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Walter Crane’s Toy Books Series

Books for babies are called Toy Books. Prior to Walter Crane, they were often unremarkable. Then Crane produced a series of Toy Books that gradually transformed the toy book into a sophisticated art form. Some of them become the most popular children’s books of the day.


Books in the Walter Crane’s Toy Books series:

The Death and Burial of Cock Robin (1864)

A traditional tale of cock robin, the sparrow and a bow and arrow. Shown above is the rear cover of the very rare Painted Toy Book.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Cock Robin and Jenny Wren (1865)

A well-known nursery rhyme.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Comical Cat (1865)

A humorous poem similar to Old Mother Hubbard.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Farmyard Alphabet (1865)

An alphabet based on familiar farmyard scenes. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

House that Jack Built (1865)

A well-known rhyme.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The “House that Jack Built” Alphabet (1865)

This version includes outline pictures, opposite the colored plates, to be filled in by the user.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Mamma’s New Picture Alphabet (1865)

An illustrated alphabet.

A was an Angler, so patient and still,

B was the bridge by the brook, near the mill.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane


Poor Cock Robin (1865)

The well known tale of the death and burial of Cock Robin.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane


The Railroad Alphabet (1865)

A picture alphabet based on the railroad. Read for free online at State Library of South Australia.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

A Gaping-Wide-Mouth Waddling Frog (1866)

This is the reissue of this nonsense poem.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

A Gaping-Wide-Mouth Waddling Frog (1866)

A nonsense poem.

Here is the game based on it at archive.org.

Another copy at FSU.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Sing a Song of Sixpence (1866)

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.

This is the cover for a later edition.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Chattering Jack (1867)

A nursery tale from Walter Crane. Read for free online at the Toronto Public Library. NOTE: that link downloads a very large file.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Multiplication Table in Verse (1867)

A unique approach to arithmetic. Read for free online at the Toronto Public Library. NOTE: that link downloads a very large file.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Old Courtier (1867)

An old ballad of the English gentry. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Grammar in Rhyme (1868)

An introduction to the parts of speech. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

How Jessie Was Lost (1868)

A young girl runs away from her nurse at the park and is taken to the keeper’s house where her loud weeping attracts her parents. Read for free online at Toronto Public Library.

Author(s): Lucy Crane
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Routledge’s Coloured ABC Book (1868)

Includes Walter Crane’s Farm-Yard Alphabet.

Annie and Jack in London (1869)

An illustrated tour of London in the 1860’s. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Lucy Crane
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

One, Two Buckle My Shoe (1869)

A counting rhyme. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Adventures of Puffy (1870)

A fluffy white Maltese dog gets into no end of trouble. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Lucy Crane
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Fairy Ship (1870)

A nonsense verse with illustrations. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

King Luckieboy’s Party (1870)

The months come to greet King Luckieboy at his birthday party.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

This Little Pig Went to Market (1870)

The familiar toe rhyme. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book (1871)

This omnibus includes Chattering Jack and The Multiplication Table in Verse by Walter Crane. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book: Containing Happy Days of Childhood, Sing a Song of Sixpence, The Gaping-Wide-Mouth Frog, Hop o’ My Thumb (1871)

An omnibus containing Sing a Song of Sixpence and A Gaping-Wide-Mouth Waddling Frog by Crane and Happy Days of Childhood and Hop o’ My Thumb

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): T. Bolton
Walter Crane


Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book Containing How Jessie Was Lost, Grammar in Rhyme, The Babes in the Wood, Little Dog Trusty (1871)

How Jessie was Lost and Grammar in Rhyme are by Walter Crane.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane
Et al


Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book Containing King Grisly Beard, The Fairy Ship, Rumpelstiltskin, The Adventures of Puffy (1871)

Only The Fairy Ship and The Adventures of Puffy are by Walter Crane.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane


Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book Containing The Fancy Dress Ball, Annie and Jack in London, The Enraged Miller, Old King Cole (1871)

Annie and Jack in London is by Walter Crane.

Author(s): Anonymous
Lucy Crane
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane
Et al


Routledge’s Coloured Picture Book Containing The Juvenile Party, One, Two Buckle My Shoe, History of Our Pets, The Cats’ Tea Party (1871)

One, Two Buckle My Shoe is by Walter Crane.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane
Et al


The Noah’s Ark Alphabet (1872)

An alphabet of animals who entered the Ark. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1873)

A boy is cutting firewood in the forest. He overhears some thieves open the way into a cave with the words “open sesame.” This is one of the best-known tales from the Arabian Nights. Read for free online at Internet Archive and at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Cinderella (1873)

A neglected stepdaughter, a fairy godmother and a prince. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

My Children (1873)

A poem in praise of the joys of parenthood. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

My Mother (1873)

A poetical paean to mothers. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Ann Taylor
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Three Bears (1873)

The story of the three bears and Silverlocks, told in verse. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Absurd ABC (1874)

Short beautifully illustrated and engraved A-Z book with a nursery rhyme theme. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Alphabet of Old Friends (1874)

The letters of the alphabet are presented through traditional nursery rhymes, set in gilded letters and paintings. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Beauty and the Beast (1874)

The classic tale of a daughter who redeems her father and saves her husband. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

The Frog Prince (1874)

Would you kiss a frog? Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Goody Two Shoes (1874)

A tale of two orphans and how they eventually prospered. Read for Free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Old Mother Hubbard (1874)

The traditional rhyme about an old woman and her dog. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Sarah Catherine Martin
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Puss in Boots (1874)

The miller’s son sends his cat into the world to make him a fortune. The cover (above) is from a later reprinting. Read for free online at Internet Archive.

Author(s): Lucy Crane
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Valentine and Orson (1874)

Twins separated at birth are reunited in knight errantry. Read for free online at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Aladdin: or The Wonderful Lamp (1875)

New lamps for old! and a most obliging genie. Read for free online at Internet Archive and at the University of Florida.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane

Baby’s Own Alphabet (1875)

An illustrated ABC. Read for free online at Internet Archive. This is a collection of several of Walter Crane’s Toy Books.

Author(s): Anonymous
Illustrator(s): Walter Crane