The Cambridge Companion to Children’s Literature Read online

  1726

  Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

  1729

  Histories, or Tales of Past Times, translated by Robert Samber from Charles Perrault’s Histoires, ou contes du temps passé of 1697, retellings of traditional French fairy tales

  1730

  Thomas Boreman, Description of Three Hundred Animals

  1740–3

  Thomas Boreman publishes by subscription the Gigantick Histories, a series of miniature guidebooks to London bound in ‘Dutch gilt paper’

  1742

  The Child’s New Play-Thing, a speller with a fold-out plate of decorative alphabet cards, published by Thomas Cooper

  1744

  Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, the first collection of nursery rhymes, published by Mary Cooper and printed throughout in intaglio; A Little Pretty Pocket-Book published by John Newbery

  1746

  Royal Battledore, a folded-card alphabet intended as an alternative to the hornbook, published by Benjamin Collins

  1749

  Sarah Fielding, The Governess; or, the Little Female Academy, the first book-length fiction for children

  1751–2

  The Lilliputian Magazine, the first children’s periodical, published in numbers by Thomas Carnan, John Newbery’s step-son

  1753

  Wove paper is introduced in England

  1762

  Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Émile, or On Education

  1765

  The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes, published by John Newbery

  1767

  James Greenwood, The London Vocabulary, issued in ‘school canvas’ binding; Adam & Eve, the first in a series of harlequinades (a type of ‘movable book’), published by Robert Sayer in plain and hand-coloured versions

  1778–9

  Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Lessons for Children, an early use of different sizes of type for readers of different ages

  1780

  Mother Goose’s Melody; or, Sonnets from the Cradle, a collection of nursery rhymes with illustrations by Thomas Bewick

  1782

  The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes issued by Thomas Carnan in pictorial boards

  1783

  Noah Webster, A Grammatical Institute of the English Language

  1783–9

  Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton

  1789

  William Blake, Songs of Innocence, with text and ‘illuminations’ both relief etched throughout, and issued in a very limited print-run

  1790

  Thomas Bewick, General History of Quadrupeds, the first major book illustrated with wood engravings

  1796

  Maria Edgeworth, The Parent’s Assistant; or, Stories for Children

  1798

  Alois Senefelder invents lithography; first paper-making machine invented

  1799

  John Marshall begins publishing his miniature libraries in ornamental boxes; founding of the Religious Tract Society, one of the biggest nineteenth-century publishers of children’s books

  1800

  Development of stereotyping begins; introduction of the Stanhope iron press

  1802–6

  Sarah Trimmer, The Guardian of Education, the first review journal of children’s books

  1804–5

  Ann and Jane Taylor (and others), Original Poems for Infant Minds

  1805

  Sarah Catherine Martin, The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog, an early example of a hand-coloured nursery rhyme picture book that became a bestseller

  1807

  Charles and Mary Lamb, Tales from Shakespeare for the Use of Young Persons, the earliest English children’s book to have remained in print to the present time

  1810

  The History of Little Fanny, the first in a series of paper-doll books with aquatint illustrations and wallet bindings, published by S. and J. Fuller; introduction of steam-powered rotary printing press

  1818–42

  Mary Martha Sherwood, The History of the Fairchild Family

  1820

  Hugh Blair’s Precepts, illustrated with steel engravings

  1822

  Introduction of mechanical typesetting

  1823

  The Brothers Grimm, German Popular Stories, translated by Edgar Taylor, illustrated by George Cruikshank

  1824

  Mary Sewell, Walks with Mamma, an early example of a book bound in cloth by publisher

  1828

  Thomas Crofton Croker publishes the first annual produced for children, The Christmas Box

  1833

  Introduction of the printed book jacket

  1834

  Baxter’s ‘Polychromatic’ printing process introduced in Robert Mudie, The Feathered Tribes of the British Islands

  1836–57

  William Holmes McGuffey, McGuffey’s Eclectic Readers 1–6

  1838

  Development of rail delivery services begins to affect book distribution

  1839

  Catherine Sinclair, Holiday House

  1840

  Dalziel Bros. founded: the firm would establish wood-engraved illustrations as standard commercial practice

  1844

  Fox Talbot’s photographic innovations utilised in book publishing: development of photolithography

  1846

  Hans Christian Andersen, Wonderful Stories for Children, translated by Mary Howitt; Edward Lear, Book of Nonsense

  1847

  Frederick Marryat, Children of the New Forest, the earliest work of children’s fiction to remain continually in print to the present time

  1848

  Heinrich Hoffman, Struwwelpeter

  1854

  Introduction of chemical wood pulp and esparto in paper-making; introduction of photography on wood

  1857

  Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown’s Schooldays

  1858

  R. M. Ballantyne, The Coral Island

  1863

  Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies

  1865

  Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; Mary Mapes Dodge, Hans Brinker, or the Silver Skates

  1865–73

  Our Young Folks

  1867

  Hesba Stretton, Jessica’s First Prayer

  1868

  Louisa May Alcott, Little Women; Walter Crane’s first toy book, Sing a Song of Sixpence, with wood engravings printed in full colour by Edmund Evans

  1870

  Universal, subsidised schooling introduced in Britain by the Elementary Education Act

  1871

  Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass; G. A. Henty, Out on the Pampas

  1872

  Christina Rossetti, Sing-song

  1873–1943

  St Nicholas Magazine

  1876

  Mark Twain, Adventures of Tom Sawyer

  1877

  Anna Sewell, Black Beauty

  1878

  Lothar Meggendorfer, Living Pictures, his first mechanical book incorporating complex, simultaneous multiple movements within a single scene, activated by a single ‘tab’

  1879–1967

  The Boy’s Own Paper

  1880

  Randolph Caldecott, Sing a Song for Sixpence; Joel Chandler Harris, Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings

  1880–1908

  The Girl’s Own Paper

  1881

  Half-tone illustration process introduced

  1883

  Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

  1885

  Robert Louis Stevenson, A Child’s Garden of Verses

  1886

  Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Lord Fauntleroy

  1889–1910

  Andrew Lang, ‘Colour Fairy Books’ series

  c. 1890

  Ernest Nister, Nister’s Panorama Pictures, introduction of ‘automatic’ pop-up books employing die-cut figures raised by paper guides activated as the
reader turns each page

  1891

  E. M. Field, The Child and His Book, the first serious attempt at a history of children’s literature

  1894–5

  Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Books

  1898

  Emma Griffith Lumm, The Twentieth Century Speaker, an early use of colour half-tone illustrations in a children’s book

  1899

  Helen Bannerman, The Story of Little Black Sambo; E. Nesbit, The Treasure Seekers

  1900

  L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; founding of American Library Association section on Library Work with Children

  1901

  Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, using three-colour half-tones; Net Book Agreement enacted

  1904

  First performance of J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up

  1905

  Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, one of the first so-called ‘gift-books’; Stratemeyer Syndicate founded, a book packager specialising in series fiction such as Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys

  1906

  Introduction of offset lithography; Hodder and Stoughton and Oxford University Press establish the Joint Venture, the first children’s book department headed by its own appointed editor

  1908

  Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows; Peter Newell, The Hole Book, an early novelty book; L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

  1916

  Bertha Mahony opens the Bookshop for Boys & Girls in Boston, Massachusetts

  1918

  Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, the first classic Australian children’s title

  1919

  Macmillan, New York, establishes a children’s department with Louise Seaman Bechtel as editor

  1922

  Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit; first award of the annual Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to American children’s literature

  1924

  A. A. Milne, When We Were Very Young; Bertha Mahony launches Horn Book Magazine

  1927

  Macmillan launches Happy Hour Books, with illustrations printed by Charles Stringer’s new four-colour process at Jersey City Printing Company, allowing for a greater range of tones

  1930

  Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons; Dick and Jane readers introduced

  1931

  Jean de Brunhoff, The Story of Babar, an outstanding early example of offset colour lithography

  1932–43

  Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House series

  1934

  P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins

  1935

  Mickey Mouse Magazine, the first Disney comic book; Penguin begins publishing mass-market paperbacks

  1936

  First award of the Carnegie Medal, for the year’s most outstanding British children’s book

  1937

  J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

  1938

  First award of the annual Caldecott Medal for best American picture book; Action Comics launched, including earliest appearance of Superman, the first costumed ‘superhero’

  1940

  Dorothy Kunhardt, Pat the Bunny: A Touch-and-Feel Book

  1941

  Penguin begins publishing the Puffin Picture Books children’s line

  1942

  Little Golden Books, a series of high-quality 25-cent picture books, launched by Simon & Schuster

  1947

  Margaret Wise Brown and Clement Hurd, Goodnight, Moon

  1950–6

  C. S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

  1952

  The Diary of Anne Frank; E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web; A Child’s Book of Horses, the first book to be entirely film-set

  1952–82

  Mary Norton, The Borrowers quintet

  1955

  First award of the annual Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration in a British children’s book

  1956

  Dodie Smith, The Hundred and One Dalmatians

  1957

  Dr Seuss, The Cat in the Hat

  1958

  Philippa Pearce, Tom’s Midnight Garden

  1959

  John Knowles, A Separate Peace

  1963

  Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are

  1964

  Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Randall Jarrell, The Bat-Poet

  1967

  Russell Hoban, The Mouse and His Child

  1967–72

  Ursula Le Guin, first Earthsea trilogy

  1970

  John Burningham, Mr Gumpy’s Outing; Maurice Sendak, In the Night Kitchen

  1972

  Richard Adams, Watership Down

  1973

  Rosa Guy, The Friends

  1974

  Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War

  1975

  Judy Blume, Forever

  1979

  Raymond Briggs, The Snowman, a wordless picture book

  1986

  Allan and Janet Ahlberg, The Jolly Postman: or Other People’s Letters; Michael Palin, The Mirrorstone, first use of a hologram in a book

  1986–91

  Art Spiegelman, Maus: A Survivor’s Tale, a graphic novel with cross-generational appeal

  1989

  Picture Me Books launches interactive board books produced using proprietary computer programs to personalise text for individual customers

