The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
The Osborne Collection has a long history, beginning in 1934 when British Librarian Edgar Osborne first visited the first children’s library in the Commonwealth, the Toronto Public Library’s Boys and Girls House, then located at 40 St. George St.
Osborne was impressed by the broad range and excellent quality of children's services established under the supervision of Toronto Public Library’s first Head of Children's Services, Lillian H. Smith – so impressed that 15 years later, after his wife, Mabel, passed away he donated their personal collection of about 2000 items of historic children’s literature. Edgar and Mabel had started collecting books that they themselves had loved as children, and working backward as far as they were able, they amassed a collection of books that children would have read dating back to the 1500’s.
Today, the collection contains over 90 000 items, many of them rare, some of them modern, and all of them wonderful.
The Collection is divided into 4 main areas of concentration: Osborne Collection, Lillian H. Smith Collection, Canadiana Collection, Jean Thomson Collection of Original Art.
Osborne was impressed by the broad range and excellent quality of children's services established under the supervision of Toronto Public Library’s first Head of Children's Services, Lillian H. Smith – so impressed that 15 years later, after his wife, Mabel, passed away he donated their personal collection of about 2000 items of historic children’s literature. Edgar and Mabel had started collecting books that they themselves had loved as children, and working backward as far as they were able, they amassed a collection of books that children would have read dating back to the 1500’s.
Today, the collection contains over 90 000 items, many of them rare, some of them modern, and all of them wonderful.
The Collection is divided into 4 main areas of concentration: Osborne Collection, Lillian H. Smith Collection, Canadiana Collection, Jean Thomson Collection of Original Art.
The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books
The Osborne Collection
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Lillian H. Smith Collection
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The Canadiana Collection
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Jean Thomson (Original Art)
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