100 Years / 100 Books: Highspots of Collectible Children’s Books from 1863-1963
By Helen Younger (Alephbet Books)
Copyright © Firsts Magazine, Inc.
Used by permission.
The world of collectible children's books has come of age. Although children's books have always been collected, it is only within the last ten years that they have blasted into the consciousness of the book collecting world in general and even into the minds of the non-collecting public. It now goes without saying that great first edition collections should also include firsts of classic children's literature as well.
A bit of explanation and a few caveats about this list are in order. The books included here are not necessarily representative of the best literature for children, but rather a list of what is currently collectible. Collecting in this field is no different than collecting in any other field; it is subject to fads. Fifty years ago Jacob Blanck included on his list of the best loved American children's books Peter Parley to Penrod, two titles by John Townsend Trowbridge. Today, you'd be hard pressed to find any collector who is familiar with his name at all. In several cases, and for the sake of brevity, only one book by an author/illustrator has been included. Thus you will find Tom Sawyer but not Huckleberry Finn or you will see Winnie the Pooh but not When We Were Very Young.
You may also notice the absence of traditional "series" books which, although they are children's books, fall into a class of their own and thus are not included here. Using the hundred year parameter of 1863-1963 necessitated excluding some landmark figures. On the early end notably missing are Edward Lear, Hans Christian Andersen, Grimm Brothers, Charles Perrault, Heinrich Hoffmann and Nathaniel Hawthorne. On the modern side, Chris Van Allsburg is not included. These restrictions were necessary in order to keep the size from becoming unmanageable.
1863 marked the publication of Charles Kingsley's Water Babies, one of the first "modern" fantasies for children. One hundred years later in 1963 Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" sealed his name forever in the annals of collectible books. Almost every title listed has a "story" attached to it; printing histories, issue points and first edition determinations all factor in heavily. Naturally, the best place to hear these stories is to start with a specialist dealer in the field. For instance, you would wait a long time to find an 1865 British Alice but then you'd need that time to accumulate the funds to afford it. However a collection can do just fine with the American printing from the British sheets or with the 1866 British "first published" Alice and that is where expert guidance can help. If you're just beginning, you will also need advice on criteria that determine collectible condition, including the importance or unimportance of dustwrappers. As a general rule, children's books must be in very good-fine condition, but the same rigorous standards used in modern literature are really not applied here. Many of these titles are perfectly collectible without dustwrappers and if they do have dustwrappers, the fact that the wrapper may be chipped, torn or incomplete is not of great consequence. In other words, if you find a first issue of Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz but the dustwrapper is soiled and worn, don't wait around for a "better" copy - just grab it and run! However, if you are offered first editions of Winnie the Pooh or Charlotte's Web without dustwrappers, take a pass. Without beating a dead horse, a children's book specialist dealer will have had the experience to know which books are collectible in any condition and which need to be mint to have value.
If it can be said that there is a "problem" with collecting children's books, it is that the field is so broad and varied that one might not know where to begin. The list of "highspots" that follow should help address the challenge. This list can be used as an end in itself or used as a jumping off point to collect in any of the thousands of directions to which it may lead.
Here's the List
| 1863 | Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. London: Macmillan |
| 1865[6] | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. London: Macmillan |
| 1865 | Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge. New York: James O'Kane |
| 1865-76 | Walter Crane's Toybooks. London: Routledge |
| 1868-9 | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. 2 Volumes. Boston: Roberts |
| 1869 | Wonderful Adventures of Humpty Dumpty by Thomas Nast. 2 Volumes. New York: McLoughlin Brothers |
| 1870 | In Fairyland Illustrated by Richard Doyle. London: Longmans, Green & Co. |
| 1871 | At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald. London: Strahan & Co. [First Edition in Book Form] |
| 1872 | Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. London |
| 1876 | Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Samuel Clemens. Hartford: American Pub. Co |
| 1878 | House That Jack Built by Randolph Caldecott [Plus] the 15 Books in the Set. London: Routledge |
| 1878 | Under the Window Illustrated by Kate Greenaway. London: Routledge |
| 1881 | Uncle Remus His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris. New York: D. Appleton |
| 1883 | Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. New York: Scribners |
| 1883 | Avventure Di Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. First Ed. In Book Form [First Ed. In English 1892] |
| 1884 | Heidi by Johanna Spyri. 1st English Ed. 2 Vols. (Heidi's Early Experiences and Heidi's Further Experiences). |
| 1887 | Brownies: Their Book by Palmer Cox. New York: Century |
| 1887 | Internationaler Circus by Lothar Meggendorfer. Esslingen & Munchen: J.F. Schrieber |
| 1888 | Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. London: David Nutt [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1889 | Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang [Plus] the 10 Other Color Fairy Books. London: Longmans, Green |
| 1891 | Maud Humphrey's Mother Goose Illus. By Maud Humphrey. New York: Stokes |
| 1893 | Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti. 1st Ed. With the Illustrations by Laurence Housman. London: Macmillan [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] [1st Is 1862] |
| 1894 | Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. London: Macmillan |
| 1895 | Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls by Florence Upton. London: Longmans, Green |
| 1895 | Arabella and Araminta Stories Illustrated by Gertrude Smith. Boston: Copeland and Day [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1896 | Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson Illus. By Charles Robinson. London: John Lane, the Bodley Head [Issued Unillustrated First and this Illustrated Edition Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1896 | Jeanne D'arc by M. Boutet De Monvel. Paris: Plon Nourrit [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1897 | Mother Goose in Prose by L. Frank Baum Illus. By Maxfield Parrish. Chicago: Way & Williams |
