cig | EARLY AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS 1682-1840 yy The Private Collection of Dr. A. 8. W.ROSENBACH ON EXHIBITION AT THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 1927 ‘ PRINTED AT THE a) EARLY AMERICAN CHILDREN’S BOOKS, 1682-1840 The Private Collection of DR. 4. 8. W.ROSENBACH RHE history of American Children’s a Books reveals with amazing fidelity \) the change in the outward char- SY U% acter of the American child. It shows a progress, some would call it a retrogres- sion, from the gloomy, suppressed, religion- soaked child of Puritan New England to the mischievous, pirate-loving, dime-novel reading little devil of our own day. It is a delightful change from Virtuous William, The Obedient Prentice, and Patty Primrose, to Huck Finn, Penrod, and Winnie-the-Pooh. 7 A collection of these early books has an in- tense and varied interest. First of all, it gives us samples of the mental food our ancestors lived on, in the dim forgotten days of their child- hood. It illustrates the development of the edu- cational system in this country. It emphasizes the large place held by religious instruction and observance in the life of the American child up to 1840. Furthermore, for the specialist, it [3] is a graphic history of printing in North America. These are a few of its more obvious sides. For everyone who looks over the little volumes that compose it there will be something particularly appealing. Children, if they like their books at all, usually love them literally to bits. Hence it is that a large, representative collection of their early books is the rarest and most difficult of any group of American printing to assemble, and could not possibly be accomplished in the col- lecting life of one man. In 1851 Moses Polock, Dr. Rosenbach’s uncle, bought out the old pub- lishing house of McCarthy & Davis. The firm was even then over 70 years old, for it was successor to Johnson & Warner, which had begun business as Jacob Johnson, publisher of chil- dren’s books, in 1780. Mr. Polock started to collect these children’s books, or Juvenile Libra- ries as they were then called, especially the ones issued by his predecessors. On the death of Mr. Polock, in 1903, the collection came to Dr. Rosenbach, who has ever since been adding to it, until it now contains nearly 800 volumes. The earliest of all is “The Rule of the New- Creature,” published in Boston for Mary Avery, a book seller, in 1682. As one would expect, [4] Se ny Se, Sen ae = eae, ea Oy eee ie ee ne a ee ae ee ed S ay be ef like ufe to ww led se ov Fobn Catton “8. D. Teacher tothe Church of Bofex New £ pa it is a book for religious instruction. The next in date, 1684, also printed in Boston, is John Cotton’s “Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes. In either England: Drawn out of the breasts of both Testaments for their Souls nourishment. But may be of like use to any Children.” From that time the Colonial printers used some of their efforts to produce reading matter for the young. Imagine a youngster of to-day, though, condemned to pass a Sunday evening reading the Reverend James Janeway’s “A Token for Children, being an Exact Account of the Conversion, Holy and Exemplary Lives and Joyous Deaths of several Young Children.” This cheerful work passed through edition after edition, and was the certain means of saving many infants from Helland damnation. Cotton Mather wrote a continuation of it, to show that New England children were no less adept at the fashionable art of dying than their little contemporaries in the mother country. The only copy of the earliest edition here shown of the augmented work was published in Philadelphia, 1749, by Benjamin Franklin, who, though he did not at all care for this style of writing, undoubtedly knew what would sell well. Some- times a particularly brilliant specialist merited [5] an entire book devoted to her story. Such a one was Hannah Hill, Junr., about whom Andrew Bradford issued a volume in Philadelphia in 1717, called “A Legacy for Children.” This young woman’s demise occurred at the age of eleven years and near three months. Later, pious small Indians gave edifying evidence of the same knack of praiseworthy, early death, and were duly, though posthumously, lauded in various © volumes by New England preachers. In order to teach the babes their letters — “‘as soon as they can speak,” one author says — prim- ers were early produced on this side of the Atlantic, though many also were imported from England. These primers at first all belonged to two categories, Royal and New England. The former, the less melancholy performance, is represented in Dr. Rosenbach’s collection by the only known copy of the first American edition, 1753, and by one of two copies of the next extant, that of 1768. The earliest New England primer of which an example remains is dated 1727, although editions are known to have been printed in the century before. Benjamin Franklin and his partner, David Hall, sold, according to their own records, 37,100 copies of the book in the [6] seventeen years between 1749 and 1766, but only one of that great quantity exists to-day. The only copy known of the New England Primer printed by David Hall is in this assem- blage. Of the