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| The Junior Classics: The Young Folks' Shelf of Books |
So as not to let the adults have all the fun with The Harvard Classics, in 1912 Collier's published a set of ten volumes for children entitled The Junior Classics: The Young Folks' Shelf of Books. It doesn't take up a 'five-foot shelf ' as the books for the older readers, but the books are filled with fairy tales and folk tales, the adventures of heroes and heroines, animal and nature stories, and an entire volume of poetry.
This is from the introduction to the junior set written by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, he of Harvard:
The purpose of The Junior Classics is to provide, in ten volumes containing about five thousand pages, a classified collection of tales, stories, and poems, both ancient and modern, suitable for boys and girls of from six to sixteen years of age. Thoughtful parents and teachers, who realize the evils of indiscriminate reading on the part of children, will appreciate the educational value of such a collection. A child's taste in reading is formed, as a rule, in the first ten or twelve years of its life, and experience has shown that the childish mind will prefer good literature to any other, if access to it is made easy, and will develop far better on literature of proved merit than on trivial or transitory material.
My set, with its dark maroon bindings, came to me from someone in my family. It was published in 1912 and I am only missing two of the volumes: III (Stories from Greece and Rome) and V (Stories That Never Grow Old). Not bad for a collection that is 100 years old!
There is a Reading Guide in Volume X that gives a list of Best Books to read as further investigation into the type of stories that each volume contains. That is very helpful.
There is an Index of Authors and an Index of Titles as well as a breakdown by school grade of the works appropriate for those ages. Each volume has illustrations which add to the charm.
Among the authors are Aesop, Louisa M. Alcott, Washington Irving, Beatrix Potter, Sir Walter Scott, and William Shakespeare. Titles include The Ugly Duckling, The Sword of Excalibur, O Captain! My Captain! and, A Visit From St. Nicholas. This last selection was bookmarked with a wide red ribbon. A popular choice apparently.
Because my childhood reading was pretty much what Dr. Eliot warns against - "trivial and transitory" - I most likely would benefit from reading some of the selections in The Junior Classics. And even though the pages are a bit musty smelling, the ideas and words and principles they contain continue to be pure and fragrant.
I would find this set more tempting than the "Five Foot Shelf" books (which, frankly, intimidate me). I can see dipping into these books for fun. My own reading has been "trivial and transitory" too, so I'm sure I could benefit from the education! How cool that you have this old and beautiful set of books.
ReplyDeleteKathy, I have had this collection for ages and really have never looked in them! I think you are right about dipping into these rather than The Big Folks' Set! Also, I will keep my eyes open for my two missing volumes. Surely some dusty bookstore will have them!
DeleteHow lucky you are to have such a set of books, even if incomplete. Have you checked placed like Alibris.com to see if you can track down the missing volumes, even a later printing of such, though then the binding might not match!
ReplyDeleteAfter I had reread Little Women, Little Men, and Eight Cousins, my summer reading as a child ran to reading all the science and history texbooks, as well as arithmetic books and old readers, on our bookshelf (no access to public library). We used to have to buy our textbooks and could trade in used ones except for years the school changed what they were using - those volumes ended up on the bookshelf. At least that part of my summer reading wasn't trivial and transitory. A school district in our county is going to electronic textbooks this year. Each child will be issued a laptop computer (tech fee $25 adjusted for those who qualify for reduced price or free lunches). I guess times change, but to grow up without a book in hand sounds pretty bleak to me.
Joyce in KS
Well, Joyce, sounds like you got a fine education over the summers reading those textbooks. Better than nothing, eh? I don't remember that we actually had to buy our textbooks. I think they were provided by the school district and we just turned them back in at the end of the year.
DeleteSo will the students have to buy the electronic textbooks? How does that work? I guess the tech fee is just for the computer, right? Of course that will save those kids from lugging around 50 pounds of books in a backpack. That said, I agree with you that a bookless childhood sounds awfully dismal.
As I understand it, all the students have to pay is the tech fee. Not sure how it will all work out. One of my co-workers has two children attending there so will hear about it I guess.
ReplyDeleteJoyce in KS
I would be interested to know how that works, Joyce.
DeleteBelle- I have a copy of "Tales from Greece and Rome" published in 1912 by Collier. It's not from the same set as yours; mine is brown and has a subtitle "A Library for Boys and Girls." It has the beautiful end papers and illustrations. I was researching its value to list it online. Are you interested?
ReplyDeleteKeith, I am so sorry to be slow in responding but my computer and I were both hit with viruses as the same time. My laptop has been in the techie hospital for a week and I am trying to catch up.
DeleteAs to your kind offer, I think I will hold out until I can find the two missing volumes that belong in my set. I like things to match! Thanks for commenting though.