Children's Books

Marmaduke Multiply.
Boston: Munroe and Francis, 1839.
Rare Book & Special Collections Division

Marian Carson's special interest in collecting children's literature has brought to the Library a splendid gathering of rare and fragile pieces, printed primarily in Philadelphia and New York during the first half of the nineteenth century. Through charming verse and delightful illustration these tiny survivors document the emerging emphasis on reading for pleasure and entertainment rather than exclusively for moral instruction and help us to better understand the minds of the adults that produced them.