Memory of the Netherlands Portal
The Memory of the Netherlands portal includes a total of 650 Dutch Picture Books, 1810–1950 in this collection of digital books, which runs the gamut from Robinson Crusoe to Tielse Flipje (a cartoon mascot on De Betuwe jam-pot labels) and from old nursery rhymes to the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. Each successive Dutch generation grew up with its own specific children’s books, and each generation unconsciously adopted such moral standards and values as they contained. Children’s books serve as indispensable witnesses of an ever-changing society. In picture books, the images are just as important as the texts. The books are by no means intended exclusively for young children. Old picture books reflect the views people held about good and evil, poor and rich; about education, with examples of dutiful and bad behavior; about love for one’s own country and about people from foreign countries. The collection is a joint initiative of the National Library of the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Public Library, the Rotterdam Public Library, and the Deventer City Archives and Athenaeum Library.
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