In order to understand where Boreman’s works lie in the context of children’s literature and how it differentiated from previous texts read by children, one must know how our modern notion of children’s literature came to be.
The concept of “children’s literature”, that is, books written and published specifically with children as the target audience, is said to have begun with the London bookseller, John Newbery. Newbery published what is widely considered as the first modern children’s book, the Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744, and went on to establish a successful business selling a wide variety of books aimed at children. However, prior to Newbery, Seth Lehrer argues that it was already common for scribes, editors, and early publishers to sell books for children.[1] An example of this would be Aesop’s fables, which early printers, William Caxton included, often published as their first works, as a means to provide guidance to children.[2] Other examples of early books aimed at children is the primer, instructional textbooks using biblical words to teach reading to children, also meant to guide children to be good Christian citizens.[3]
However, up until Newbery, the courtesy books (teaching etiquette and morals), school texts, and religious texts used by children were didactic and not read for pleasure. An exception might be chapbooks, which were widely read by children due to the cheap price and enjoyable stories, but the audience for chapbooks extended beyond children to include adults as well.[4] The idea that marketing literature aimed towards children might be economically profitable began due to the growing population of children in the 18th century (peaking in the early 19th century).[5] Newbery took advantage of this trend to publish books exclusively for the pleasure of children, and widely marketed it as a genre by advertising in provincial newspapers and newspaper distribution outlets.[6] The idea that Newbery’s books were largely meant to be enjoyed in a light-hearted manner differentiated his books from other early books meant for children. Newbery’s career stepped off with A Little Pretty Pocket Book (1744), but his most famous work is The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765).
A Little Pretty Pocket Book
The History of Little Goody Two Shoes
A Description of Three Hundred Animals featured in this book blog is a publisher who is frequently overshadowed by Newbery and whom not much is known about, Thomas Boreman. In many ways, Boreman had already employed many of the conventions Newbery is now famous for.
[1] Lehrer, Seth. Children’s Literature: A Reader’s History from Aesop to Harry Potter. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2008. PP.7-8. Ebook.
[2] Ibid, pp.52-54.
[3] Ibid, p. 87.
[4] Kinnell, Margaret. “Early Texts Used by Children” International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. London: Routledge, 1996. P.136. Ebook.
[5] Ibid, p. 140.
[6] Ibid, p.142.