The Children’s Book Business: Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Century (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Children’s Book Business: Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Century Deborah Stevenson, Editor Paul, Lissa. The Children’s Book Business: Lessons from the Long Eighteenth Century. Routledge, 2011. 208 p. illus. with photographs ISBN 978-0-415-93789-4 $110.00. Esteemed children’s-literature scholar Paul takes a new historicist approach to Eliza Fenwick’s Visits to the Juvenile Library(1805), using that work as a jumping-off point to examine a variety of aspects of children’s literature and culture, both historical and contemporary. In a narrative imbued with her own clear voice, she takes a musing and digressive approach to topics such as the early nineteenth century bookstore, the morality reflected in works by Fenwick and her cohorts, and reconsiderations (in which Paul joins) of the often-minimized contributions of the female didactic writers of the day and some examination of their interrelated lives. While this is definitely a scholar’s book drawing on scholarly contexts, readers familiar with standard histories of children’s literature, especially Darton’s stalwart Children’s Books in England,will find food for thought in Paul’s championing of figures earlier historians have dismissed, and her exploration of historical publishing and children’s-book marketing offers telling comparisons to the modern publishing industry. Reproductions of period illustrations and other relevant images appear throughout; the book closes with detailed and expansive endnotes, an extensive bibliography, and an index. [End Page 448] Copyright © 2011 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois