A More Playful Tone

John Latrobe (1803-1891)
The Juvenile National Calendar.
Baltimore: F. Lucas Jr. and Philadelphia: Ash & Mason [1825]
Rare Book & Special Collection Division (136B.5)
Purchase, 1997

Dame Duck's Lecture.
Boston: L. Prang, 1865
Rare Book & Special Collection Division
Gift/purchase from Marian S. Carson, 1997
(136C.11)

Books intended for children took on a more playful tone as the nineteenth century progressed. John Latrobe's classroom in the 1820s is a cheerful scene. Children are promised that they "may be presidents yet" through learning, goodness, and virtue. This rare, hand-colored pamphlet describes the duties of government officials in amusing verse. Progress in illustration helped to make books for children more attractive and entertaining. Chromolithography was perfected by Louis Prang of Boston in the 1860s. He printed popular maps and cards in color as well as illustrated books. Here Dame Duck instructs her nine ducklings how a well-bred duck should waddle, walk in a row, and swim.