Small Mischief

Talk story about the exhibit at the Morgan Library called "Small Mischief: Evil Doings and Odd Disasters in Early Children's Books." Writer spoke to Gerald Gottlieb, the curator of Early Children's Books at the Library, who said that there were no children's books before the 18th century. Before 1740, children were regarded as pint-sized adults. Then, when the industrial revolution produced a new, affluent middle class, children became a vehicle for the demonstration of this recently acquired wealth. They were dressed up, taught manners, and given books. Gottlieb said that his assistant Mary-Parke Johnson selected 66 examples from the Morgan's vast collection of more than 6000 children's books, to illustrate the nature of early literature of this sort through the main themes of mischief, catastrophe, and proper behavior. All the books in the exhibit are rare, and chronologically they range from a rhyming French guide to manners printed in 1487 to such classics of the 1930's as "Babar en Famille," and "The Story of Ferdinand." The earliest books were small and crudely printed. Writer surveyed the exhibit and tells her own and Mr. Gottlieb's favorites. Children's books have been treated with disdain by adults, because many of the early ones were written by hack writers and printed sloppily. But perhaps the best way to learn of another era is not from great writers but from second-rate writers. Great writers transcend their times, but second-rate writers are mired by theirs. These books show fascinating glimpses of the joys and sorrows of growing up in a world very remote from the one we live in.

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