‘Everyone is a worker.’ That is a powerful statement, if you think about it. Richard Scarry wasn’t afraid to paint contemporary American society in such bold strokes. Nor was he afraid to explain commerce and capitalism to children. - What Do People Do All Day.
posted by Artw on May 4, 2011 - 34 comments

A gallery of scanned German children's books from the 18th and 19th centuries. Sounds dry, but the plates are high-resolution and gorgeous. Fans of old-school engraving, illustration, and Bibliodyssey-esque curiosities will not be disappointed. Highly extensive and bandwidth-intensive.
posted by BlackLeotardFront on Jun 12, 2010 - 18 comments

The Rosetta Project is an online collection of mostly children's books from the late 19th and early 20th centuries complete with illustrations (previously). [more inside]
posted by sleepy pete on Apr 29, 2010 - 4 comments

Lookybook lets you browse full versions of children's picture books, like The Other Side by Hungarian-born illustrator Istvan Banyai, or Alphabeasts by Wallace Edwards.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout on Jun 24, 2008 - 5 comments

My Beautiful Mommy is a children's book for children whose mothers suddenly come home from the doctor with giant hooters, or significant amounts of fat suddenly missing. A bold new market in childrens publishing awaits.
posted by jonson on Apr 18, 2008 - 66 comments

Do You Know What I'm Going To Do Next Saturday? is a Flickr set of the pages from Helen Palmer Geisel's (Dr. Seuss's first wife) now out of print children's book that gained notoreity for its depiction of children doing fun & very dangerous things like joining the marines, playing with guns & fighting American Gladiator style.
posted by jonson on Dec 23, 2007 - 34 comments

Let's go on a rocket trip to the Moon! A collection of space art in children's books, 1883 to 1974. These books, and their evocative art, instilled in a generation the romance and wonder of space flight. I grew up in the 1950's, and as a kid I could pour over this book and its illustrations for hours, dreaming.
via A Voyage to Arcturus
posted by Slithy_Tove on Sep 26, 2003 - 8 comments

Children's books of the Early Soviet Era [more]
posted by hama7 on Apr 9, 2003 - 11 comments