  1990

  Ursula Le Guin, Tehanu; Salman Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories

  1992

  Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales

  1994

  Robert Sabuda, The Christmas Alphabet, an elaborate pop-up book

  1995–2000

  Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials trilogy

  1997

  Romain Victor Pujebet, Lulu’s Enchanted Book, an early interactive multi-media children’s book published only on CD-ROM

  1997–2007

  J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter novels

  2001

  Melvin Burgess, Lady: My Life as a Bitch

  Part I Contexts and Genres

  1 The origins of children’s literature

  M. O. Grenby

  Many of the most celebrated children’s books have a famous origin story attached to them. Lewis Carroll made up ‘the interminable fairy-tale of Alice’s Adventures’ (as he called it in his diary) while he was on a boat-trip with Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell in 1862; Peter Pan grew out of J. M. Barrie’s intense friendship with the five Llewelyn Davies boys; Salman Rushdie, following the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa, wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories for his son, Zafir, for Zafir, like Haroun, had helped his father recover the ability to tell stories.1 The veracity of these stories, and many others like them, is open to question. But their prevalence and endurance is nevertheless important. We seem to demand such originary myths for our children’s classics. What we want, it appears, is the assurance that published children’s books have emerged from particular, known circumstances, and, more specifically, from the story told by an individual adult to individual children. C. S. Lewis listed this as one of his ‘good ways’ of writing for children: ‘The printed story grows out of a story told to a particular child with the living voice and perhaps ex tempore.’ Such a creative method is an antidote to what Lewis thought the very worst way to write for children, striving to ‘find out what they want and give them that, however little you like it yourself’.2 But if we investigate the historical origins of children’s books it is clear that Lewis’ ‘bad way’ is precisely how children’s literature did begin: adults invented a new commodity, deliberately designed to give a newly identified audience what they thought it wanted, or, rather, needed. There are three different kinds of origin to consider in this chapter then, and, on the surface, they can seem incongruent. First, there is the historical genesis of children’s literature
as a commercial product. Second, there is the idea that children’s literature has naturally developed from a culture of adult-to-child storytelling. And third, the biographical accounts surrounding the conception of individual books. What this chapter will argue is that, far from being contradictory, as C. S. Lewis’ strictures suggest, all three kinds of origin are importantly interrelated.

  Historical origins

  Most cultural historians agree that children’s literature, as we recognise it today, began in the mid eighteenth century and took hold first in Britain. With its mixture of pictures, rhymes, riddles, stories, alphabets and lessons on moral conduct – its commitment, as its full title puts it, to ‘Instruction and Amusement’ – A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, published by John Newbery in 1744, is often regarded as the most important single point of origin. Newbery’s role has been exaggerated, perhaps because of his ostentatious insistence that he was providing education and entertainment fused together – a strategy influentially advocated by John Locke in Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693). Other London author-publishers pre-dated and competed with him, notably Thomas Boreman, whose Description of Three Hundred Animals appeared ‘for the Entertainment of Children’ in 1730, and Mary and Thomas Cooper, under whose names some children’s books (such as The Child’s New Play-Thing, a school book enlivened with alphabets, riddles, dialogues, stories and songs) appeared from 1742. But only Newbery’s enterprise endured, the children’s publishing dynasty he founded lasting until the nineteenth century. He was the first successfully to commercialise books for children, and he used a simple but durable formula: the encasement of the instructive material that adults thought their children would need within an entertaining format that children might be supposed to want.

  What Newbery and his contemporaries did not do was suddenly invent children’s literature ex nihilo. Instructional books, both secular and religious, had been marketed directly at children for centuries. Among the first British printed books were William Caxton’s Book of Curtesye (1477) and his translation of The Book of the Knight of the Tower (1484), providing boys and girls respectively with instruction on how to behave in a noble household. Francis Seager’s verse Schoole of Vertue, and Booke of Good Nourture for Chyldren, and Youth to Learn Theyr Dutie By (1557) was one amongst many Renaissance children’s courtesy books. By the early eighteenth century a wider audience was being served. George Fisher’s The Instructor; or, the Young Man’s Best Companion (1727) was a frequently reprinted compendium of reading, writing and arithmetic lessons and advice on such things as how to write legal documents, to take accurate measurements, to garden, pickle and dye. Meanwhile, John Foxe had been directly addressing children in his infamous Book of Martyrs (1563), and John Bunyan’s A Book for Boys and Girls (1686, later known as Divine Emblems), Thomas Gills’ Instructions for Children (1707) and Isaac Watts’ Divine Songs (1715), among many other works, had put religious and moral lessons into verse. James Janeway’s A Token for Children being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives, and Joyful Deaths, of several young Children (1672) is just the best-known of the many children’s books produced by and for Puritans in the late seventeenth century, designed to warn children against worldly temptations and point out the hard path towards salvation. These instructive texts were not suddenly eclipsed in the 1740s. However severe Janeway’s accounts of the deaths of pious children might seem in contrast with the milder children’s books that subsequently appeared, they remained in print well into the nineteenth century.