Louise Davidson visited the Bodleian Library for a taster of childhood gone by...
A presentation of collected children’s games and pastimes, dating primarily from the 19th century, is on show at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University until April 29 2006.
This beautiful collection features games from paper dolls to jigsaws, board games to learning aids for mastering the alphabet. All ages and backgrounds will find this collection entirely enthralling as they’re transported back into a 19th century childhood.
The exhibition has grown out of the Bodleian’s budding reputation as a centre for the study of children’s literature following its acquisition of the renowned Opie Collection in 1988.
It also stems from the John Johnson Collection of Printed Ephemera, from which single-sheet and three-dimensional printed children’s games have been taken.
John de Monins Johnson, printer to the University of Oxford (1925-1946), began collecting printed ephemera in the late 1920s and continued up to his death in 1956.
Formerly a papyrologist, Johnson believed he had a duty to ‘excavate the waste paper of our recent past’. Exceptional in its breadth (from adverts to greeting cards), his collection offers us a unique telescope through which we can view the past.
In his own words, he formed "a little museum of common printed things, to illustrate at one and the same time the historical development of our social life and the development of printing."
Therefore, not only do these games illuminate childhood in the 19th century, but they also present us with a fascinating insight into the social history of their time.
For the children of middle class 19th century England, education was a major facet of life and in the exhibition it is hard to miss the didactic nature of many of the games.
As Clive Hurst, Head of Rare Books and Printed Ephemera at the Bodleian Library, commented: "The games often have an educational aspect, combining instruction with delight in ingenious ways."
Maps of England contain ‘educational’ anecdotes about each city: Oxford is ‘a pleasant city, containing the finest university in the world’, Hertford is ‘large and dull’.
A dissected puzzle (a jigsaw to us) with the title Whole length portraits of the Kings and Queens of England features comments about all previous monarchs, including Edward IV, ‘profligate and cruel’, and James I, ‘learned but weak’. In order to complete the puzzle, the child would have to know England’s chronology well.
A spectacular feature in the collection is a miniature theatre, dating back to the beginning of the 19th century. Printed scenes and characters were cut out, mounted on card and then slotted into the theatre or attached to wire ‘slides’.
The collection shows Boucicault’s The Corsical Brothers, which would have been narrated by the children from the wings. A selection of four other plays, all published by Benjamin Pollock, are also displayed.
Until December 22, an additional case will hold all things related to Christmas. As Christmas cards only date back only to 1843, this collection holds examples of some of the first cards ever sent.
Incredibly popular in the Victorian era, they combined colour printing with embossing, mica flecks, lace paper or perforated borders, and moving parts. Despite the piety of the age, it is interesting to note the lack of religious sentiment. In fact secular imagery was far more popular.
Another Christmas time hit was the pantomime. Displayed in the exhibition are pantomime posters, designed by major commercial artists, such as John Hassall.
Fittingly in the context of this particular exhibition, Christmas in the 19th century was not only fun, but could also be educational! Prominent in the case sits the Father Christmas ABC.
This shows an affluent family enjoying a traditional Christmas with C for Cracker, M for Mince Pies, P for Plum Pudding, and X for Xmas Tree.
If a child was going to learn to read and write, this exhibition shows how the Victorians were skilled in doing it through games and pastimes.
For those who can’t make it to Oxford, parts of the exhibition can be viewed online through the Oxford Digital Library project. And for more information about the exhibition as a whole visit the Bodleian Library website.
24 HM readers should also note that the Bodleian Library will be closed betwen Friday December 23 2005 and Monday January 2 2006 and from Friday April 14 until April 17 2006.
