History of Collectible children's literature
In a historical context, the term “ children's literature ” is a fairly young phenomenon since the children's books emerged as a distinct and independent genre only a little more than two centuries ago. I thought my readers would enjoy and appreciate a short recap of history related to the children's books, as well as some interesting facts related to the most famous examples of the genre.
Prior to the eighteenth century books rarely were created for children, and even those books that were created were not intended for pure amusement, but rather for educational purposes, such as grammar books, religious books, and books on manners. At the end of the 17th and early 18th centuries it became evident that there is a need for children to read for pleasure and enjoyment, not only to satisfy educational needs. The writings of such philosophers as Locke and Rousseau influenced British educators to take a more humane approach to education in which enjoyment was considered an aid to learning.
By the early eighteenth century interest in children's literature (and a rise in literary) led to new markets and a flourishing of new publishers, particularly in England. The most important of the early publishers was John Newbery (1713-67). Newbery ran his London bookshop from 1745 to 1767, publishing vast quantities of children's literature of all types as well as a wide range of books on reading, philosophy, and science.
Other enterprising London publishers who succeeded Newbery were John Harris, who published a number of fairy tales and nursery rhymes, and John Marshall, whose books were published in a variety of forms, including the first infant libraries. Children's literature at this time ranged from the more expensive editions to the widely published chapbooks, inexpensive pamphlets distributed by peddlers throughout the countryside.
The two most significant genres of eighteenth century children's literature were the fairy tale and the moral tale. Fairy tales, which had been passed down from generation to generation through oral tradition, were first collected and put into print at the French court of Louis XIV and contain the first written versions of such timeless tales as "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," "Red Riding Hood," "Blue Beard”, “Puss in the Boots,” and others. “Moral” or cautionary tales, in which good children were rewarded and bad children were appropriately punished, were generally of less interest with regard to illustrations than were fairy tales, but it was not until well into the nineteenth century that fairy tales came to dominate the children's book market.
The nineteenth century heralded the arrival of timeless children classics as the understanding of childhood as a period of time to be enjoyed, took a more definitive shape. During the latter half of the century many of the classics of children's literature in English appeared, including Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Louisa May Alcott's Little Women (1868-69), Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (1883), Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book (1894). This period also saw the emergence of the picture book in which illustrations - and the artist's vision - were at least as important as the text.
In the twentieth century near-universal literacy in developed countries and technical advances made it possible to produce relatively inexpensive high-quality illustrated books that have contributed to the tremendous growth in children's literature publishing. Nothing, however, could compare with the glory and splendor of W. W. Denslow's illustrations for L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). These illustrations included one hundred two-color images and twenty-four full-color plates, making it one of the most elaborate books of its time.
I was always curious in these days of technological advances as to the level of interest that is being exhibited towards what I would consider the examples of classic children’s literature, namely the books that withstood the test of time. I decided to take a look at the Wikipedia’s List of classic children's literature (
Wikipedia
). Most of these books were printed prior to 1960 and each has over 1 million searches on Google worldwide (I have to note that while using Google search may provide accurate statistics in general, it does not always take into consideration a variety of other factors. For example, searching for “Peter Pan,” gives stats not only for books, but also movies, characters, costumes, Disney, toys, games, etc. In order to make sure that I am not comparing apples and oranges, I only chose in the first sampling to provide books-related statistics in order to achieve the most accurate results).
