The Women Who Invented Twentieth-Century Children's Literature

Introduction






Children's Literature: the 'Brass Age'



The influence of progressive education



Good books for children



Publishing as a career for women

Chapter 1 'Brain, hand and heart' - the joint endeavours of UK and US bookwomen in the development of children's publishing






American and British bookwomen



The children's publishing scene in America



American influences in Britain



Bookwomen as mediators between the US and UK



Ideological and political differences



Bookwomen crossing boundaries



The beginning and end of an era

Chapter 2 From Bumpus to Puffin






Biographical background



Eleanor Graham and the 'good children's book'



Improving the quality of books for children



The Children who Lived in a Barn



Eleanor Graham's reputation and legacy

Chapter 3 Panning for Gold: How libraries stimulated the demand for the best books for children






Eileen Colwell and the development of children's librarianship



The Junior Bookshelf: Communicating the need for quality



How to select a good book for children



Two Case Studies





The Picts and the Martyrs



Dream Gold




'Sweeping away the cobwebs'

Chapter 4 Creating a classic children's book: The contribution of British bookwomen






Ursula Moray Williams' life and career



Moray Williams and the publishing industry



Classics, value and canonicity

Chapter 5 'Building the Book Beautiful': Children's books as material objects






The design and production of children's books



Puffin Story Books



Illustrations



The pivotal role of the bookwomen



Questions of ownership: the case of Henrietta the Faithful Hen

Chapter 6 Pioneering picture books: Kathleen Hale and photolithography






Mid-twentieth century children's book design



Advances in British photolithographed picture books: where craft intersected with modernism



Kathleen Hale: artist, illustrator and bookwoman



Autolithography and the opportunities it offered

Chapter 7 Amabel Williams-Ellis and links between radical ideology, progressive education and children's publishing






Amabel Williams-Ellis



In and Out of Doors



A radical text?

Conclusion: '1960 has rather an exciting sound to me'






A period of change



Forgotten Labour



The bookwomen's legacy