EDU12HCL - History of Children’s Literature Week 5 – Lecture 1 The Affecting and Instructive History of Chapbooks for Children as developed particularly.
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EDU12HCL - History of Children’s LiteratureWeek 5 – Lecture 1
The Affecting and Instructive
Historyof
Chapbooks for Children
as developed particularly by
Mr. John Newbery,printer and bookseller
of the Bible and Sun in St. Paul’s Churchyard London
For there to be Children’s Literature, there must be:• Children• Literature
• Children – the concept of childhood, the recognition that children have needs, interests and capacities that are different to adults
• Literature – the conscious creation of literary material specifically for those needs, interests and capacities.
References
Townsend, J.R. (1996) Written for Children: an outline of English-Language Children’s Literature. 6th ed. London: Scarecrow Press. (“Part One: before 1840”)
Jackson, M. (1989) Engines of Instruction, Mischief and Magic: children’s literature in England from its beginnings to 1839. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press
Shavir, Z. (1986) Stratification of a system. The poetics of Children’s Literature [online] Chap. 7. Available: http://tau.ac.il/~zshavit/pocl/seven.html
University of Pittsburgh (2005) The Elizabeth Nesbitt Room Chapbook Collection [online] Available: http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/is/enroom/
• Johannes Gutenberg 1456 (Germany), William Caxton (1475) Britain.
• By 1500 over 1,000 printers in Europe.
• Movable type – first wood, then lead
• Set into plates, inked and repeated over sheet after sheet of paper
Printing
• Paper and sizes – Folio, quarto, folding into units that determined the number of pages
• Type and layout reversed to mirror image• Illustrations done
as woodcuts (inreverse)
• Could print up to 250 units an hour
• Little change inthis process intomodern times.
Chapbooks, broadsheets and pamphlets
Chapman – itinerant salesman, merchant, buyer/seller• From OE ceap, ceapian related to German kaufen –
buying, bargaining, trade• Developed into Cheap, chap, and UK place names
Cheapside, Chepstow, Chipping• Chapmen were peddlers, tinkers, travellers – sold
small portable items, thread, needles, houseware, and books, broadsheets and pamphlets
• 1600s-1700s immensely popular market in ballad sheets, confessions of criminals, political pamphlets, stories, biographies etc. that were hawked around the streets and towns
Chapbooks, broadsheets and pamphlets
Chapbooks were simply cheaply and quickly produced books for the popular market, and they sold very very, well.
• Read eagerly by adults and children.• Inexpensive, small, attractive. One page folded
many times and cut. • Woodcut illustrations.• The popularity of these books attracted the
attention of more serious publishers and writers• The popularity also raised the question of
“appropriate for children?”.
John Newbery 1713-1767
The first successful commercial publisher for children• Son of a farmer• Became owner of a printing business in his 20s by
marrying the widow of the previous owner
• Moved to London 1743, • Published A Little
Pretty Pocket Book in 1744
• Aimed at newlyprosperous middleclass and their values
John Newbery 1713-1767
Recognized several important commercial points:• Must appeal to the child• But do not contradict the values of the parent• Included giveaways and special offers – e.g. ball,
pincushion, free editions from his shop – with apparent educational or benevolent purpose
• Constant and regular “penetration” of the market – build expectations of audience, and brand loyalty
• Have pictures
John Newbery 1713-1767
• Also sold patent medicines – Dr James Fever Powder – and used the books to promote it
• Mixed the audiences and “hooks” astutely – adventure and fantasy to interest the children, morals and education to please the parents
• Established and kept reputation for enthusiasm and best interests of children
• Mixed with leading literary figures• USA’s Children’s Book of the Year award is the
Newbery Medal
Goody Two Shoes
Goody Two Shoes
• Typical mixture of fantastic adventure and moral lessons
• Bit of “Shrek”-like tongue in cheek attribution – See the original manuscript in the Vatican at Rome, and the cuts by Michael Angelo
• Story drew on Cinderella (prohibited for a time) and was adapted by other authors, even for adults
Illustrations
• Simple woodcuts• Usually middle-distance representations, eye
level perspective, side elevation• Newbery’s use of illustrations was so popular that
they were established as an indispensable feature of children’s books.
• Led to the great 19th century children’s artists: Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, Randolph Caldecott, Beatrix Potter