Category Archives: Animals

Wheels: Bicycles, Sleighs and Chariots in Nineteenth-century Children’s Books

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Les Enfans Parisiens. Paris: Chez Aubert & Cie. [ca. 1850]. (Cotsen 22849)

An elegant, low-slung coach drawn by a matched pair of stylish young gentlemen for an afternoon ride through the park?  This enormous plate (24 x 29 cm.) comes from Les enfans parisiens: Jeux, exercice et amusements (Paris: Aubert & cie, ca. 1850].

Lustige gesellschaft. München: Braun & Schneider, 1867. (Cotsen 34396)

If you have to have fresh air no matter what the weather, this is the sleigh for you.  Graf Franz von Pocci designed this sleek, minimal vehicle for an illustration to a poem in his Lustige gesellschaft: Bilderbuch von Fr. Pocci (Munich: Braun & Schneider, 1867).

Het nieuwe apenspel. Amsterdam: G. Theod. Bom, [1862]. (Cotsen 52644)

Something with more power?  These simian charioteers were dreamed up by Jacobus Wilhelmus Adrianus Hilverdink for Jan Schnkman’s Het nieuwe apenspel (Amsterdam: G. Theodore Bom, 1862).

Little Hearts. London, Manchester and New York: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1897. (Cotsen 15288)

There’s always the reliable old bicycle.  It’s not fast or flashy, but it can take you where you want to go.  Florence Upton drew this image of a little girl polishing up her big brother’s bike for her mother’s Little Hearts (London, Manchester, New York: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1897), several years before she scored an enormous hit with the Golliwog series.

All these pictures of vehicles were chosen to illustrate the theme of transportation in the nineteenth-century volumes of the Cotsen catalogue.

Welcome back to Bookscape, Tigers!

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The tigers in the Cotsen stacks welcome all alumni, alumnas, and their little ones to take a break in the Bookscape gallery during Reunions this weekend.

There are lots of books–board books, picture books, and chapter books galore to read in the comfy chairs or the giant bonsai tree while you’re there.  Just remember they stay in the gallery so other people can enjoy them during their visit.

Check out the Sendak clock in its amazing case in the entryway before taking a look at our current exhibition “Steadfast Toy Soldiers.”  Find the Kite Wall and see which high flyer is your favorite–Hedwig, the tiger-angel fish, the dragon…  And if your dad or mom lifts you up, you can pet Shere Khan on the top of the Wall of Books.

And please help yourself to one of our gallery publications, which are drawn on the amazing resources of the research collection.  There’s  More Tigers, a great selection of Princeton’s favorite great cat, On the Road, a tribute to the automobile,  Puss in Boots, which has the fairy tale and pictures of its amazing  hero, and Party Animals, to get you in the spirit.