The Origins of Children's Literature, 1658–1834

Drawing on a diverse range of materials from the long Eighteenth Century, this study provides a new account of the origins of children's literature. During this vibrant period, works as varied as encyclopaedias, nursery rhymes, catechisms, and moral tales emerged from the desire to convey profound concepts to audiences in the earliest stages of understanding, supplying multum in parvo, 'much in little'. Changing conceptions of children's bodies, lifespans, social scale, and mental capacity resulted in works that strove to be little in remarkably different ways. Whether facilitating readers' paths towards adulthood or an early grave, supplying them with couplets, abridgements, or tales in words of one syllable, children's literature has from its beginnings treated simplicity as the entryway to life's biggest questions. The belief that young people deserve access to complex ideas remains at the heart of children's publishing today, reflecting the significance of early children's literature to modern childhood.