titles accompanies the collection – only by studying this can the scholar appreciate the breadth and depth of this collection.

<back