Books or Toys? A Traveller’s Tale: Researching Early Movable Books for and by Children in Material and Virtual Collections
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21153/pecl2012vol22no1art1128Keywords:
books, toys, children's literature, material book collections, virtual book collections, movable booksAbstract
A number of years ago, I first experienced the thrill of gaining access to the Bodleian Library at Oxford University and being granted permission to see some of the books that compose the famous Opie Collection. This joy as I sat in the New Bodleian Reading room was compounded when the Head of the Special Collections Clive Hurst, upon being told my interest in early children’s literature and culture, brought by an exquisite, little thin mid-18th century volume. When he opened it up it revealed a story of words and etched pictures about a set of characters called Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown that proceeded by means of flaps that could be lifted up and down, the directions for use sometimes being set in the verse or printed on top of the picture. He looked at me and said, ‘Are these books or toys?’
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