20th century overseas book collection
The Children’s
Literature Research Collection has a large collection of books and other
publications from the twentieth century. These range from limited editions
of classics by illustrators such as Edmund Dulac and Kay Nielsen to comics
and other magazines including Eagle, Magnet and Sunny Stories, as well as
encyclopaedias and text books.
First editions of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter’s Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies, J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle are among many favourites in the Collection. Contemporary moveable books present a wonderful array of colour and diversity and demonstrate the ingenuity of modern printing techniques. Popular school stories by Elinor Brent-Dyer, Elsie Oxenham and Richmal Crompton as well as the pony stories of the Pullein-Thompson sisters and Monica Edwards are well represented. So too, are the outstanding award winners of the century, together with the works of highly regarded writers, such as William Mayne and Rosemary Sutcliff.
American children’s literature is well represented and includes writers ranging from L. Frank Baum, to Laura Ingalls Wilder, Scott O’Dell and Katherine Paterson. European writers, whose work has been translated into English, include Erich Kästner, Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren while Lisbeth Zwerger, Tomi Ungerer, and Janosch are award-winning illustrators from Austria, France and Germany. Mitsumasa Anno and Maurice Sendak are author/illustrators whose work has become universally acclaimed. There are several thousand books in languages other than English.
