A History of Australian Children's Literature 1841 - 1941
Before the first children's book was written and published in the colony of New South Wales in 1841, writers for children in Britain, France and Germany, in particular, were intrigued by that remote part of the globe. Then from 1841, from Australia itself, as well as from overseas, came full-blooded tales of shipwreck and massacre, as well as stories of a hostile but exciting continent - a land of opportunity for stalwart young emigrants and settlers.
Maurice Saxby first published his seminal history of the development of this literature in 1969. 'A History of Australian Children's Literature 1841 - 1941' has long been out of print. But since Saxby's initial research a great body of literature, that had been held largely in private collections, has been made public. So 'Offered to Children' is a complete rewrite in the light of that material.
This book is genre-based as well as chronological, and is an exhaustive analytical coverage of a fascinating literature that highlights developing social and educational attitudes world-wide.
