Category Archives: Children’s Books

Using Primary Sources: new open access e-textbook launched

Posted on by

Special Collections & Archives has been a key contributor in “Using Primary Sources”, a newly launched Open Access teaching and study resource that combines archival and early printed source materials with high quality peer-reviewed chapters by leading academics.

Edited by Dr Jonathan Hogg, Senior Lecturer in Twentieth Century History at the University of Liverpool, with over 30 academics contributing, this project is a collaboration between Liverpool University Press, the University of Liverpool Library and JISC, and is available for free on the BiblioBoard platform.

Special Collections & Archives has provided images for several chapters across the Medieval, Early Modern and Modern anthologies. Dr Martin Heale’s chapter on Popular Religion features high resolution images from some of SC&A’s illuminated medieval manuscript treasures, including the Dance of Death scene in MS.F.2.14, a French Book of Hours from the late 15th century.  Death is represented as a rotting corpse, followed by a procession of a pope, an emperor and a cardinal. The depiction is intended to have a moral message: a reminder the end is the same for all, regardless of their wealth or status. The accompanying chapter provides the context for the interpretation of such primary sources, so as to better understand attitudes to popular religion during this period.

Dance of Death, Book of Hours (Use of Chalons), LUL MS F.2.14 f82r

Both the Cunard archive and the Rathbone papers feature in Dr Graeme Milne’s chapter on Business History, whilst items from our children’s literature collections have been selected for Dr Chris Pearson’s chapter on the Environment. Some of these items are also used in teaching classes, where students have the opportunity to see and interpret the volumes for themselves.

A. Johnston, Animals of the Countryside, 1941. Oldham 485

Title page of A. White, The instructive picture book, 1866 JUV.550.2

From the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament ephemera collected by Science Fiction author John Brunner to a 14th century English Book of Hours, “Using Primary Sources” is both a valuable showcase for SC&A’s collections, and an important open access resource for students.

The textbook can be accessed via the Library catalogue, or directly from: https://library.biblioboard.com/module/usingprimarysources.

You can read more about the project on the Liverpool University Press website, as well as an interview with editor Dr Jon Hogg.

Follow “Using Primary Sources” on Twitter @LivUniSources to find out when new themes are added to the e-textbook. Forthcoming chapters for launch in 2017 include Science & Medicine, Gender and Political Culture.

New Acquisition: February

Posted on by

February saw “The Garland, or Thirteen extracts with colored vignettes for rewards” added to the collections in Special Collections and Archives. 

This item, dated approximately 1820, has 14 leaves printed on the recto which are hand coloured throughout. Each leaf bears an illustration and a poem to reward a child for good behaviour. Some may have been more enjoyable than others for the juvenile reader …

The item also bears an interesting provenance, the book is signed on the first free endleaf recto “Ellen Claye Manchester November 1st 1822” and a blind stamp for a bookseller appears on the final free endleaf for “Claye, Printer and Stationer, Stockport”. Perhaps a gift from the bookseller for a young family member?

This item is now available for consultation in SCA so please do feel free to make an appointment.

Valentine’s Day

Posted on by

For Valentine’s Day this year, we’re highlighting five love-themed items in Special Collections & Archives…

John Wyndham’s poems for Grace Wilson

Science-fiction author John Wyndham is best known for his novels, including The Day of the Triffids (1951) and The Midwich Cuckoos (1957), but he also dabbled in poetry. His archive features several verses, most of which he wrote for Grace Wilson. They married in 1963, though they had been partners for around 30 years by the time they tied the knot.

Wyndham 8/4/1: 1944 Valentine from Wyndham to Grace Wilson

Wyndham 8/4/1: 1944 Valentine from Wyndham to Grace Wilson

Wyndham 8/6/2: 1962 Valentine from Wyndham to Grace Wilson

Wyndham 8/6/2: 1962 Valentine from Wyndham to Grace Wilson

 

Love Letter from George James Boswell to Hannah Chason

Percy Boswell was Professor of Geology at the University of Liverpool, 1917-1930, and his archive collection mostly consists of his academic and professional papers, such as essays, notes and correspondence. However, this letter, from Boswell’s great-grandfather George James Boswell, has also survived. It is addressed to Hannah Chason and is an ardent expression of Boswell’s love. He describes how his sincere friendship has ‘ripened into an affection of a more tender nature,’ and reassures her of his ‘perfectly honourable’ intentions, before proposing marriage. And marry they did, in 1855.

