Subject strengths: Literature, Children's Literature

The Butler Collection is a collection of children's literature which had been created by Mary Thwaite and further developed by Joan Butler, both librarians for Hertfordshire Library Services. It was jointly acquired by the Philip Robinson Library and Seven Stories, the Centre for Children's Books.

The collection includes eighteenth-century pamphlets and books such as Young, Rev. J. The perils of Paul Percival or the Young Adventurer (c.1841), Ballantyne, R.M. The gorilla hunters: a tale of the wilds of Africa (1897), Banks, A. Cheep and chatter or lessons from field and tree (1884) and works by such well-known children's writers as Hans Christian Andersen, J.M. Barrie, Frances Hogson Burnett, James Fenimore Cooper and Daniel Defoe as well as books illustrated by Randolph Caldecott.

Collection Name and Collection Reference Code:

Collection Name: Butler (Joan) Collection

Library Search Collection Ref Code: Joan Butler Coll.

Date Range of Material

18th and 19th Century

Type of Material

Rare book collection

Size of Collection

61.5 Linear Metres of shelving 

How To Order Items From This Collection

You can then place your order by linking to our Request Form. 

Finding Aid

The books within the modern section of this collection are described within the Newcastle University Library Search and can be ordered directly from the catalogue.

This link to the Library Search will show a list of all the items within the collection. Please note this link is available to members of the public as well as University staff and students.

The books within the antiquarian section are currently uncatalogued, but are available via online listing.

Unable to visit our Reading Room?

If you are unable to visit our reading room, we also have a virtual reading room service and a digitisation service. 

Other Resources

Material from this collection was used in our Treasures of the Month feature for September 2012.

Material from the collection has been included in the exhibition 'Books We Forgot to Remember: the radical tradition in British children's literature of the early twentieth century'.