Children's books
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Mother goose: the old nursery rhymes, 1913, is one of a number of gift books illustrated by Arthur Rackham -
This 1932 edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland is one of many illustrated editions in the Library's collection
Credit: Lewis Carroll, contributor Gwynedd M Hudson -
The scholemaster, 1571, is the oldest children’s book held by the Library -
Hornbooks were early alphabet books used in Europe from the 15th to 19th century
The Library has children’s books published between the 16th and 21st centuries, reflecting patterns of childhood reading over a period of 500 years.
The earliest children’s book held is The Scholemaster by Roger Ascham, former schoolmaster to the young Queen Elizabeth I, and subsequently published under her patronage in 1571. This book and other readers and primers reflect the instructional nature of the earliest books for children.
Our children's book collection shows the expansion over time from the didactic beginnings of children’s literature to works for children’s entertainment such as novels, illustrated fiction, picture books, graphic novels, poetry and traditional stories.
The Library has more than 100,000 children’s books from Australia and overseas, and this collection grows by approximately 2500 books – antiquarian and contemporary – each year.
Location at the Library
Find Children's Board Books, Children's Junior Fiction, Children's Junior Non-Fiction, Children's Senior Fiction, Children's Senior Non-Fiction via our onsite map.
