CATALOGUE OF THE COTSEN CHILDREN'S LIBRARY: THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, A-L (VOL. I)

Princeton: Princeton University Library, 2000. cloth, with gilt-stamped decoration on upper cover, title label on spine. 9.4 x 12.6 inches. cloth, with gilt-stamped decoration on upper cover, title label on spine. 656 pages. In fall 1996, the Cotsen staff began compiling a multi-volume book catalogue of the research collection, with support from the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and the Technical Services Department of the Princeton University Library.



Four volumes of the catalogue have been completed thus far. In May 2000, volume I, The Twentieth Century A-L, was published, and in December 2003, volume II, The Twentieth Century M-Z. 12,403 books are described there, with detailed notes on their illustrations, contents, bindings, and previous owners. In 2019, The Nineteenth Century, volumes I and II were published, covering more than 6,370 entries of 19th century illustrated children's books.



Still planned are a volume covering pre-1801 imprints and an index. When competed, the material will comprise about 20,000 items chiefly in European languages out of a total over 100,000 items published during the fifteenth through twentieth centuries. The entries include detailed notes on illustrations, contents, bindings, and previous owners. As so many children's books appear without dates of publication on their title pages, every attempt has been made to assign an accurate date of issue based on internal evidence and authoritative reference sources in print and on-line. The text is enlivened with more than 270 color-printed illustrations, many full size.



Designed by Mark Argetsinger, the text of each volume is lavishly illustrated with over one hundred and fifty illustrations in duotone and process color and printed on Mohawk Superfine paper. The volumes are bound in olive green Japanese cloth with the front covers stamped in gold and full-color patterned endpapers.