University of Strathclyde

Department of
English Studies
Glasgow G1 1XH
0141-552 4400

The Victorian Period

Back to More Children's Books

The Victorian period was in some ways a golden age of children's literature in which some of the key texts were written which established the conventions of several important genres (for example, the adventure story).

Sara Coleridge: poems for children (in Philip) and Phantasmion (1837), a 'remarkable pioneering fantasy' (Children's Literature, p.92). In Main Library.

Charles Dickens had an enormous impact on the Victorian perception of children; see especially Oliver Twist (1838) and David Copperfield (1849-50). Many editions in Library.

Catherine Sinclair, The Holiday House (1839): 'one of the first books to exhibit some of the characteristics of Victorian children’s literature'; features children brought up by grandmother and uncle 'after their mother has died and their father has been sent abroad' (Children's Literature, pp.83-5). Not in Library (secondhand copy ordered).

Harriet Martineau, The Playfellow (1841). Not in Library.

Robert Browning's poem 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' (1842) was 'soon established as a children’s classic and reprinted in numerous illustrated editions' (Children's Literature, p.95).

R.H. Horne, Memoirs of a London Doll (1846), a 'minor classic' (Children's Literature, p.93). Not in Library (secondhand copy ordered).

Edward Lear, A Book of Nonsense (1846). One copy ordered for Main Library.

Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, including 'The Ugly Ducking', 'The Little Mermaid', and 'The Little Match Girl', were first translated into English in 1846, signalling 'the triumph of the fairy-tale' (Children's Literature, p.100). Various editions in both libraries.

Walter Scott's and James Fenimore Cooper's novels were avidly read by children, indicating a growing interest in adventure stories. This interest was partly satisfied by imitations of Robinson Crusoe ('Robinsonnades') and tales of shipwreck, etc.

Captain (Frederick) Marryat, The Children of the New Forest (1847); 'in the figure of Edward Beverley, a fiery, arrogant, gallant, persevering, sympathetic teenager, we may say that the nineteenth-century juvenile hero had arrived'; Marryat's children's novels of the 1830s and 1840s 'played the decisive role in establishing the adventure story as a dominant form in nineteenth-century children’s books' (Children's Literature, pp.99, 98). A number of Marryat's books are available in both libraries.

Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847) presents a compelling first-person narrative of Victorian female childhood and Romantic subjectivity; not written for children, but has become a children's classic.

Thomas Hughes, Tom Brown's Schooldays (1857). Editions in both libraries.

American children's literature came of age in the nineteenth century with Nathanial Hawthorne's, Wonder Book (1851) and Tanglewood Tales (1853). Main Library.

Louisa May Alcott's, Little Women (1868) and its sequels set the standard for children’s family stories and for girls' stories. Main Library.

Susan Coolidge's 'What Katy Did' series (1873 onwards) are still classics. Main Library and Jordanhill.

Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876); this is one of the all-time classics (its sequel, Huckleberry Finn, is more of an adults' book). Main Library and Jordanhill.

Anna Sewell's Black Beauty (1877) was originally written not for children but 'to draw adults' attention to the plight of cab horses' (Children’s Literature, p.133). One copy in each library.

R.M. Ballantyne: The Young Fur Traders (1856) and The Coral Island (1858) are key adventure stories; the latter is a Robinsonnade in which three boys are shipwrecked on a South Sea island and concludes by endorsing the missionary position. One copy of Coral Island in each library.

Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island (1883) and Kidnapped (1886) are the classic adventures stories of the Victorian period; Stevenson's A Child’s Garden of Verses (1885) was 'the most important collection of serious poems for children of the century' (Children’s Literature, p.162), while his Virginibus Puerisque (1881) was an important theoretical essay on children's make believe and play. Several copies of Treasure Island, Kidnapped, A Child's Garden of Verses and Virginibus Puerisque in both libraries.

George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860): a profound account of childhood for adult readers. Several copies in Main Library.

Henry Rider Haggard: prolific writer of imperialist adventure stories set in Africa and elsewhere; his first novel, King Solomon’s Mines (1886), is the one he's best know for today. One copy in each library.

Charles Kingsley, The Water-Babies (1863); a strange, compelling book about the magical adventures of a young chimney sweep transformed into a water baby. Frequently quotes Wordsworth and deals in amusing ways with some of the key political and intellectual issues of the Victorian age. One copy in Main Library; several in Jordanhill.

Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Various editions in both libraries.

George MacDonald: At the Back of the North Wind (1871); The Princess and the Goblin (1872); The Princess and the Curdie (1883); an important Scottish author of fantasy for children who influenced C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. There's a range of MacDonald's books in both libraries.

Christina Rossetti: 'Goblin Market' (1862) - a challenging exploration of childhood not meant for children but often appearing in editions for children; Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872) - a 'glorious collection specifically for children' (Children's Books); Speaking Likenesses (1874) – stories that 'starkly contradict developing ideas of childhood innocence or wisdom' (Children’s Literature, p.144). Some selections for children in Jordanhill; an edition of Rossetti's complete poems is on order for Main Library.

Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). In Jordanhill; also see various complete editions of Wilde's works in both libraries.

Talbot Baines Reed, The Fifth Form at St Dominic's (1887). Main Library.

Rudyard Kipling, Stalky & Co. (1899), a novel that challenges the generic assumptions of the school story. Main Library.

Frances Hodgson Burnett: Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886); A Little Princess (1905); The Secret Garden (1911). I love A Little Princess, but couldn't squeeze it into the class. Two copies of The Secret Garden in Main Library; editions of a number of Burnett's works in Jordanhill.

For further information about the Children's Literature class, please contact Dr Tom Furniss at t.furniss@strath.ac.uk

Top of document