Seas and cities near and far.
And the flying fairies' looks
In the picture story-books."

The contrast is indeed extreme between that scanty fare of dull sermons
and "The New England Primer" given to the little people of the early
eighteenth century, and this superabundance prepared with lavish care
for the nation of American children.

The beginning of this complex juvenile literature is, therefore, to be
regarded as a comparatively modern invention of about seventeen hundred
and forty-five. From that date can be traced the slow growth of a
literature written with an avowed intention of furnishing amusement as
well as instruction; and in the toy-books published one hundred and
fifty years ago are found the prototypes of the present modes of
bringing fun and knowledge to the American fireside.

The question at once arises as to the reason why this literature came
into existence; why was it that children after seventeen hundred and
fifty should have been favored in a way unknown to their parents?

To even the casual reader of English literature the answer is plain, if
this subject of toy-books be regarded as of near kin to the larger body
of writing. It has been somewhat the custom to consider children's
literature as a thing wholly apart from that of adults, probably because
the majority of the authors of these little tales have so generally
lacked the qualities indispensable for any true literary work. In
reality the connection between the two is somewhat like that of parent
and child; the smaller body, though lacking in power, has closely
imitated the larger mass of writing in form and kind, and has reflected,