The Child Reader, 1700-1840

'Although approaching the subject from the point of view of the reader, this book is fundamentally about the origins of children's literature as a separate and secure branch of print culture, a development that took place in Britain over the course of the long eighteenth century. Deplorably little is known about precisely how and why this happened. The new commodity was the product of a number of interconnected factors. It was a development based on enterprising entrepreneurs, talented authors and illustrators, and technological innovations, but also shifting cultural constructions of childhood, demographic changes, and socio-economic transformations. Its consumers were absolutely central to its sudden take-off. Indeed, this book will be arguing that thevery concept of children's literature was in large part the product of its purchasers and users'--