These are statistics for 82 titles with monthly searches in Google worldwide and US:
|
Title - Author - Year
|
World search
|
US search
|
|
Arabian
Nights or One Thousand and One Nights
|
12,100
|
4400
|
|
A
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - 1853
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
Aesop's
Fables - William Caxton (Translation) - 1484
|
1,000
|
320
|
|
Don
Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes - 1616
|
12,100
|
2,900
|
|
A
Token for Children - James Janeway - 1675
|
170
|
91
|
|
Pilgrim's
Progress - John Bunyan - 1678
|
12,100
|
5,400
|
|
Robinson
Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - 1719
|
2,400
|
720
|
|
Swallows
and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - 1930-1931
|
12,100
|
1,300
|
|
Gulliver's
Travels - Jonathan Swift - 1726
|
1,000
|
480
|
|
Tales
of Mother Goose - Charles Perrault - 1729 (English)
|
720
|
390
|
|
Little
Pretty Pocket-book - John Newbery - 1744
|
390
|
210
|
|
Little
Goody Two Shoes - Oliver Goldsmith - 1765
|
320
|
210
|
|
The
Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Rudolf Wyss - 1812-1813
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
The
Nutcracker and the King of Mice - E.T.A Hoffman – 1816
|
210
|
140
|
|
Ivanhoe
- Walter Scott - 1819
|
590
|
320
|
|
The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving - 1819
|
1,900
|
1,000
|
|
Rip
Van Winkle - Washington Irving - 1820
|
2,900
|
1,900
|
|
Grimm's
Fairy Tales - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - 1823 (English)
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
The
Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo - 1831
|
720
|
390
|
|
A
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - 1843
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
The
Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas, pre - 1844
|
1,900
|
880
|
|
Fairy
Tales - Hans Christian Andersen - 1846 (English)
|
3,600
|
1,000
|
|
The
Children of the New Forest - Frederick Marryat – 1847
|
2,400
|
140
|
|
Slovenly
Peter - Heinrich Hoffmann - 1848 (English)
|
320
|
260
|
|
David
Copperfield - Charles Dickens – 1850
|
18,100
|
2,900
|
|
The
Coral Island - R. M. Ballantyne – 1857
|
2,900
|
1,000
|
|
Tom
Brown's Schooldays - Thomas Hughes - 1857
|
880
|
170
|
|
The
Water Babies - Charles Kingsley – 1863
|
5,400
|
1,600
|
|
A
Journey to the Center of the Earth - Jules Verne - 1864
|
2,900
|
1,000
|
|
Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - 1865
|
9,900
|
2,900
|
|
Hans
Brinker or the Silver Skates - Mary Mapes Dodge – 1865
|
880
|
720
|
|
Little
Women - Louisa May Alcott – 1868
|
9,900
|
4,400
|
|
Lorna
Doone - R. D. Blackmore – 1869
|
210
|
73
|
|
Twenty
Thousand Leagues under the Sea - Jules Verne - 1870
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
At
the Back of the North Wind - George MacDonald – 1871
|
880
|
590
|
|
The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald - 1871
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
Through the Looking-Glass - Lewis Carroll - 1871
|
1,900
|
1,000
|
|
What
Katy Did - Susan Coolidge - 1873
|
210
|
28
|
|
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain - 1876
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
Black
Beauty - Anna Sewell – 1877
|
3,600
|
1,600
|
|
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle - 1883
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
|
Nights
with Uncle Remus - Joel Chandler Harris - 1883
|
1,300
|
1,000
|
|
Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1883
|
12,100
|
6,600
|
|
Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - 1884
|
1,900
|
1,600
|
|
Heidi
- Johanna Spyri - 1884 (English)
|
6,600
|
1,000
|
|
King
Solomon's Mines - H. Rider Haggard - 1885
|
4,400
|
1,000
|
|
Kidnapped
- Robert Louis Stevenson - 1886
|
5,400
|
1,900
|
|
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1886
|
9,900
|
3,600
|
|
The
Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde - 1888
|
14,800
|
1,600
|
|
The
Blue Fairy Book - Andrew Lang - 1889
|
1,000
|
590
|
|
The
Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi - 1891 (English)
|
6,600
|
2,400
|
|
The
Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling - 1894
|
4,400
|
1,900
|
|
Seven
Little Australians - Ethel Turner - 1894
|
1,300
|
91
|
|
Moonfleet
- J. Meade Falkner – 1898
|
27,100
|
1,000
|
|
The
Story of the Treasure Seekers - E. Nesbit - 1899
|
590
|
170
|
|
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum - 1900
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
Five
Children and It - E. Nesbit – 1902
|
5,400
|
1,300
|
|
Just So Stories - Rudyard Kipling - 1902
|
6,600
|
2,900
|
|
The
Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter - 1902
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
|
King
Arthur and His Knights - Howard Pyle - 1902-3
|
4,400
|
2,900
|
|
The
Call of the Wild - Jack London - 1903
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
Rebecca
of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin – 1903
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
Peter
Pan - J. M. Barrie – 1904
|
5,400
|
1,900
|
|
A
Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1905
|
880
|
260
|
|
The Railway Children - E. Nesbit - 1906
|
27,100
|
1,300
|
|
White
Fang - Jack London – 1906
|
1,600
|
1,000
|
|
Anne
of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery - 1908
|
2,400
|
1,300
|
|
The
Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - 1908
|
1,000
|
320
|
|
The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1909/1911
|
3,600
|
1,600
|
|
The
Lost World - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - 1912
|
880
|
260
|
|
Pollyanna
- Eleanor H. Porter – 1913
|
590
|
320
|
|
The
Magic Pudding - Norman Lindsay - 1918
|
1,900
|
140
|
|
Winnie