D4/2/2 Love letter from George James Boswell to Hannah Chason

D4/2/2 Love letter from George James Boswell to Hannah Chason

 

The Quiver of Love: A Collection of Valentines Ancient and Modern

Published in 1876, The Quiver of Love comprises verses from the likes of Christina Rossetti, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Sir Philip Sidney, along with a host of others, collected together in a volume which could be given as a gift, ‘either as a token of esteem, or as an indication of deeper regard.’ It also includes beautiful colour illustrations by artists Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway.

JUV.569:9 The Quiver of Love

JUV.509:9 The Quiver of Love

 

Happy Homes and How to Make Them (or Counsels on Love, Courtship, and Marriage)

This volume by J. W. Kirton, published in the 1870s, is packed full of advice in areas such as ‘Courting and Popping the Question,’ ‘The Mutual Duties of Married Life’ and ‘The Public-House the Rival of Home.’ To young men seeking a wife, the author urges them to ‘select the daughter of a good mother,’ ‘see that she is of domestic habits’ and ‘seek one that knows the worth of money,’ but warns them to ‘never trifle with any young woman’s affections, for it is cruel and wicked in the extreme.’ Women are advised to choose a mate who is respectable, careful, honest and healthy and, once married, to dress neatly but not extravagantly, learn to submit, and not talk about their husbands’ failings abroad (‘for if you have married a fool, it is not wisdom to go and tell every one that you have done so’).

JUV.414:2 Frontispiece of Happy Homes, and How to Make Them

JUV.414:2 Frontispiece of Happy Homes, and How to Make Them

 

Emblems of Love, in four languages

Emblem books, which first emerged in Europe in the 16th century, comprised symbolic pictures accompanied by mottoes, verses or prose. This volume, by poet and translator Philip J. Ayres, features beautiful engravings alongside verses in Latin, English, Italian and French; it is thought to date from the late 17th-early 18th century.

H35.26 Emblems of Love

SPEC H35.26 Emblems of Love

New Acquisitions: November

Posted on by

The Special Collections and Archives department has welcomed three notable accessions written by women to their collections in November.

Mont Blanc, and other poems by Mary Ann Browne, who is the sister of the more well know Liverpool poet Felicia Hemans, has been catalogued and added to the SCA collections. As SCA had acquired a portion of Hemans’ correspondence and archive previously, this new item makes an excellent accompaniment to this collection.

Mont Blanc, and other poems. SPEC 2016.b.024

Mont Blanc, and other poems. SPEC 2016.b.024

As well as containing the poems of fifteen-year-old Mary, the item has an interesting provenance history including a poem tipped into the beginning of the volume which begins “I know, my love, thou art false to me …”, a manuscript copy of the poem which appears on page 119. The book also bears the inscription of Mary Hiles, which has been cut away from the title-page, and a cut-out and handcoloured floral image pasted to the upper paste-down.

SPEC 2016.b.024 paste-down

Paste-down. SPEC 2016.b.024

"I know, my love, thou art false to me ..." SPEC 2016.b.024

“I know, my love, thou art false to me …” SPEC 2016.b.024

Poems by one of the authors of “Poems for youth, by a family circle” is written by Jane Roscoe (later Hornblower), the daughter of Liverpool luminary William Roscoe, who wrote “Butterfly’s Ball” for his family.

SPEC 2016.a.019(2)

SPEC 2016.a.019(2)

This handsome 1821 volume is bound in blind stamped pink calfskin and is one of only four reported copies in the UK. The Liverpool connection makes this edition a fine complement to the collections here which already boasts many items by or related to the Roscoe family.

