II.

Early History

Until the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century) the main sources of children's literature in the Western world were the Bible and the Greek and Latin classics. The expansion of literacy following the invention of printing in the 15th century increased the range of children's literature, and subsequently national history became a fresh subject for young readers. After the 18th century, archaeologists, philologists, and anthropologists added material from Asian and tribal cultures and European folklore. This article discusses developments in English and American literature for children.

A.

The Middle Ages

In England the earliest forms of oral literature, passed from generation to generation, were simple folktales, usually of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon origin. These tales included folk ballads, among them the Robin Hood collection, and narratives sung by wandering bards about King Arthur and his knights (see Arthurian Legend).

The first books specifically intended for children were collections of the 7th and 8th centuries that were written in Latin. The best-known works of this type, by outstanding ecclesiastical scholars such as Aldhelm, Alcuin, and Saint Bede the Venerable, were employed as lesson books in the monastery schools.

B.

The Renaissance

With the development of vernacular literature, particularly after the invention of printing, more children's books appeared. The publications of the first English printer, William Caxton, included the Book of Curtesye (1477), a collection of rhymes that sets forth rules of conduct for a “goodly chylde.” Eight years later Caxton printed Le Morte d'Arthur (1469-1470; The Death of Arthur) by English translator and compiler Sir Thomas Malory, which became the basis for later treatments of the Arthurian legends. Caxton also issued the beast fable Reynard the Fox (1481), translated from a Flemish version, and the Fables (1484) of Greek writer Aesop, translated from the French.

A new type of children's book, called the hornbook, appeared during the 16th century. It consisted of a printed page covered by a transparent sheet of horn and mounted on a square of wood with a handle at one end for the child to hold. Used for elementary instruction, the hornbook contained alphabets, the Lord's Prayer, Roman numerals, and the like. The chapbook, an unstitched pamphlet usually consisting of about 70 folded pages, appeared in the 17th century. Chapbooks, which were peddled from door to door throughout England, contained versions of popular literature ranging from nursery rhymes to medieval romances.

C.

The 17th and 18th Centuries

Works of moral and religious instruction written for children gained increased importance under the influence of Puritanism in the 17th and 18th centuries. The New England Primer (1690), printed in Boston, Massachusetts, by English-born publisher and journalist Benjamin Harris, is a typical example. It contains a rhymed alphabet, tables of syllables, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, the Ten Commandments, and an account of the burning of a Protestant martyr at the stake. Preparation for possible sudden death and departure to the next world was a feature of the rhymes and stories in earlier editions of the Primer. Verses that became well known as a result of their inclusion in the Primer include the prayer “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” and the “Cradle Hymn” by English churchman Isaac Watts. Editions of The New England Primer were issued as late as the 19th century. The title of another contemporary children's book, Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes (1646), further indicates the religious tone of most of the children's literature of the period.

One of the most significant developments in children's literature was the use of illustrations. Orbis Sensualium Pictus (The Visible World in Pictures), the first known children's picture book, was issued in Latin in 1658 by Czech educational reformer John Amos Comenius. An English translation appeared a year later. The book, illustrated by woodcuts, covers a wide range of subjects.

Classics of children's literature include adult books that also appeal to children or have been adapted for children. One is The Pilgrim's Progress (published in two parts, 1678 and 1684) by English author and preacher John Bunyan. It is a simple but forceful allegory of conflict between good and evil. Another is Robinson Crusoe (1719), the story of an ingenious and self-reliant castaway, by English novelist and journalist Daniel Defoe. This masterpiece served as a basis for another children's favorite, The Swiss Family Robinson (1812; translated 1814) by Swiss writer Johann Rudolf Wyss. Gulliver's Travels (1726), by Anglo-Irish writer Jonathan Swift, which fascinates adults as a satire, is enjoyed by children for its fantasy. The first significant French children's book was Histoires ou contes du temps passé avec des moralités (1697; Stories or Tales from Olden Times, 1729), a collection of traditional fairy tales known also as Contes de ma mère l'oye (Tales of Mother Goose), by Charles Perrault. Its tales include “Sleeping Beauty,” “Cinderella,” ”Red Riding Hood,” and “Bluebeard.” The name Mother Goose became traditionally associated with nursery rhymes in England and the United States.

In the 18th century, English publisher John Newbery became the first to print attractive, inexpensive books for children. Containing stories, verses, puzzles, riddles, maxims, and lessons, the books sold in small paper-covered editions. Newbery's moral precepts were gentler and less forbidding than those promoted in the previous century. His best-known publications are The History of Little Goody Two Shoes (1765), erroneously credited to British author Oliver Goldsmith; A Little Pretty Pocketbook (1744); and Mother Goose's Melody (about 1765), reprinted in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1785.

Until the late 18th century no clear distinction was made between instruction and entertainment in children's literature. Most stories and poems written for children were designed to convey useful information or moral advice. Largely because of the growth of religious freedom, especially in Great Britain and in the newly established American nation, and because of the egalitarian principles spread by the French Revolution (1789-1799), children's literature eventually became less didactic. A major influence in this development was French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, who, in his novel Émile (1762), pointed out that the mind of a child is not merely the mind of an adult in miniature, and that it must be considered on its own terms.

Authors influenced by Émile exhibited a tendency to overemphasize the guiding role of the wise and benevolent adult. An English example is The History of Sandford and Merton (3 volumes, 1783-1789) by Thomas Day. In this work the story is constantly interrupted by lengthy sermons that stress the work's educational purpose. A similar product of the Rousseau movement was the work of English novelist Maria Edgeworth, who wrote two collections of short stories for children, The Parent's Assistant (1796) and Moral Tales (1801).

Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794) by English artist, poet, and mystic William Blake provide the first examples of literature concerned with the essential goodness of children in the spirit of Rousseau's educational philosophy. Blake's ideas on the innocence of children and their corruption by adult standards of belief and behavior are also derived from a blend of German mysticism, English Protestantism, and the political ideas of the French Revolution. Blake believed that passion, or feeling, according to the individual conscience, was superior to all intellectual rules. His writings and engravings were much too difficult for young readers to understand, but they influenced other authors and artists in the field of children's literature. Blake, like contemporary English poet William Wordsworth, portrayed childhood as a happy and virtuous time and considered growing up to be a saddening and complicated process.