Up until the late 18th century and early 19th century, the toy-making business was primarily a cottage industry, consisting of local artisans crafting items for agents who sold the toys to merchants. Toys for children were primarily purchased from peddlers, stalls in a market, or in shops mixed in with other goods. By the late 18th century children's books, such as Cobwebs to Catch Flies (1783) and The Toy-Shop (1787), begin to show illustrations of London toyshops.
The Wonderful Toy Shop (1852) is a mid-19th century children's book illustrating what would be found in a 1850's toyshop. The book has hand-colored wood engravings of a man showing a group of children the toys in his shop. The toys include dolls, dollhouses, musical instruments, guns, rocking-horses, soldiers, bow and arrows, blocks, tools, kites, and wagons. It was published in the 1850s by Philip J. Cozans in New York.
This book was first published by Dean and Co., London, England in 1852 under the title of Wonders of a Toy Shop. Cozans just added a new illustrated cover page and title to the British book, plus changed the name of the toyshop from "London Toy Warehouse" to just "Toy Warehouse." The British title was also published by J.Q. Preble, New York, in the 1850s and can be seen in the Library of Congress Rare Books Department. |
