Please contact Heather Malec, director of public relations and communications, at (312) 255-3625 for a print ready version of an image. Please note that all images must be noted as "Courtesy of the Newberry Library."
Lewis Carroll, with illustrations by John Tenniel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
London: Macmillan and Co., 1865
Newberry Library: Case 4A 878
Donor Credit: [Purchased as part of the Louis H. Silver Collection, 1964]
Caption:
Alice in Wonderland is perhaps the best-known fantasy character in English children's literature. Carroll wrote this book for a young friend, but the text is in fact a droll send-up of Victorian educational theory and practice. He mocked formal recitals, memorization, and proper behavior throughout it. It is filled with word play, funny, improbable characters and is largely devoid of heavy-handed moralizing.
Henry Dresser
Specimens of Writing at Mr. Richard Kemplay's Academy, St. John's Place, Leeds
Leeds, 1817-1818 [manuscript]
Newberry Library: *Wing MS 23
Caption:
Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century students were made to copy set pieces into specially printed blank paper booklets. They were graded primarily on their penmanship but also their neatness, artistic quality, and sometimes on their choice of content.
This pair of copybooks shows the progress of young Henry Dresser when he was about fourteen. Dresser's grades for penmanship in the previous term were noted on the back leaves of the books, reminding him to do better in the coming session.
Florence L. Notter, Sailor Tommy
Chicago: M.A. Donohue, ca. 1918
Newberry Library: Wing folio ZP 983 .N855
Caption:
At the start of the twentieth century, Chicago was a major publishing center, and the city's large printing companies were capable of almost any kind of job. M. A. Donohue, located on Printer's Row south of the Loop, specialized in color and novelty lithography for advertising, book covers, and book jackets, but the firm also published many children's books. Sailor Tommy is one is part of a series of books that were die cut so that they could be made into standup toys. Author Florence L. Notter (ca. 1884-1960) was a Chicago artist, illustrator and journalist.
Kinderbüchlein für die Jugend und Einfeltigen [A Little Book for Children and Simple Folk]
Dresden: Gimel Bergen, 1586
Newberry Library: Wing ZP 547 .B48
Caption:
The Kinderbüchlein presents basic religious ideas, prayers, and stories of Jesus and the Apostles all in verse for easy memorization and recitation. It is clearly designed for inexperienced readers with larger than normal type, decorative borders and vignettes, and 35 woodcuts, including a portrait of Martin Luther. Literally read to pieces by its young owners, this once popular Protestant book for children is now very rare.