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Toy books were illustrated children's books that became popular in England's Victorian era. The earliest toy books were typically paperbound, with six illustrated pages and sold for sixpence; larger and more elaborate editions became popular later in the century. In the mid-19th century picture books began to be made for children, with illustrations dominating the text rather than supplementing the text.〔Hunt, p. 674〕 The earliest toy books were hand painted, but in the mid-19th century London publishing house Dean & Son began printing toy books using chromolithography to colour the illustrations. Edmund Evans was the premier engraver and printer of toy books in London from the mid-19th century to the early-20th century, producing books for Routledge, Warne & Routledge using the wood block printing technique of chromoxylography. He was instrumental in popularizing children's books through the production of toy books during this period. To illustrate the books he hired and collaborated with Walter Crane, Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway—known as the triumvirate of children's toy book illustrators. == Early toy books == The term toy book originated in the 18th century when John Newbery began printing "gift books"—such as ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' (1744)—with which were included small toys such as pincushions for girls. The earliest toy books were picture books bound in paper, of six to eight pages, often left blank on the back, with little text, and coloured illustrations that rarely were attributed to known illustrators.〔Hunt, pp. 221–222〕 The books were usually bound in heavy paper; some guaranteed to be indestructible, were bound in linen and sold for a shilling.〔〔 Toy books were often released as a series,〔 and the most common subjects were popular rhymes and tales.〔 John Harris took over Newbery's publishing firm at the beginning of the 19th century,〔Zipes, Jack. (1987, 2013) ''Victorian Fairy Tales: The Revolt of the Fairies and Elves''. New York: Routledge ISBN 9781136744105 np〕 and within a few years was producing small (4 inches by 5 inches) books, colorfully illustrated, that were meant to amuse children.〔Carpenter, Humphrey, and Mari Prichard. (1984). ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature''. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-211582-0, 240-242〕 Early toy books, particularly in the 1840s, were hand-coloured〔Butts, p. 83〕 often by children apprentices in print-shops, until mechanical colour printing became more prevalent, and toward the end of the century children's books became quite elaborate.〔 In the mid-1800s, the primary publishers of toy books in London were Dean & Son, using popularly coloured chromolithographs for the illustrations. By the end of the 1850s they published more than 200 titles, each book of equal size, each costing sixpence.〔Carpenter, p. 537〕 The main characteristic of a toy book was that it was a coloured picture book with emphasis on pictures rather than text.〔 Vicki Anderson, author of ''The Dime Novel in Children's Literature'', writes that toy books were both temptingly colourful and not instructive.〔Anderson, p. 46〕 The books were inexpensive and often were reprints and condensed versions of existing stories such as fairy tales, which were commonly reprinted as toy books, as were books such as Defoe's ''Robinson Crusoe''.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Toy book」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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