The Infants Own Book-case

A miniature library published by Darton and Harvey containing a set of animal alphabet cards and 8 volumes: 1) The Cries of London, 2) The Infant’s Own Book, part I, 3) The Infant’s Own Book, part II, 4) A Lecture on the Alphabet, 5) People of All Nations, part I, 6) People of All Nations, part II, 7) The Picture Shop for Little Children, part I, and 8) The Picture Shop for Little Children, part II. Miniature libraries tie together reading with observation of common objects in several ways. The miniature books contained in the box typically combine a small image on one page opposite a descriptive sentence written in a chatty style, suggestive of a parent's voice addressing a child who is looking at the book. The book itself is a cabinet of little things, housed with other books inside a cabinet. The usual illustrations on the sliding lids typically accentuate this theme by featuring a piece of furniture for storing books on top and objects on bottom, and the inclusion of object alphabet cards draws attention to the materiality of children's texts, which were supposed to reference the world of things as closely as possible. Also called "doll's libraries," miniature libraries could be used by children to imitate the chatty voice of their parent or nurse while pretending to teach a doll, pet, or sibling. This imitative use adds a metacognitive dimension to the library.