| 1899 | Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman. London: Grant Richards |
| 1899 | Story of the Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit. London: T. Fisher Unwin |
| 1900 | Goops and How to Be Them by Gellett Burgess. New York: Stokes |
| 1900 | Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter - Privately Printed Ed. [Trade Edition First Published in 1902. London: Warne] |
| 1900 | Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Chicago: George M. Hill |
| 1901 | Denslow's Mother Goose by W.W. Denslow. New York: McClure Phillips |
| 1902 | Adventures of Uncle Lubin by W. Heath Robinson. London: Grant Richards |
| 1904 | Volga by Ivan Bilibin. St. Petersburg |
| 1904 | Poems of Childhood by Eugene Field Illus. By Maxfield Parrish. New York: Scribner |
| 1905 | Story of Noah's Ark by E. Boyd Smith. Boston: Houghton Mifflin |
| 1906 | Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: Hodder & Stoughton [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1906 | Peter Poodle: Toy Maker to the King by Will Bradley. New York: Dodd Mead |
| 1906 | Roosevelt Bears Their Travels and Adventures by Seymour Eaton. Philadelphia: Stern |
| 1908 | Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Boston: L.C. Page |
| 1908 | Hole Book by Peter Newell. New York: Harper Bros |
| 1908 | Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. London: Methuen |
| 1908 | Fables of Aesop Illustrated by Edward Detmold. London: Hodder & Stoughton [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1909 | Water Babies by Charles Kingsley Illustrated by Warwick Goble. London: Macmillan [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1910 | Sleeping Beauty Illustrated by Edmund Dulac. London: Hodder & Stoughton [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1911 | Peter and Wendy by J.m. Barrie. London: Hodder & Stoughton |
| 1911 | Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. NY: Stokes |
| 1911 | Treasure Island Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth. New York: Scribner |
| 1912 | Little Songs of Long Ago Illus. By H. Willebeek Le Mair. London: Augener [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1914 | East of the Sun and West of the Moon Illustrated by Kay Nielsen. London: Hodder & Stoughton [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1914 | Jessie Willcox Smith Mother Goose. New York: Dodd Mead |
| 1914 | Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess. Boston: Little Brown |
| 1915 | House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde Illus. By Jessie King. London: Methuen |
| 1916 | Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen Illustrated by Harry Clarke. London: George Harrap [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1918 | Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle. Joliet: Volland |
| 1919 | Macao et Cosmage by Edy Legrand. Paris: Nouvelle Revue |
| 1919 | Ship That Sailed to Mars by William Timlin. London: Harrap |
| 1920 | Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting. New York: Stokes |
| 1922 | Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Bianco. London: Heinemann |
| 1922 | Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat Illustrated by Robert Lawson. New York: James McCann |
| 1923 | ABC by C.B. Falls. New York: Doubleday Page [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1924 | Poppy Seed Cakes Illustrated by Maud & Miska Petersham. New York: Doubleday |
| 1925 | Knave of Hearts Illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. New York: Scribner |
| 1926 | Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne. London: Methuen [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1926 | Fairyland by Ida Outhwaite. Melbourne: Ramsay Pub. [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1928 | Bambi by Felix Salten. NY: Simon & Schuster 1st U.S. Ed. |
| 1928 | Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag. NY: Coward McCann [Also Issued In Deluxe Edition] |
| 1928 | Willy Pogany's Mother Goose. New York: Nelson [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1929 | Pirate Twins by William Nicholson. London: Faber & Faber [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1930 | First Picture Book by Edward Steichen. New York: Harcourt Brace |
| 1930 | Mother Goose Picture Book by Berta and Elmer Hader. New York: Coward McCann |
| 1930 | Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. NY: Platt & Munk |
| 1931 | L'Histoire De Babar. Paris: Jardin Des Modes [First Ed. In English pub. in 1933 in New York by Smith & Haas] |
| 1931 | Adventures of Mickey Mouse Book 1 by the Disney Studios. Philadelphia: McKay |
| 1932 | Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. New York: Harper Bros. |
| 1933 | Story about Ping by Margery Flack illus. Kurt Wiese. New York: Viking |
| 1934 | Mary Poppins by P.l. Travers. London: Gerald Howe |
| 1936 | Giant Otto & Otto at Sea by William Pene du Bois. New York: Viking |
| 1936 | Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain. London: Oxford Univ. Press |
| 1937 | And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss. New York: Vanguard |
| 1937 | Hobbitt by J.R.R. Tolkien. London |
| 1937 | Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. New York: Viking |
| 1937 | Animals of the Bible Illustrated by Dorothy Lathrop. New York: Stokes |
| 1938 | Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans. New York: Simon & Schuster |
| 1938 | Pumpkin Moonshine by Tasha Tudor. New York: Oxford Univ. Press |
| 1939 | Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin |
| 1939 | World Is Round by Gertrude Stein. New York: William Scott [Also Issued in Limited Edition] |
| 1939 | Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Illus. By N.C. Wyeth. NY: Scribner. [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition in 1940] |
| 1940 | Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt. New York: Simon & Schuster |
| 1941 | Curious George by H.A. Rey. Boston: Houghton Mifflin |
| 1941 | Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey. New York: Viking |
| 1943 | Little Prince by A. St. Exupery. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock [Also Issued in Deluxe Edition] |
| 1947 | Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. New York: Harper Brothers |
| 1950 | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. London: Bles |
| 1952 | Charlotte's Web by E.B. White. New York: Harper Bros. |
| 1955 | Eloise by Kay Thompson. New York: Simon & Schuster |
| 1962 | A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. New York: Ariel |
| 1963 |
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. New York: Harper & Row |
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This article first appeared in Firsts: the Book Collector's Magazine, Volume 3, No. 12. Copyright © by Firsts Magazine, Inc. No portion of this article may be reproduced or redistributed without their express written permission.