Houghton Library has loaned two books to an important exhibition at New York City’s Grolier Club. One Hundred Books Famous in Children’s Literature is the sixth in a notable series of “Grolier Hundred” exhibitions. The Grolier Club previously has organized only five such exhibitions in its 130-year history, focusing on English literature (1902), American literature (1946), science (1958), medicine (1994) and fine printed books (1999). These admired exhibitions have set the standard for book collecting and reading enjoyment in their fields, and the organizers expect no less from this new addition to the Grolier Hundred canon.
This exhibition presents 100 famous children’s books, printed in the last 400 years, from 1600 to 2000. Some of the beloved books on display in the exhibition are Robinson Crusoe, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Tom Sawyer, Treasure Island, Peter Rabbit, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, Winnie-the-Pooh, Charlotte’s Web, The Cat in the Hat, Where the Wild Things Are, and Harry Potter. These classics and others ~ many famous today, some only in their time ~ 
will bring smiles of enjoyment to adults and children alike. Selected by the curator, children’s book authority Chris Loker, with advice from an international team of children’s book scholars and experts, the books are those deemed famous because they were widely known at the time of their creation, and admired over following generations ~ in the process demonstrating literary merit and unparalleled popularity.
Houghton Library loaned its copy of John Bunyan’s A Book for Boys and Girls, 1686, published 10 years after Bunyan’s more famous Pilgrim’s Progress, which was also read by children, but intended for adults, a fact that may have inspired this later work. It is no. 3 in the exhibition. No. 5B is the first known English translation of Charles Perrault’s Histories or Tales of Past Times, 1729. The texts include “Cinderella,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots” and “Little Red Riding Hood.”
The exhibition closes on Saturday 7 February 2015, but copies of the catalogue will be added to Houghton Library.
This post was contributed by William P. Stoneman, Curator of Early Books and Manuscripts.