Friends of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
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Friends of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books

21st Annual albert and clara lahmer memorial lecture

17/3/2025

 
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DRAWING STORIES- 15 YEARS IN ILLUSTRATION
QIN LENG


Thursday, April 3, 2025
6:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
Lillian Smith Branch


​

​Qin Leng is an illustrator and author of children books. For 15 years, she has published over 70 titles including picture books, chapter books, and has recently explored the world of graphic novels. This lecture will look at her journey as an author and illustrator, starting from her early childhood, the artists who have inspired her along the way, and the evolution of her visual approach.


We will dive into the unique challenges each project can bring, from the classic picture book, wordless picture book, and french bande dessinée. What happens in between that first doodle on a piece of paper to the final published book.

Her illustrations in Trèfle (written by Nadine Robert) won the Governor General Literary Award for best picture book. Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin (by Chieri Uegaki) was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award, and received the APALA Award for best picture book.

Photo credit: Lian Leng

guided tours of these are a few of my favourite things exhibit

27/1/2025

 
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Lillian H. Smith Branch
2:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. on recurring dates listed below
​30 minutes

Join us for free guided tours of our exhibit celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Learn about the collection's history and discover its unique treasures. This exhibit showcases staff's favourite books and art, so each guide will share stories about the items they selected.

The guided tours will take place on following dates: 
Saturday, December 28 - 2:30-3 PM
Thursday, January 16 - 2:30-3 PM
Saturday, February 1 - 2:30-3 PM
Thursday, February 13 - 2:30-3 PM

No registration is required. If you have any questions please contact us at [email protected] or 416-393-7753.

Hosted by the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
Lillian H. Smith Branch - 4th Floor.
239 College St.

Magic Lantern slide show

27/1/2025

 
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Lillian Smith Branch
Monday January 27, 2025
6:00 p.m. -6:30p.m.
30 minutes

​Join us for a magic slide show! Before there was Power Point, before there were carousel slide projectors, there were... magic lanterns.
Learn about this amazing analog technology that preceded the invention of photography and electricity, and see magic lantern original slides from the 19th century.
Please note that we will present digitized slides - a real magic lantern will not be used for the presentation. 
The program will take place in the reading room of the Osborne Collection (Lillian H. Smith, 4th floor).
Registration is not required - a drop-in program.

The tea towels are in!

29/11/2024

 

Just in time for the Holidays!!!

We are excited to present our line of 5 new tea towels! Each towel is made of 100% organic cotton. One towel is $20 or any combination of 3 towels for $50. All proceeds benefit the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Towels are available for sale at the Osborne Collection. The Osborne is located on the 4th floor of the Lillian Smith Branch of the Toronto Public Library at 239 College Street. 
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36th Annual helen e. stubbs memorial lecture: L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables through the Years: Texts, Covers, Readers Benjamin lefebvre

27/8/2024

 
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Thu Nov 14, 2024
6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
90 mins

​Lillian H. Smith

In this lecture, Lefebvre will discuss how the text of L.M. Montgomery's first and most famous book, "Anne of Green Gables", has largely stayed the same since it was published in 1908. But everything else-from cover designs to the technologies people use to read and discuss books-has changed immeasurably since then. In this lecture, novelist and scholar Benjamin Lefebvre shares some of the discoveries he has made throughout his many years as a Montgomery scholar and offers new insights about this perennially popular book, how it fits within Montgomery's lifetime body of work, and how it continues to be reprinted today. For more information, please click here. 

photo credit: Kassandra Fritz


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  • HOME
  • About
  • News/Events/Lectures
  • Donate/Membership
  • Contact
  • Collections
    • The Osborne Collection
    • Lillian H. Smith Collection
    • Canadiana Collection
    • Jean Thomson Collection of Original Art