The Pooh - A.A Milne - 1926
|
3,600
|
1,300
|
|
House
At Pooh Corner - A.A Milne - 1927
|
1,000
|
480
|
|
The
Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien – 1937
|
3,600
|
1,900
|
|
Pippi
Longstocking - Astrid Lindgren - 1945
|
2,400
|
1,300
|
|
Goodnight
Moon - Margaret Wise Brown - 1947
|
1,900
|
1,000
|
|
The
Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - 1943
|
4,400
|
1,600
|
|
The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis – 1950
|
4,400
|
2,400
|
|
The
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - 1954-1955
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
Momo
- Michael Ende – 1973
|
12,100
|
390
|
|
The
Never Ending Story - Michael Ende - 1979
|
1,600
|
480
|
After sorting data Worldwide,
below is a list of top 30 titles
|
Title
- Author – Year
|
World
search
|
US search
|
|
Moonfleet
- J. Meade Falkner – 1898
|
27,100
|
1,000
|
|
The Railway Children - E. Nesbit - 1906
|
27,100
|
1,300
|
|
David
Copperfield - Charles Dickens – 1850
|
18,100
|
2,900
|
|
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum – 1900
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
The
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - 1954-1955
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
The
Happy Prince and Other Tales - Oscar Wilde 11888
|
14,800
|
1,600
|
|
Arabian
Nights or One Thousand and One Nights
|
12,100
|
4400
|
|
Don
Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes – 1616
|
12,100
|
2,900
|
|
Pilgrim's
Progress - John Bunyan – 1678
|
12,100
|
5,400
|
|
Swallows
and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - 1930-1931
|
12,100
|
1,300
|
|
Treasure
Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1883
|
12,100
|
6,600
|
|
Momo
- Michael Ende – 1973
|
12,100
|
390
|
|
Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - 1865
|
9,900
|
2,900
|
|
Little
Women - Louisa May Alcott – 1868
|
9,900
|
4,400
|
|
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1886
|
9,900
|
3,600
|
|
The
Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Rudolf Wyss - 1812-3
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
- Jules Verne - 1870
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald - 1871
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
The
Call of the Wild - Jack London - 1903
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
A
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - 1843
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain - 1876
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
Heidi
- Johanna Spyri - 1884 (English)
|
6,600
|
1,000
|
|
The
Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi - 1891 (English)
|
6,600
|
2,400
|
|
Just So
Stories - Rudyard Kipling - 1902
|
6,600
|
2,900
|
|
The
Water Babies - Charles Kingsley - 1863
|
5,400
|
1,600
|
|
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle - 1883
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
|
Kidnapped
- Robert Louis Stevenson - 1886
|
5,400
|
1,900
|
|
Five
Children and It - E. Nesbit - 1902
|
5,400
|
1,300
|
|
The
Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter - 1902
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
Sorting
Data by US
|
Title
- Author – Year
|
World search
|
US search
|
|
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum - 1900
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
The
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - 1954-1955
|
18,100
|
8,100
|
|
Treasure
Island - Robert Louis Stevenson - 1883
|
12,100
|
6,600
|
|
Pilgrim's
Progress - John Bunyan – 1678
|
12,100
|
5,400
|
|
Arabian
Nights or One Thousand and One Nights
|
12,100
|
4400
|
|
Little
Women - Louisa May Alcott – 1868
|
9,900
|
4,400
|
|
The Princess and the Goblin - George MacDonald - 1871
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
The
Call of the Wild - Jack London – 1903
|
8,100
|
4,400
|
|
Little Lord Fauntleroy - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1886
|
9,900
|
3,600
|
|
The
Swiss Family Robinson - Johann Rudolf Wyss - 1812-3
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea
- Jules Verne - 1870
|
8,100
|
3,600
|
|
A
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens – 1843
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain - 1876
|
6,600
|
3,600
|
|
David
Copperfield - Charles Dickens – 1850
|
18,100
|
2,900
|
|
Don
Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes – 1616
|
12,100
|
2,900
|
|
Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - 1865
|
9,900
|
2,900
|
|
Just So
Stories - Rudyard Kipling - 1902
|
6,600
|
2,900
|
|
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle - 1883
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
|
The
Tale of Peter Rabbit - Beatrix Potter – 1902
|
5,400
|
2,900
|
|
King
Arthur and His Knights - Howard Pyle - 1902-3
|
4,400
|
2,900
|
|
The
Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi - 1891 (English)
|
6,600
|
2,400
|
|
The
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis - 1950
|
4,400
|
2,400
|
|
A
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens – 1853
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
Grimm's
Fairy Tales - Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - 1823 (English)
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
Rebecca
of Sunnybrook Farm - Kate Douglas Wiggin – 1903
|
3,600
|
2,400
|
|
Kidnapped
- Robert Louis Stevenson – 1886
|
5,400
|
1,900
|
|
Peter
Pan - J. M. Barrie – 1904
|
5,400
|
1,900
|
|
The
Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling – 1894
|
4,400
|
1,900
|
|
The
Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien – 1937
|
3,600
|
1,900
|
Conclusion: Based on the data above, it appears that the search for the Wizard of Oz books is at the very top (first place) with the Lord of the Rings books.
