FULLERTON : Library Displays Old Children’s Books

Rare and old textbooks on display at the main branch of the public library have captured the imagination of children and adults because of their age, design and different writing styles, according to public library curator Carolyn Johnson.

About 25 books from the library’s Mary Campbell Collection of children’s books are on display through the end of this month. Campbell founded the children’s library in 1927 and served for 41 years as its librarian.

The display includes “Orbis Pictus,” a picture encyclopedia printed in 1649 that had names printed in Latin and English.

Also on display is a 17th-Century primer for children on which the letters of the alphabet are displayed. The primer consists of a wooden paddle on which a piece of paper with letters and the Lord’s Prayer was mounted. Melted cow horn protects the paper.

And there is a facsimile of a 16th-Century book used to tutor Queen Elizabeth I when she was of high school age.

An 1812 primer, an early 19th-Century grammar book and an 1894 California state textbook are also on display.

“I think the children don’t realize what an improvement their textbooks are until they have a contrast,” Johnson said. “They can’t believe the small print, the lack of pictures, and the difficult reading.”

Johnson founded the Campbell collection in 1969 at the library, 353 W. Commonwealth Ave. She said she has tried to include works by famous authors and illustrators from every historical period of children’s literature.

Books from the 500-volume collection can be studied by appointment. Johnson said many of the books are bought with money raised by Friends of the Public Library. Other books are donated.

The children’s library, in the basement of the main branch of the public library, checks out an average of 1,500 books each day.

Johnson will also display miniature children’s books in December at the Hunt Branch of the library, 201 S. Basque Ave., she said. One is an inch-high Bible, which has the names of child owners written in it, with their birth dates and day of death.

Johnson said she believes her collection is one of the most thorough teaching collections of children’s books in the county. She said she often lectures at local colleges about books from the collection. Johnson retired in 1990 as library director.