The Girl's Own BookMain MenuEllery Yale WoodABCsPrimersEducational TextsVirtue and ViceMethods of IllustrationFairy TalesFolk TalesDoll BooksSchool StoriesPeriodicals and Magazines for ChildrenDomestic SkillsNonsense BooksBooks to EntertainToy and Movable BooksDerivative and Transformative WorksBeyond the Nineteenth-Century Girl ReaderThanks and AcknowledgementsMarianne Hansene5c1491b9c20d37a95fc0356366eeb2ddecf682bFor questions or assistance with accessing content on this site, please write to Marianne Hansen.
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1media/T_red 130_thumb.jpg2020-08-11T19:05:55+00:00Marianne Hansene5c1491b9c20d37a95fc0356366eeb2ddecf682b182Display initial T as the first letter of the word 'Transformations'plain2020-08-25T17:20:52+00:00Marianne Hansene5c1491b9c20d37a95fc0356366eeb2ddecf682b
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12020-04-27T18:17:14+00:00Derivative and Transformative Works14plain2020-08-11T22:38:34+00:00ransformations of, and derivations from, existing texts are nowhere more apparent historically than in books for young readers. Popular works begat sequels and series. Figures from well-known stories, including fairy tales and nursery rhymes, featured in cheap anonymous works created rapidly by profit-conscious publishers. Canonical texts, including the Bible, novels, and plays, were simplified, shortened, extracted, and sanitized. And imitation and parody built on the strengths of already popular books.
The Butterfly’s Ball and the Grasshopper’s Feast evoked a host of similar poetic accounts of parties given by animals, but The Butterfly’s Funeral is the only true sequel; the guests from the Ball return to mourn their host. Goody Two Shoes’ Birthday gathers a coterie of well-known literary figures: the hostess; the fabled Dick Whittington; Pompey the Little, canine hero of a 1751 satire on fashionable society; and Old Mother Hubbard. Tales from Shakespear retells some of Shakespeare’s plays for a juvenile audience, removing anything inappropriate for young readers. Robinson Crusoe represents an extreme condensation of a long narrative — the original text filled 364 pages, while the chapbook has 16. The author of Elsie’s Expedition imitated and reused story structure, setting, and events; he wrote in a foreword, ‘I admit that this book would, in all probability never have been written, had I not seen “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”’ The Egyptian Struwwelpeter is a spoof of Hoffman’s parodic cautionary verses.
12020-05-05T18:00:07+00:00Thanks and Acknowledgements8plain2021-03-02T21:41:39+00:00hanks are due the Friends of the Bryn Mawr College Libraries for their support for The Girl’s Own Book and associated programs. A generous gift from Ellen Michelson ’P09 has made possible the cataloging of the Ellery Yale Wood Collection of Books for Young Readers.
The Girl’s Own Book was developed by Marianne Hansen, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts, with the enthusiastic and enlightening assistance of student curators: Rebecca Kelly-Bowditch ’20 Sean Keenan ’20 Beck Morawski ’21 Natasha Neil ’20 Esme Read ’22 Lucy Verweij ’21
We appreciate the work of Alex Tucker '20, who constructed most of the display stands for the books.
Thanks also to Nathanael Roesch for his elegant and playful design for the exhibition.