An Archaeology of Children’s Books Publishing: Illustrated Broadsides (18th-20th Century)

In the 19th century, Western Europe was invaded by illustrated broadsides containing woodcuts accompanied by short rhyming captions. Such prints, known by different names – catchpenny prints, centsprenten, Bilderbogen, to name a few – have recently been the object of research and cataloguing at a national level. Such scholarship has generated interest towards the possible educational and/or recreational uses of such materials among children. Drawing from this, the article aims to provide a transnational and interdisciplinary discussion of whether and how these illustrated broadsides constituted an opportunity for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century children, including the less affluent, to get into contact with printed materials even before the democratisation of children’s literature. Indeed, the preponderance of illustration over text made these broadsides not only attractive and stimulating, but also accessible to those who had not (yet) learnt to read; moreover, the broadsides often included playful elements: cut-out toys or board games, and were often freely used by children for collage and scrapbooking.