Call Number:

Item 0038

Repository:

University of Delaware Library Special Collections

Extent:

1 volume (approximately 18 pages)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

MSS 0093, Item 0038, Early twentieth-century British children's scrapbook University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.

Date:

approximately 1895-1905 (inclusive)

Creator:

Creator unknown

Form:

Scrapbooks, Printed ephemera, Fairy tales, Nursery rhymes, and Juvenilia

Abstract:

This early twentieth-century British children's scrapbook, compiled by an unknown child, contains colorful die-cut scraps and collected images of children, flowers, animals, clowns, pastoral scenes, uniformed British military, folktale characters, depictions of children's games, depictions of Santa Claus, and other Christmas scenes.

This scrapbook was created by an unknown individual, possibly a child. The creator of this scrapbook was likely British based on content imagery. An image of an early combustion automobile on the inside cover suggests that this book was compiled circa 1900.

Biographical information derived from collection.

This early twentieth-century British children's scrapbook, compiled by an unknown child, contains colorful die-cut scraps and collected images of children, flowers, animals, clowns, pastoral scenes, uniformed British military, folktale characters, depictions of children's games, depictions of Santa Claus, and other Christmas scenes.

Notable character depictions include "Little Red Riding Hood," "Cinderella," "Dick Whittington," "Robinson Crusoe," and "The Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe." Printed by Raphael Tuck & Sons (London, Paris, New York) are three images of children's games, including "Forfeit," "Blindman's Bluff," and "Oranges and Lemons." Of special note is a coupon for Pears Soap in the form of a change purse with British coins and authorization to pay the bearer 15 shillings for an introduction to the product. One animal scrap depicts a xiphodon emerging from behind a letter X.

The faded blue cloth cover of this thin album is decorated in the Art Nouveau style, with black curvilinear stems flowing from red poinsettia-like flowers to green leaves bordering a small black-lined cottage scene at the base of the cover. The cover also bears the title "Scraps" in gold stylized letters. The green paper pages of this album are brittle.