Blind stamped pink calfskin. SPEC 2016 a.019

Blind stamped pink calfskin. SPEC 2016 a.019

Fabulous histories by the Suffolk author and educationalist Sarah Trimmer (1741-1810) uses stories from the animal kingdom to further children’s moral education and to teach about cruelty to animals. This 1786 copy is bound in 18th century sheepskin and is one of only 8 reported copies in the world. Many other works authored by the prolific Mrs Trimmer can be found in our children’s book collection, making this volume an excellent addition to the collections.

Fabulous histories. SPEC 2016.a.020

Fabulous histories. SPEC 2016.a.020

As ever, these items are available for consultation in the reading room here at SCA.

Spooky Collections and Arrrgh-chives!

Quote

Posted on by

Halloween is thought to originate from a Gaelic festival called Samhain that marked the end of the harvest season and the start of a new year. On this day, that stood on the verge between summer and winter,  it was believed that the boundaries between our world and the other-world would blur.

Today, Halloween is a great excuse to eat sweets, douse yourself in fake blood, and indulge in a bit of self-inflicted, adrenaline inducing, fear.

We are, it seems, and always have been, obsessed with the spine chilling and mysterious. We’ve picked some spooky books to wet your Halloween appetite. Prepare for a scare.

image1

We have a plethora of anatomy books (SPEC Anatomy) in Special Collections and Archives that were once part of the Medical School Library and used for teaching.

We couldn’t resist including these chilling images, taken from John Gordon’s Engravings of the Skeleton of the Human Body published in 1818.

‘This Plate exhibits a front and lateral view of the dried Skull of a Man, of a medium stature, aged thirty-one years […] the length of the line a, b, b, a on the Skull, was exactly four inches and three quarters.’

‘This Plate exhibits a front and lateral view of the dried Skull of a Man, of a medium stature, aged thirty-one years […] the length of the line a, b, b, a on the Skull, was exactly four inches and three quarters.’ [SPEC P.2.12 ] John Gordon, Engravings of the Skeleton of the Human Body, (London: T. & G. Underwood, 1870).

p. 8

View an online version here

Vikram and the Vampire is a collection of ancient Indian folk tales that were translated by the accomplished explorer and all-round fascinating Victorian gentleman, Richard Francis Burton. Richard F. Burton was a founding member of the Gypsy Lore Society, started in 1888 by scholars interested in the songs, stories and language of the Romany Gypsies. You can explore the Gypsy Lore Society Collections at Special Collections and Archives.

Published in 1870, Vikram and the Vampire tells the story of a clever and scheming vampire/evil spirit that animates dead bodies.This spooky first edition is complete with Ernest Griset’s grotesque illustrations.

Viram and the Vampire by Richard F. Burton (SPEC Y87.3.1916)

Viram and the Vampire by Richard F. Burton, Illustrated by Ernest Griset (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1870) [SPEC Y87.3.1916]

p. 64

View an online version here 

Halloween isn’t just for the adults – spooky tales for children also surface in our collection of  more than 7000 pre-First World War children’s books. Four Ghost Stories by Mrs Molesworth contains four tales of encounters with ghosts, set in the nineteenth century. Mrs Molesworth, or Mary Louisa Molesworth, was a late Victorian children’s author. Nightmare inducing ghost stories for children…Mrs Molesworth has a lot to answer for. We hold a number of works by Mrs Molesworth at Special Collections.

Mrs Molesworth, Four Ghost Stories, (London: Macmillan and Co., 1888).

 

 

You can view any of the items here at Special Collections and Archives, Sydney Jones Library, Liverpool University.

 

Baking in the Archives: puds, pies and towers of sugar

Posted on by

We’re celebrating the welcome return of the Great British Bake Off by showcasing some of the lesser-known, baking-themed items from our collections!

SC&A houses thousands of children’s books, including a few featuring cakes, pies and puddings, such as this gem of a picture book: A Apple Pie (1886), by highly influential  illustrator Kate Greenaway.

