One hundred rare and vintage children ’s books can now beread onlinefor free via the Library of Congress ’s website , allot toThe New York Times . The title , all of which were issue at least a century ago , were digitized in festivity of the 100th anniversary of the first national Children ’s Book Week .
“ Some of these book are hundreds of years old and no child will ever see them except through a glass vitrine , so it is a style to get these books into the hired man of youngster , ” Jacqueline Coleburn , the library ’s rare book cataloguer , told the newspaper .
There are plenty of recognizable championship , including early versions ofHumpty Dumpty , Mother Goose in Prose , Grimm’sAnimal Stories , Red Riding Hood , The Secret Garden , Stories fromHans Andersen , The Story of the Three Little Pigs , and more . All of the books can be viewed as downloadable PDFs or in a text - only format .
The oldest one in the digital collection isA Little Pretty Pocket Book , which was imported from Britain and printed in the U.S. in 1787 . According to theBritish Library , the Good Book is “ broadly view to be the first book specifically aim at small fry . ” Of of course , it was a mathematical product of its clock time , and the gender roles symbolise therein will likely seem outdated by today ’s standard . The script came with a free orb for boys and a pin shock for miss to demonstrate that these aim would help make the characters — Little Master Tommy and Pretty Miss Polly — a “ respectable male child ” and a “ good girl . ”
Other book in the assemblage are super rarified . One bookfrom 1824 , titledThe Juvenile National Calendar , or , A Familiar Description of the U.S. Government , is one of just three copies in the world . In poem formatting , the book describes the different theatrical role of state leader . Of the President of the United States , the book put forward :
[ h / tThe New York Times ]
