Cotsen Children's Library facts for kids
The Cotsen Children's Library is a special library located inside the Princeton University Library. It's a place where you can find an amazing collection of children's books, old writings called manuscripts, original artwork, and even educational toys. These items come from all over the world and from different times, going back to the 1400s!
This incredible collection was given to the library in 1997 by its owner, Lloyd E. Cotsen. It's a "research collection," which means it's used by people who want to study the history of children's books and learning.
What You Can Find at the Library
The Cotsen Children's Library has materials in many different languages. You can find books and items in English, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, and Russian.
Amazing Treasures
The library is home to many unique and old items. Some of the special treasures include:
- An early Christian schoolbook written in Coptic, an ancient Egyptian language.
- Medieval manuscripts, which are books written by hand long ago.
- Scrapbooks made by the famous fairy tale writer Hans Christian Andersen.
- Drawings by well-known artists like Edward Lear and Samuil Marshak.
- Picture letters drawn by Beatrix Potter, who wrote and illustrated the Peter Rabbit books.
- Very old versions of fairy tales by Madame d’Aulnoy, Charles Perrault, and the Brothers Grimm.
- A large collection of books published by John Newbery, who was a very important early publisher of children's books.
- Soviet Constructivist children's books, which have a unique art style.
- American dime novels, which were popular, inexpensive adventure stories.
- Moveable books, which have parts that pop up or move.
- Jigsaw puzzles and educational playing cards from long ago.
- Many other toys from different time periods.
International Collections
The Cotsen Children's Library also has some of the best collections of children's books from other countries, outside of their home countries:
- It has over 10,000 Japanese children's books, making it the best collection outside of Japan.
- It also has over 35,000 Chinese children's books, which is the best collection outside of China.
