When the Mayflower arrived in
Plymouth in 1620, it carried (among other
cargo) books. What the Mayflower did not carry were books written for
the youngest passengers. The genre we know as "children’s literature,"
books written specifically for the edification of children, was just on the verge of
invention.
Which is not to say that children had not been reading books!
Children throughout the ages have always read whatever they could get their hands on. Many
children of past centuries had, for instance, read books of fables and myths. Appealing
though they were to youngsters because of their short, interesting and occasionally
illustrated stories, these books were adult literature, stories in an uncensored form as
told by adults to explain the workings of a mysterious world.These myths and fables
did, however, generally end with a "moral." This component eventually turned
into one of the distinguishing marks of children’s literature. Although cultural
values have changed dramatically over the centuries, the use of children’s literature
to instill moral lessons has remained a constant. From the 17th century to
today, parents have consistently sought more than just "entertainment" in the
books their children read.
The need for their children’s reading material to be instructive and
above reproach was particularly crucial for the Pilgrim and Puritan parents of the 17th
century. They saw their children as born into eternal damnation and mired in original sin,
and their duty as parents to save their children by turning them from wickedness to God.
Reading was essential for an understanding of the Scripture but good parents could not
allow their children to corrupt their minds or to waste God’s precious gift of time
on purely recreational reading.
Young children in 17th century Plymouth Colony read the Bible. Most families
owned at least one Bible.
Woodcut from the New Testament title page of a
Geneva Bible, printed at London by Robert Barker, 1610. From the Rare Book Collection of
the Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum. |
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Catechisms and other religious works, such as the Lives
of the Martyrs, deemed suitable for young readers, were also available. The 1637
inventory of William Palmer includes "A Catechism." The 1641 inventory of
Nathaniel Tilden includes "The Book of Martyrs" and the 1644 inventory of John
Atwood includes "The Acts and Monuments" (an alternative title for "The
Book of Martyrs").
The inventories of Samuel Fuller and William Brewster both include the "Works of
Richard Greenham." A copy of Greenham’s Works, printed in 1611, is in the Rare
Books collection at Pilgrim Hall Museum. Included in the volume is Greenham’s "A
Short Form of Catechising." The forward by Henry Holland says "This Catechism I
have sent you, that you may teach it your children…"
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Woodcut from the Works of Richard Greenham,
printed at London by Thomas Creede for William Welbie, 1611. From the Rare Book Collection
of the Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum. |
Greenham’s Catechism is 19 pages long and uses
the familiar question and answer format. The type is small, the vocabulary uses
multisyllabic words such as "revelation" and "everlasting," the
answers given are very lengthy. No concessions are made to the young or to beginning
readers. Children were, none the less, among the intended audience. Greenham’s answer
to "May all read the Scriptures?" is
Yea, all that be of age able to discern between good and evil,
ought to increase in knowledge, for their furtherance in salvation, as they increase in
years.
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In addition to religious books, older children in
Plymouth Colony would have read adult books of history, travel and geography. Some of the
secular titles included in William Brewster’s library that a youngster might have
found of interest were John Smith’s 1616 A Description of New England, the
1632 Swedish Intelligencer … the famous actions of that warlike Prince [Gustavus
Adolphus], Richard Hakluyt’s 1589 The principal navigations, voyages and
discoveries of the English nation, made by sea or over land, and G. Abbott’s 1620
A brief description of the whole world.
The need for worthwhile literature geared towards a child’s
level of understanding and smaller vocabulary was just being recognized both in England
and America at this time. Children and their parents were beginning to look for a greater
variety than could be provided by the standard adult catechisms. The first children’s
book written in America, John Cotton’s Spiritual Milk for Boston Babies, was
published in Boston in 1646.
There were, however, few other acceptable alternatives. English
chapbooks, crudely printed and illustrated books of ballad tales, were widely available -
and undoubtedly attractive to children - but Puritan parents found the subject matter
corrupt. Religious thinking of the day found most fiction offensive, but fairy tales were
particularly abhorred. Those few "stories" that were allowed, such as
Bunyan’s 1678 religious allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, were religious in
tone with strong moral statements and not suited to the very young.
Continued... |
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