Women Who Invented Twentieth-Century Children’s Literature

Elizabeth West received her PhD from the University of Reading, awarded in June 2021 in children’s book history. She received the David Almond Fellowship, Seven Stories/University of Newcastle, 2018 and the Brotherton Fellowship, University of Leeds, 2022. She is currently ECR Fellow at Reading’s Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing. Dr West has presented papers at the IRSCL Congress, 2019; Women in Publishing Symposium, 2019; 25th NCRCL MA/IBBY UK Conference, 2018; and Children’s History Society Conference, 2018. Publications include an article in Roundtable, 2(1), 5, and a chapter in the forthcoming The Edinburgh Companion to Women in Publishing, 1900–2000.

• Introduction Children’s Literature: the ‘Brass Age’ The influence of progressive education Good books for children Publishing as a career for womenChapter 1 ‘Brain, hand and heart’ – the joint endeavours of UK and US bookwomen in the development of children’s publishing American and British bookwomen The children’s publishing scene in America American influences in Britain Bookwomen as mediators between the US and UK Ideological and political differences Bookwomen crossing boundaries The beginning and end of an eraChapter 2 From Bumpus to Puffin Biographical background Eleanor Graham and the ‘good children’s book’ Improving the quality of books for children The Children who Lived in a Barn Eleanor Graham’s reputation and legacyChapter 3 Panning for Gold: How libraries stimulated the demand for the best books for children Eileen Colwell and the development of children’s librarianship The Junior Bookshelf: Communicating the need for quality How to select a good book for children Two Case Studies The Picts and the Martyrs Dream Gold ‘Sweeping away the cobwebs’Chapter 4 Creating a classic children’s book: The contribution of British bookwomen Ursula Moray Williams’ life and career Moray Williams and the publishing industry Classics, value and canonicityChapter 5 ‘Building the Book Beautiful’: Children’s books as material objects The design and production of children’s books Puffin Story Books Illustrations The pivotal role of the bookwomen Questions of ownership: the case of Henrietta the Faithful Hen Chapter 6 Pioneering picture books: Kathleen Hale and photolithography Mid-twentieth century children’s book design Advances in British photolithographed picture books: where craft intersected with modernism Kathleen Hale: artist, illustrator and bookwoman Autolithography and the opportunities it offeredChapter 7 Amabel Williams-Ellis and links between radical ideology, progressive education and children’s publishing Amabel Williams-Ellis In and Out of Doors A radical text?Conclusion: ‘1960 has rather an exciting sound to me’ A period of change Forgotten Labour The bookwomen’s legacy