tremendous number of editions issued all over the American colonies this collec- tion has an unusually fine and extensive display. Political history is illustrated in the evolution of the little book’s frontispiece. First we have “George III” in regal attire. Next comes “‘Gen- eral Washington.” After that the father of his country appears with the legend ‘President of the United States of America,” though his own mother would scarcely recognize her son’s fea- tures in the results of some of the early wood engravers’ efforts. The contents of the primers are generally the same. There is a rhymed alphabet with illustrations, words and syllables for spelling lessons, and the verses purporting to have been written just before his execution by the martyr John Rogers for the instruction of his “nine small children, and one at the breast.” This affecting poem is illustrated by a large woodcut depicting the harrowing scene of Rogers at the stake, calmly watched by his wife and the nine, whose faces look like so many cranberries. The eae Assembly of Divines’ catechism usually follows, and there may or may not be selections from Dr. Watts’ “Divine Songs for Children.” Our forefathers received further educational food from more advanced works of a nature tough and sinewy, like the primers’. Reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, a little history, the merest pinches of “Newtonian philosophy,” geology, natural history and Latin (the Latin school-books of this period are to-day among the scarcest of all), supplied intellectual nourish- ment. Religious education was furthered by various published sermons addressed to children, by “The History of the Holy Jesus,” numerous catechisms, one version for each sect, Dr. Watts’ “Divine Songs for the use of Children,” and the so-called Bible histories. The social graces were developed by a diet of “The School of Good Manners,”’ which was a most valuable aid to the parents of our little ancestors, judging from the times it was reprinted. Its combination of deportment and piety evidently pleased the fathers and mothers, What the children thought of it is not recorded. Even the meager and monotonous mental food afforded Eighteenth Century American youth could not starve out youth’s perennial [8] belief in his poetic powers. We have “A Monu- mental Gratitude Attempted,” in verse by some of the members of Yale College, upon their deliverance from the dangers of a storm on Long Island Sound, published in New London, Connecticut, 1727. Thomas Godfrey of Phila- delphia printed his “Juvenile Poems, with the Prince of Parthia, a Tragedy,” in 1765, just as young men to-day rush to the press with their earliest stanzas. In 1757 A Young Gentleman published “The Choice: a Poem, After the Manner of Mr. Promfret.” Even in a repressed age the young had their literary fling. But a new light was breaking. The whim- sicalities of Oliver Goldsmith, with the aid of his publisher, John Newberry, were to exert their brightening influence in America. The old ballads were to be reincarnated, with startling innovations. “The History of Mistress Mar- gery Two Shoes,” “The Royal Battledoor,” “A Pretty Book for Children,” the “Mother Goose Melodies,” ‘Fables in Verse,”? “Babes in the Wood,” “‘London Cries,” were attractive titles for attractive contents. Children were no longer taught to die, but encouraged to live! The middle Eighteenth Century was the golden age of the English novel. Richardson, [9] Fielding, Smollett, and Sterne were creating the wonderful characters that still conjure up a smile or a tear. Most of these good old novels have come to be known as men’s books, and the prudish, we are told, keep some of them under lock and key. How we have degenerated since the Eighteenth Century! “Tom Jones,” “Cla- rissa Harlowe,” and “‘Pamela” were, according to Miss Rosalie Halsey, read aloud in the family circle. When some particularly pathetic passage was reached the listeners would retire to sepa- rate apartments to weep. It was reported to Richardson that, on one of these occasions, an amiable little boy sobbed as if his sides would burst, and resolved to mind his books that he might read “Pamela” through without stopping. What publisher to-day would issue “Tom Jones” as a gift book for little girls and boys of eight and ten! And yet “Tom Jones,” “Clarissa Harlowe,” “Joseph Andrews,” “Sir Charles Grandison,” “Pamela” were all abridged for the use of children, and became the most popular of all juveniles. And well they might, after the dry-as-dust New England Primers and Protestant Tutors. It is a long jump from the Church of England Catechism to “Tom Jones!” [10] a ahaa tae When speaking of printing in America one cannot but mention Benjamin Franklin, who has been called the originator of everything original in this country. He must also have been the greatest of all advertisers, for his projects are more talked about to-day than when he lived. With his partner Hall he printed “Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensil- vania,” thus, in 1749, laying the foundations for what is now the University of Pennsylvania, as he did for so many other great Pennsylvania institutions, ‘Though it was not first printed in America, “The Story of the