INTRODUCTION TO THE PRINTS & BOOKS COLLECTIONS
Children's Literature Collections
Illustration from 'The Boy Who Never Looked Where He Was Going To', London, c. 1800-1850 |
The National Art Library has been collecting children's publications since the mid 19th century. It now holds nearly 100,000 books dating from the 16th century to the present day. Acquired as examples of the art of the book, they show the development of children's book production and illustration. The Renier Collection, with over 80,000 books, represents major authors and artists and most subject areas and genres. Other collections are particularly rich in late 18th-century and early 19th-century imprints from Britain and north-west Europe. They are moderately rich in late 19th- and early 20th-century British illustrated children's books. The Library holds a fine selection of Russian (mainly Soviet) books, plus an extensive collection of North American, European and Japanese comics.
The children's book collections contain much useful source material for publishing history, social history and the art of the book. Areas represented include the 1851 Great Exhibition, topography, trade and industry, fable books, emblem books and chapbooks, natural history books, alphabets and printing, and Victorian publishers' bindings. Artists such as Blake, Cruikshank, Doyle, Tenniel, Caldecott, Ardizzone and Sendak are represented, as well as lesser-known names.
Individual Named Collections
Walter Crane, 'The Fairy Shop', London, Routledge, 1870s. Pressmark: 60.W.299 |
In addition to individual acquisitions, the Library also holds the following named Special Collections:
The Renier Collection
Approximately 80,000 books given to the V&A in 1970 by Anne and Fernand Renier. See the Renier Collection for more information.
The Guy Little Bequest
Approximately 2400 children's books, plus some adult books, acquired in 1961.
The Queen Mary Gift
100 books formerly belonging to members of the Royal Family and presented by Queen Mary in 1936 on her departure from Buckingham Palace.
The Horton Collection of Soviet Children's Books
Acquired in 1981, this collection combines with the National Art Library's other holdings to make a total of over 300 Russian children's books.
The Harrod Bequest
Includes many children's books by artists of the 1860s.
The Beatrix Potter Collections
The Library holds major collections of material relating to Beatrix Potter, including the Linder Bequest, the Linder Archive and the Linder Collection. All three Linder collections are now housed at the Archive of Art and Design. A representative selection of titles, and of relevant background material, is still available at the National Art Library. For more information, see The Beatrix Potter Collections.
Other Sources for Children's Literature in the Victoria and Albert Museum
The Museum's former Prints, Drawings and Paintings Collection (now part of the Word and Image department) has some examples of related original artwork. These are available for consultation through the .
The Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green has other book collections, including the Patrick Hardy Archive, Vyvien Newton Collection and Saekel-Jelkmann Collection.
Reference Material
The National Art Library also has a major collection of reference works on children's books and related subjects, including periodicals, exhibition catalogues, sale catalogues and catalogues of major collections.
Access to the Children's Literature Collections
Most named collections of childrens books, including the Renier Collection, the Guy Little Bequest, the Queen Mary Gift, the Beatrix Potter Collectoin and a large number of reference materials are held at the Blyth House Reading Room, near Olympia, and are available to all by appointments. For further information on access, visit Archives or email archive@vam.ac.uk. The National Art Librarys Special Collections, in particular the Dyce and Forster Collections, also contain examples of Childrens Publications. These can be consulted with a Readers Ticket. For more information visit Registering.
Rosa M. Gilbert (Rosa Mulholland), 'Puck and Blossom: A Fairy Tale', London, Marcus Ward, about 1874?. Pressmark: 60.U.29 |
Catalogues
The majority of childrens books can be found on the Library Catalogue . Entries for all children's books previously described in the Library's Children's Books Index were enhanced to provide more detailed subject and genre access to these items. An increasing proportion of these records have additional index entries for illustrators, printers, typographers, binders, etc. Books about children's books can be found in the subject indexes while individual examples of specific publication genres (e.g. fairy tales) are increasingly listed in the Genre or Publication format index. The Library Catalogue also includes entries for an increasing proportion of the Renier Collection .
The library catalogue indicates the location of childrens books in the Copy/Holding information for each item. Please check whether the item you require is held at Blyth House or the National Art Library.
Past Exhibtition
Miniature Libraries
National Art Library Entrance, 20 May-17 November 2002
For further reading see the National Art Library's Subject Guides.