The first spread from Kate Greenaway's A Apple Pie

The first spread from Kate Greenaway’s A Apple Pie

Her amazing artistic abilities complement this tale of various children trying to get their hands on a tasty apple pie, with each letter corresponding to a different activity, for example:

Oldham 791 A Apple Pie (F and M)

Beatrix Potter’s The Roly-Poly Pudding (1908) recounts the (rather terrifying) tale of a mischievous kitten who attempts to hide from his mother and ends up in the chimney. Here he bumps into some nefarious rats who roll him up into a pudding. Thankfully he’s saved before things take an even darker turn.

JUV.188.10 The Roly-Poly Pudding

Our collection of children’s books also contains guides for the aspiring cook and baker. The Little Girl’s Cooking Book (1923) exhorts grown-ups to ‘Let the Little Girl try her hand at Cooking, if she wants to do so. Knowledge gained in this direction will be of practical worth to her throughout her life, no matter what her calling or position.’ It’s full of useful information, such as how to lay the table, clear away the breakfast things (‘Do everything with as little noise as possible!’) and make lunch for mother. It also contains numerous recipes, including those shown here, deemed suitable for when friends come round for a birthday tea.

Oldham 495 Little Girl's Cooking Book (Lemon Dream Cake)

Oldham 495 Little Girl's Cooking Book (Cocoanut Buns and Chocolate Cakes)

The Liverpool School of Cookery Recipe Book (1911) compiled by E. E. Mann covers everything from broiling to larding and is packed with recipes, including this intriguingly-named offering.

JUV.1401.1.2 Liverpool School of Cookery Recipe Book

It’s just not cakes the Great British Bake-offers have to create, of course, but savoury pies too. Recipes for a multitude of sweet and savoury dishes can be found in Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1755). Gibblet pie anyone?

Art of CookeryFrom the amateur, aspiring cooks and bakers, to the professionals. The following are just a few examples of the spectacular sugar work created by chefs aboard Cunard liners in the 1950s.

Cunard sugar work: the leaning tower of Pisa and a BBC camera!

Cunard sugar work: the leaning tower of Pisa and a BBC camera!

 

 

 

The curious phenomenon of Wonderland: 150 years on

Posted on by

Catherine Tully, School of the Arts student, investigates the enduring appeal of ‘Alice in Wonderland.’

Alice in Wonderland

Lewis Carroll’s masterpiece of children’s literature has celebrated its 150th anniversary and festivities of the famous event continue around the country this year.

Both novels, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are synonymous with children’s literature, and although there are no thorough records of the number of copies that have been sold, the novels have never been out of print. Over 100 different editions have been published and the books have been translated into 174 different languages.

The novels, most commonly referred to as Alice in Wonderland, have fascinated and enthralled readers for generations. Although reading culture has changed dramatically in the last 150 years, the novels remain timeless and appealing.  Alice offers readers iconic characters; an illusory narrative and hidden depths, meaning the books are captivatingly complex yet equally as easy to read.

Dr Esme Miskimmin, from the University’s Department of English, offers her opinion on its popularity: “They appeal to a variety of readers for a variety of reasons: they are thought of as children’s stories, but were also intended for and read by adults.

“There’s something for lovers of nonsense, of logic, hours of fun for the mathematically-minded, of whimsy, of nostalgia and Victoriana, to name but a few.”

Alice’s story has been re-illustrated and re-imagined for decades, yet despite many creators adapting the novels, it is the first illustrations of Alice that are used as a reference point for many.

After years of editions and artist impressions, Alice’s original red dress was widely established as blue after Carroll’s death in the editions of Alice and Through the Looking Glass published in 1911. The blue dress, together with white apron and stockings has remained the image of Alice ever since in both text and the Walt Disney 1951 film.

playing cards

The evolution of the illustrations of Alice can be viewed at the University’s Special Collections in the Sydney Jones Library. The Library houses many historic texts including several editions of Alice in Wonderland that document the changing persona of the character including drawings by John Tenniel, Margaret W. Tarrant, Mabel Lucie Attwell and Rene Cloke.

