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Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books


Finding Aids

Archival Finding Guides at Osborne

The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books 1566-1910, a catalogue, volume 1.Osborne Collection materials are gradually being added to the Toronto Public Library Online Catalogue. There are at present approximately 15,000 Osborne records in the catalogue.

Pre-1800 Osborne Collection materials are partially listed in ESTC, searchable through Eureka

At present there is a two- volume published catalogue available in print format only:


The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, 1566-1910.
A Catalogue,
edited by Judith St. John.

2 vols. Toronto: Toronto Public Library, 1975.
ISBN vol.1 0-919486-25-8; vol.2 0-919486-54-1.


The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books 1476-1910, a catalogue, volume 2.

A card catalogue is available at the collection.

Related Web Sites:

Some special collections and resources on the Web

The Children's Literature Web Guide

A Canadian source with an alphabetical author web page listing, information about awards and events, and links to CANSCAIP and the Children's Book Centre, among other important contacts.

de Grummond Children's Literature Collection

The University of Southern Mississippi's de Grummond Collection is an extensive library of early and modern children's books with an emphasis on American literature. Digital projects such as "The Cinderella Project" make original holdings in their entirety available online, together with lists of resource support material.

The Cotsen Collection

Princeton University's Cotsen Collection was established in 1996, and contains a wide variety of early and modern children's books from around the world.

Lilly Library (Indiana University) Chapbook Collection

The Lilly library at Indiana University contains the Elisabeth Ball Chapbook Collection, an extensive collection of early small pamphlet books.

Les manuels scolaires québécois - Laval Univeristy

Laval University's Les manuels scolaires québécois contains extensive catalogue of early Canadian French-language school and recreational reading materials for children.

Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood - The Renier Collection of Historic and Contemporary Publications for Children

A rich resource of children's books published in the United Kingdom.

Lucy Maud Montgomery in Ontario Web page

contains pictures and information about the Ontario homes of Canada's most internationally renowned author, together with listings of events celebrating the life and work of LMM.

Battledore Ltd.

Commercial connection - Battledore is currently the only bookseller that specializes in Osborne facsimile, Lecture and Friends books published prior to 1990.

Canadian Children's Literature Service

is part of the National Library of Canada. It offers advisory reference and bibliographic services based on the National Library of Canada's Children's Literature Service Collection, as well as access to the online version of the annual annotated bibliography, CCLS's Read Up On It!

Japanese language version of Osborne's history


The Osborne Collection Events & Exhibits
The Lillian H. Smith Collection Children's Books History Society
The Canadiana Collection Osborne Cataloguing Project
Friends Groups Virtual Donor Wall
Merchandise and Mail Order Form    



Updated On: August 9, 2007




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