Once Upon a Time: Illustrations from Fairytales, Fables, Primers, Pop-Ups, and Other Children's Books
by Amy Weinstein
Princeton Architectural Press | May 2005 | ISBN-10: 1568985649 | PDF | 192 pages | 53.2 mb 
http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Time-Illustrations-Fairytales/dp/1568985649

Many of our most cherished childhood memories recall the pleasure of sitting in a big comfy chair while a doting parent reads from a lovingly illustrated picture book. Jack and the Bean Stalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Robinson Crusoethe colorful illustrations that decorated the pages of these stories remain forever captured in the mind's eye. 
Once Upon a Time reawakens the joys of childhood reading, of seeing a story come alive in words and pictures on the printed pageand in our nascent imaginations. Drawing upon the extraordinary collection of Victorian-era illustrated books amassed by Arthur and Ellen Liman, it presents fairy tales and fables, nursery rhymes, instructional books, juvenile fiction, histories, and manners manuals. Created through a variety of illustration techniques and printing processes, most are beautifully colored. Many are also animated with moveable parts. These striking objects are accompanied by brief texts that place them within their era and illuminate the rise of children's literature in America as a cultural phenomenon related to the growth of literacy, an increase in leisure time, and an understanding of the "infant mind." The moral of this story: learning your ABCs can be a visual pleasure.

About the Author
Amy Weinstein is a Curator of 20th and 21st Century Collections at the New-York Historical Society, where she is responsible for the acquisition and interpretation of artifacts, art, and oral histories relating to New York City and State. 

CONTENTS
Preface - Ellen Liman vii
Acknowledgments xi
To Amuse and Instruct - An Introduction to Illustrated Children’s Books 1
From Apple to Zouave - Learning the ABCs 15
Through the Air on a Very Fine Gander - Gems from Mother Goose 39
Once Upon at Time - Fairytales and Fables 69
Fact and Fiction - Novels, History Books, and Anthologies 107
’Twas the Night Before - Christmas Books 141
Virtue and Vice - Cautionary Tales for the Nursery 155
Suggested Readings 179