Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books facts for kids

The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books is a very special collection of books for young people. It has over 80,000 items! This collection is kept at the Toronto Public Library in Canada. It helps us learn about the history of children's books.

What's in the Collection?

The Osborne Collection has grown a lot over the years. It now covers a huge period of history. When Edgar Osborne first gave his books, the oldest one was from 1566. That was about 400 years old at the time. Today, the oldest item in the collection is a cuneiform tablet. This tablet is about 4,000 years old!

The Original Osborne Collection

The main part of the collection is still the original Osborne books. These books were published up to the year 1910. This means they are all quite old! The collection includes many different types of books. You can find famous stories and popular books from the past. It also has fun, unique items like moveable books. These books have parts you can pull or lift. There are also tiny miniature books.

The collection also has many works by an author named G. A. Henty. He wrote nearly 1,800 items in the collection! You can also find the Pettingell Collection. This part has old magazines and "penny dreadfuls." Penny dreadfuls were cheap, exciting story papers. The collection even holds the childhood books of famous people. These include Florence Nightingale and Queen Mary.

Other Important Collections

Over time, three more special collections have been added:

The Lillian H. Smith Collection

This collection was added in 1962. It is named after Lillian H. Smith. She was the first trained children's librarian in the British Empire. She created library services for children in Toronto. Edgar Osborne was very impressed by her work in 1934.

The Lillian H. Smith Collection includes creative books. These books have great stories and beautiful art. They were published in English after 1911. This was important because the main Osborne Collection only went up to 1910. This collection was started 50 years after Smith opened the first children's library in Toronto in 1912.

The Canadiana Collection

The Canadiana collection focuses on children's books connected to Canada. This means books about Canada, or by Canadian publishers or illustrators. Some special items in this collection are:

• The original handwritten book of An Illustrated Comic Alphabet (1859). This was the first picture book made in Canada.
• Books from small press publishers. These are smaller, independent publishers.
• A collection of works by current Canadian authors.

The Jean Thomson Collection of Original Art

This collection was added in 1977. It is named after Jean Thomson. She was also a children's librarian and led the Toronto Public Library. This collection has over one thousand pieces of original artwork. This art comes from both Canadian and non-Canadian illustrators.

Some Canadian illustrators include Elizabeth Cleaver, Laszlo Gal, Marie-Louise Gay, Margaret Bloy Graham, and Barbara Reid. Famous non-Canadian illustrators include Maurice Sendak, Edward Ardizzone, Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane, Kate Greenaway, and Arthur Rackham.

Supporting the Collection

The Osborne Collection is supported by kind donations. A group called "The Friends of the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Collections" was started in 1966. People from all over the world can join this group. In Britain, the Friends group is known as the Children's Books History Society.