For the Love of Reading - Victorian Girls and Their Books Illustrations

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books.

So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their books from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book of 1889, like the illustration shown above.  It appeared in the May 18, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on Page 420.

It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood and appeared in a story "The A.O.I.B.R" by Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye.  According to her Wikipedia page: "Her story "“The A.O.I.B.R." appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1889 with an illustration of a child reading. The Rockwell Centre for American Visual Studies cites this as a surprisingly early illustration of a girl reading. The subject of girls reading in the illustration by Rosina Emmet Sherwood is thought rare (like the ones in Louisa Allcott's Little Women)."

The caption reads: "She retired to the society of books." This brings back wonderful memories for me as so many times when I was growing up you could find me like this.

My house is filled with books of all kinds. My love affair with books and reading began very early on. My Mother was an avid reader, my Father was an avid reader, my Grandmother and Great-Aunt were avid readers, and so it was passed down to my siblings and I.

I have such fond memories of sitting in my Grandmother's rocking chair (which I still have) and having her read me a story. Sometimes we would sit there while she was watching her soap opera's and she would rock with me in her lap.  Kind of like in the illustration above from the March 9, 1889 weekly of the  Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 270.

Sometimes she would read me a story. I never minded just sitting there with her. I always knew there would be a story. And, I always felt safe in her arms.

Now, when I read I think about sitting with my Grandmother or listening to my Mom and Dad talk about their love of reading and it brings back warm and pleasant feelings for me.

I have been a firm believer in the value of books and teaching children the love of reading.  The more children read, the better they become at reading. And, the more young children are read to, the greater their interest in reading. Reading out loud to children helps them with their verbal skills, enhances their development and teaches them how to express themselves verbally.

I could also be found many times in the same position as the young girl in the illustration above that appeared on the cover of the January 26, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 161.  It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood.

Just look at the concentration on this young girl's face as she's reading.  I just love this illustration, too and find the detail in her drawing just beautiful.

If you love to read you know that reading is such an escape. You can literally get lost in a book - at least I can!  The book for a brief moment becomes your life and you can imagine that you're experiencing it. To me there is nothing more powerful then your imagination.

Even the most spectacular movie with all its wonderful special effects and cinematography cannot compare to what you own imagination can create. There are no limits and no boundaries to your imagination when you are reading. You can be transporter anywhere and to any time period.

I am a firm believer in books and reading as a way of teaching children. In fact, my Grandchildren can attest to the fact that every Christmas or Birthday when they were kids they knew what at least one of their presents would be from their Grandmother: books.

To me, that is one of the best presents I could give them. By giving them books all the time, I hope somehow I'm conveying a love of reading to them. Reinforcing the value of reading time and time again. Making them think. Hopefully, by developing good reading skills they learn how to think for themselves.

My grandchildren also know I'm a firm believer that there is no limit to your abilities if you can read.  You can teach yourself anything because there isn't anything you can't do if you put your mind to it.

The illustration shown above was from the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 62.  It entitled "One Happy Girl"  and she's holding a copy of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book.  I can imagine at the time that the children anxiously awaited their copies of this weekly magazine for all the pictures and stories.  I wonder how many of them delighted in the stories and got lost in them.  Imagining all sorts of things.

Sort of like the young girl in the illustration above that appeared in the July 20, 1889 weekly of the  Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 564.

I just love the expression on her face.  So pensive, so lost in thought.  Hopefully not as the caption reads: "She sat looking out of the window, feeling very dismal."  Sitting looking out the window with her favorite "dollie" and book next to her.

I was watching a show on one of the cable channels a couple of years ago about the greatest invention mankind has ever seen. They counted down through hundreds of inventions until they got to #1. Do you know what it was? The greatest invention mankind has ever seen was the invention of the printing press. Why, because it opened the whole world up to everyone and mankind was never the same again.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the  girls and books Victorian illustrations.