Whistle” is without doubt the best known tale of American youth. While Franklin was at Passy in 1775 he printed it in French and in English on oppo- site pages in a charming little pamphlet, and gave it to his friends. Only two copies of this precious leaflet have survived, one of which is in this collection. In 1788, at the age of 82, he was keenly interested in juvenile books, partly because of his grandson, Benjamin Frank- lin Bache, to whom he had presented a press and types. Under the auspices of his celebrated grandfather Bache printed “Lessons for Chil- dren from Two to Five years Old,” in four small [11] volumes. Not satisfied merely with printing them as a pleasing experiment for his favorite grandson, Dr. Franklin used his wonderful ability and shrewdness, unimpaired by years, to make the venture pay. As the country grew older and richer, more attention was paid to sports and pastimes. Proba- bly the earliest sporting book issued appeared in the first year of American independence, — it was Philip Astley’s “The Modern Riding Mas- ter,” printed by Robert Aitken in 1776. This was followed by “Youthful Recreations,” pub- lished by Jacob Johnson in Philadelphia, which contains the first picture of football printed in this country. Johnson also published “Various Modes of Catching,” in which is one of the earliest American engravings of Angling. The greatest publishers of juvenile books in America were Isaiah Thomas in Worcester; Jacob Johnson, his successors, Johnson and Warner, and William Charles in Philadelphia, Mahlon Day and Samuel Wood in New York. Isaiah Thomas has probably been more writ- ten up than any of them. But in illustrating and binding his books he was outdone by Jacob Johnson. Many of Johnson’s books were illus- [12] a i 3 2 : = Ag =p RNR TEED Dh agampeteriognere ener aermeneserae too aguutpnamneenss a ee , oe ; * The S Her i ERD * . of e Me: . 8 Salisbury Plaut. &® Ro Y AL are, MER, Improved : Being an eafy and pleafant G Ut es TO YHE = | : Art of READING. os trated by Dr. Alexander Anderson, whose charming woodcuts rival, and rival successfully, those of the English Bewick. William Charles’ publications are among the most beautiful children’s books of the early Nineteenth Century. His little books were, many of them, entirely engraved, and the illus- trations prettily colored. He issued the old beloved Children’s rhymes: Dame Trot and her Comical Cat, Jack the Giant-Killer, Little Red Riding Hood. A long series extolls My Son, My Daughter, My Father, My Mother, and every other member of a large household. Printers early discovered that books for chil- dren should be in proportion to the juvenile clients, small. Miniature books have always held great fascination for children as well as their elders. Their very smallness makes them seem precious and desirable. Perhaps it was with a view to making children value Bible stories more highly that they were printed in tiny volumes, called Thumb Bibles. They were illustrated with woodcuts, more or less crude. Owing to size of these wee books, all less than two inches high, they are now extremely rare. One of the most interesting examples is the [13] Verbum Sempiternum, published in Boston in 1765. They must always be among the most appealing books printed for American children. At the beginning of the nineteenth century “shockers” began to appear, each with its lurid — and more or less pertinent frontispiece. Now we have Spectre Mothers, Bleeding Nuns, Mother- less Marys. John Paul Jones’ life is issued in a dress to attract all small boys with an admiration and envy for buccaneers and their fierce and bloody deeds, Even Noah Webster, that staid dictionarist, writes ““The Pirates.” With these shockers, and the entertaining and picturesque Cries of London, New York and Philadelphia, the young people of the 1810—1820’s were rather well off for colorful reading matter. That is, they were well off if not too forcibly fed upon “The Prize for Youthful Obedience,” “The Search after Hap- piness,” “Little Truths,” and the concoctions of Mrs. Barbauld, Maria Edgeworth, Mrs. Trimmer, Hannah More and Mrs. Pilkington. These righteous ladies hoped, no doubt, to lead little children away from light reading to tales that would edify if they did not completely anaesthetize. Charles Lamb was neither de- lighted nor improved by them, however. The [ 14] fact is, they drove him almost beside himself, and inspired the gentle Elia and his sister Mary to write those charming stories and poems that are a perennial delight to all children. The first American edition of “Poetry for Children” was Boston, 1812; that of the “Tales from Shake- speare,” Philadelphia, 1813. The history of the American child’s book after the year 1835 is better known to us, and the names of Peter Parley, Nathaniel Haw- thorne and others ring familiarly in our ears. The original manuscript of Hawthorne’s “Won- der Book for Boys and Girls” is shown for the first time in this exhibition. But it is the earlier volumes with their worn, faded covers that reveal to us, quaintly, picturesquely and truth- fully the quickening change from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers to our own time. [15] =. : r r a mn | . 2 a ~ * a . | ¥ “ * . 5 » | ‘ _ + ry |