ART & ARTISTS: Children’s Books 1850

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Children’s Books 1850–1881 part 5

This series features illustrated children's books mainly from the Victorian era, more specifically from between 1850 and 1904. I found so many interesting books that I decided to split the series.

This first series features books from between the 1850s to 1881.
Books from between 1881 to 1904 will appear here later in the year.

Until the mid-18th century, children's books mainly consisted of moralistic or enlightening stories propagating the religious and ethical view that hard work and diligence determines a person's life. Little consideration was given to children's reading pleasure.
The focus in children's books gradually shifted from simple moral lessons to entertainment, with techniques of expression employed specifically for that purpose. Books carrying witty illustrations or exploring children's inner life also began to appear. The mid-19th century saw the development of girls' novels and narratives of family life.

This is part 5 of an 11-part series on children's books 1850s - 1881:

1872 Grammar in Rhyme
published by George Routledge & Sons, London:

1873 Aunt Louisa's Holiday Guest:

Aunt Louisa's Holiday Guest

Dame Trot and her Cat

The Good Children

Bruin the Bear

Home for the Holidays

1873 Routledge's Nursery Tales
published by George Routledge & Sons, London:

The Three Bears

Little Red Riding Hood

1875 Aladdin or The Wonderful Lamp by Walter Crane
published by George Routledge & Sons, London and New York:

Walter Crane (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children’s book creator of his generationand, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century.

Crane's work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterise many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.