Early Children's Book Collection

During the early 1950s we acquired two collections of children’s books, many of them dating from the nineteenth century. It is clear that one of the collections was purchased from the Aylesbury firm of booksellers, F. Weatherhead and Son Ltd. The origin of the second collection books is less certain. Altogether there are about 1,500 items in the whole collection.
  
 In 1999 a successful application was made to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a grant to allow the cataloguing and re-housing of the collection in a specially designed extension to Chesham Library, Chesham, Buckinghamshire. This was officially opened by the children's author Jacqueline Wilson on 23rd March 2001.

The collection is displayed in glass cabinets and can be seen during library opening hours.  Closer inspection can be arranged - please telephone or email to book an appointment. 

A full colour, printed bibliography is also available for purchase from the County Library Service (Buckinghamshire Early Childrens Book Collection, ISBN: 0 86059 604 4, Price: £8 including post and packing. Please make cheques payable to Buckinghamshire County Council.) Copies can be ordered from the Manager, Chesham Library, Elgiva Lane, Chesham, Bucks HP5 2JD.

In November 2000, the European Commission awarded a grant under the Culture 2000 programme to create the Children's Historical Literature Disseminated throughout Europe (CHILDE) website, dedicated to early children's book collections. We were the lead partner in this project and some of the images from our collection are available to view on the CHILDE website. More information about the project and website is on the link at the bottom of this page.