This past weekend I picked up a little book titled 1000 Books for Children, published by A. C. McClurg. It was written by Penrhyn Coussens, and the fun part is that it was published in 1911. Consequently, many children's books considered classic had not yet been written, and many titles that are now obscure are listed.L. Frank Baum is represented by Father Goose, and the Oz series. The Oz books are recommended for age 7 to 10, and each title has a small synopsis. The list ends with The Emerald City of Oz which is called out as the final Oz book - which of course it was at that time!
Mother Goose in Prose is mentioned in the intro- duction, in a discussion of illustrators, and Maxfield Parrish's illustrations are praised. The listing for Father Goose calls out Denslow's illustrations as "very droll", but none of his many picture books made it into the list. The author seemed to consider English picture books to be the best available.
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is described as the best known juvenile of the time, and Anne of Green Gables is mentioned as the best of recent girl's books. It's a fascinating little book, and a real time capsule for children's book enthusiasts.
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3 comments:
Wow, that sounds really interesting. Have you picked up any good tidbits on forgotten fantasy titles as you've read through it?
I can't say that I have - some of the descriptions are pretty brief. There are quite a few series books listed along the lines of"Grandpa's Little Girls", and the "Jolly Good Times" series. Reilly & Britton's "Airship Boys" series is included, as well as the "Rainy Day Scrapbook".
Interesting. Too bad there weren't more series like the Oz books!
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