As a next step, I decided to modify the search by expanding the scope of search to a theme, rather than only books (For example, a person who is looking for Peter Pan bus service might first type "Peter Pan” in the Google search, and then refine it later to “bus”, “transportation”, etc.). This is the list of 25 most popular titles that came up in the World and the US:
|
Title - Author -
Year
|
World search
|
US search
|
|
Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - 1865
|
4,090,000
|
1,500,000
|
|
The Merry
Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle - 1883
|
3,350,000
|
673,000
|
|
The
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - 1954-1955
|
2,740,000
|
823,000
|
|
Peter
Pan - J. M. Barrie - 1904
|
2,240,000
|
550,000
|
|
Winnie
The Pooh - A.A Milne - 1926
|
1,500,000
|
450,000
|
|
The
Wonderful Wizard of Oz - L. Frank Baum - 1900
|
1,220,000
|
823,000
|
|
Treasure Island - Robert Louis
Stevenson - 1883
|
823,000
|
450,000
|
|
A
Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens - 1843
|
673,000
|
301,000
|
|
Don
Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes - 1616
|
673,000
|
135,000
|
|
The
Adventures of Pinocchio - Carlo Collodi - 1891 (English)
|
673,000
|
135,000
|
|
The Adventures
of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain - 1876
|
450,000
|
135,000
|
|
The
Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling - 1894
|
368,000
|
135,000
|
|
The
Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien – 1937
|
368,000
|
165,000
|
|
Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain - 1884
|
301,000
|
246,000
|
|
Robinson
Crusoe - Daniel Defoe - 1719
|
301,000
|
40,500
|
|
Black
Beauty - Anna Sewell – 1877
|
246,000
|
74,000
|
|
The
Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas, père - 1844
|
201,000
|
74,000
|
|
A
Little Princess - Frances Hodgson Burnett - 1905
|
201,000
|
49,500
|
|
Little
Women - Louisa May Alcott - 1868
|
165,000
|
90,500
|
|
A
Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - 1853
|
165,000
|
110,000
|
|
The
Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo - 1831
|
135,000
|
60,500
|
|
The
Call of the Wild - Jack London - 1903
|
110,000
|
74,000
|
|
Arabian
Nights or One Thousand and One Nights
|
22,200
|
12,100
|
|
Pilgrim's
Progress - John Bunyan - 1678
|
12,100
|
5,400
|
|
The Princess
and the Goblin - George MacDonald - 1871
|
9,900
|
5,400
|
It is interesting to
note the comparison of popularity of a particular title in the US vs. the
World. For example, both titles, “Lord of the Rings” and “Wizard of Oz,” have the
same number of searches in the US (823,000 monthly), yet the “Lord of the Rings”
has twice as many searches worldwide.
Below is a list of some other
popular titles for comparison purposes.
|
Title - Author -
Year
|
World search
|
US search
|
|
Harry Potter
|
24,900,000
|
6,120,000
|
|
Cinderella
|
2,740,000
|
823,000
|
|
Dracula
|
1,500,000
|
301,000
|
|
Frankenstein
|
1220000
|
550000
|
|
To Kill a Mockingbird
|
823,000
|
673,000
|
|
Little Red Riding
Hood
|
246,000
|
135,000
|
|
Around the World
in 80 Days
|
135,000
|
27100
|
|
The Secret Garden
|
135000
|
40500
|
|
Doctor Dolittle
|
90500
|
18100
|
|
20000 Leagues Under
the Sea
|
22200
|
12100
|
While I admit that my background in computer science industry often affects some of interests, I suggest that all these statistics give a good indication of popularity of various children's literature and may be quite useful to anyone interested in collecting children’s books.
In addition, as we all know, the new movie releases usually have a tremendous impact on any specific title, as can be seen from the Alice in Wonderland taking first position in the number of searches. Although the Wizard of Oz shares first place with the Lord of the Rings in the US and 3 through 5 positions in the World, its popularity is likely to increase even more with new Oz related movies that are already in the development.
Return from this Childrens books article page to Oz Newsletter page
Return from this Children's Literature article page to Wizard of Oz books home page
|