Dr Miskimmin said: “It can come as a surprise to us when we come to read, or re-read the books, as they are quite a long way removed from the version that exists in popular imagination.”

Alice is still widely interpreted and altered even today through work such as Tim Burton’s 2010 film Alice in Wonderland and his latest venture, Through the Looking Glass which is due to be released in May this year.

Since the novel has celebrated its sesquicentennial anniversary, events are still happening around the country to mark the novel’s longevity. Dr Miskimmin said of these events that “the best ones are those that go back to the texts themselves, and consider them aside from the cult they have generated.”

There is currently a free exhibition at the British Library in London that features Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript with his own hand-drawn illustrations alongside many other treasured editions. The novel is also celebrated through a new musical inspired by Lewis Carroll’s story, Wonderland featuring music by Blur’s Damon Albarn and is currently at the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre until April 2016.

Local Alice attractions include Lewis Carroll’s hometown in Cheshire, where he was born as Charles Dodgson in Daresbury, as well as two Alice in Wonderland theme cafes, Richmond Tea Rooms in Manchester and Mad Hatters Tea Room in Chester.

In his foreword to The Complete Alice by Lewis Carroll, Philip Pullman states that they “are as fresh and clever and funny today as they were a hundred and fifty years ago.” Alice in Wonderland is a great icon of English Literature and it is fantastic that the novels and characters are still so widely influential and celebrated today.

By Catherine Tully, School of the Arts student

To see the Alice in Wonderland books mentioned, please contact scastaff@liverpool.ac.uk to arrange a viewing.

Reposted from  University of Liverpool, Student News

The wanderers return

Posted on by

Janet Gnosspelius (1926-2010), who died five years ago this month, left a generous bequest to the University Library. Included in this were twenty-five titles by Arthur Ransome (1884-1967), the man her mother – Barbara Collingwood – might have married. Many of these are first editions inscribed by the author to Barbara before and after her marriage. The Ransome books unfortunately became separated from the donation before it reached the Library and were thought lost. They have recently been traced – just in time for the anniversary of Janet Gnosspelius’s death.

Dating from 1904 to 1962, the collection spans Ransome’s literary life and wide-ranging interests, from his impoverished start in London (The Souls of the Streets & other little papers,1904) to his eventual fame as the author of the Swallows and Amazons series. It includes the study of Oscar Wilde (1913) for which Lord Alfred Douglas sued Ransome for libel, the works drawn from his six years in Russia, where he worked as a secret agent for M16 (Russia in 1919, and The Crisis in Russia, 1921), the log of a sailing holiday in the Baltic after his move to Estonia, where he lived with and eventually married Trotsky’s secretary (‘Racundra’s’ First Cruise,1923), and one of his last books on another lifelong passion (Fishing, 1956).

SwallowsandAmazonsOf the twelve books in the Swallows and Amazons series, the Gnosspelius collection includes inscribed first editions of Swallows and Amazons (1930), Swallowdale (1931, dedicated to “Janet, with love from Uncle Arthur”), Peter Duck (1932), Winter Holiday (1933), Coot Club (1934), Pigeon Post (1936 – the first winner of the Carnegie Medal for children’s literature), and We Didn’t Mean to go to Sea (1937), and 1960s editions, with original dustjackets, of Secret Water, Missie Lee, The Picts and the Martyrs, and Great Northern?. The only missing title – The Big Six – is held in a first edition as part of the Oldham Children’s Book Collection.

The reunited Gnosspelius books now number 100, and are being catalogued and made available for consultation in Special Collections & Archives.

 

 

 

 

 

#LivUniSCA Dec.18

Aside

Mary Francis Billington one of the first women to report on the War overcame a great deal of prejudice from her male colleagues. She often wrote about the work of volunteer nurses at the front.

Girls Own 1st world war nursing 2

Photograph from The Girl’s Own Annual, v. 38, 1916. University of Liverpool Library: JUV.573

Over by Christmas. December 18. See the 2014 Advent calendar on the SC&A website.