This timeline shows when texts significant to children's literature were published and links to these texts in the UBC Library catalogue where appropriate.
17th Century
1658 Comenius, Johann. Orbis Sensualium Pictus.
1671 Janeway, James. A Token for Children.
1678 Bunyan, John. Pilgrim's Progress.
1686 Bunyan, John. A Book For Boys and Girls, or Country Rhymes for Children.
1690 Locke, John. Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
1697 Perrault, Charles. Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe.
18th Century
1707 d'Aulnoy, Countess. Diverting Works.
1715 Watts, Isaac. Divine Songs.
1719 Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe.
1726 Swift, Jonathon. Gulliver's Travels.
1744 Newbery, John. A Little Pretty Pocket Book.
1749 Fielding, Sarah. The Governess, or, The Little Female Academy.
1762 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Emile.
1766 Goldsmith, Oliver. Little Goody Two Shoes.
1778 Barbauld, Anna Laetitia. Lessons for Children.
1779 de Genlis, Countess. Theatre of Education.
1781 Barbauld, Anna Laetitia. Hymns in Prose for Children.
1782-83 Berquin, Arnaud. Ami des Enfants.
1783-89 Day, Thomas. Sandford and Merton.
1786 Trimmer, Mrs. Fabulous Histories.
1787 Berquin, Arnaud. The Looking-Glass for the Mind, or, Intellectual Mirror.
1788 Day, Thomas. The History of Little Jack.
1792-96 Aiken, John. Evenings at home; or, The juvenile budget opened.
1795 Edgeworth, Mrs. Maria. The Parent's Assistant.
1812-3 Wyss, Johann Rudolf. The Swiss Family Robinson.
1816 E.T.A. Hoffman. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
1819 Scott, Walter. Ivanhoe.
1819 Irving, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Irving, Washington. Rip Van Winkle.
1823 Grimm, Jacob. Grimm's Fairy Tales. Translated into English
1827 Peter Parley (pseudonym). The Tales of Peter Parley about America.
1838 Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist.
1843 Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol.
1844 Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers.
1846 Andersen, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales.
1851 Ruskin, John. The King of the Golden River.
1851 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Tanglewood Tales.
1855 Kingsley, Charles. Westward Ho!
Molesworth, Mrs. The Carved Lions.
Thackeray, W.M. The Rose and the Ring.
1856 Ballantyne, R.M. Snowflakes and Sunbeams; or, The Young Fur-traders.
Yonge, Charlotte. The Daisy Chain.
1857 Hughes, Thomas. Tom Brown's Schooldays.
Ballantyne, R.M. The Coral Island.
1858 Farrar, Frederick. Eric, or, Little By Little.
1860 Good Words (-1906)
1862 Rossetti, Christina. Goblin Market.
1863 Kingsley, Charles. The Water Babies.
1864 Verne, Jules. A Journey to the Center of the Earth.
1865 Carroll, Lewis. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
1866 Boys of England (-1906)
Chatterbox (-1946)
1867 Stretton, Hesba. Jessica's First Prayer.
1868 Alcott, Louisa May. Little Women.
Alger, Horatio Jr. Ragged Dick.
1869 Ingelow, Jean. Mopsa the Fairy.
1870 Ewing, Juliana Horatia. The Brownies and Other Tales.
Greenaway, Kate. Under the Window.
1871 Carroll, Lewis. Through the Looking Glass.
Coolidge, Susan. What Katy Did.
Henty, G.A. Out on the Pampas; or The Young Settlers.
MacDonald, George. At the Back of the North Wind.
1872 MacDonald, George. The Princess and the Goblin.
1873 Dodge, Mary Mapes, ed. St. Nicholas.
Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
1876 Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
1877 Molesworth, Mrs. The Cuckoo Clock.
Sewell, Anne. Black Beauty.
1879 Boy's Own Paper (-1967)
1880 Girl's Own Paper (-1908)
Harris, Joel Chandler. Uncle Remus.
Spyri, Johanna. Heidi.
1882 One Thousand and One Nights. Translated into English
1883 Stevenson, Robert Louis. Treasure Island.
Pyle, Howard. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.
1884 Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
1885 Stevenson, Robert Louis. A Child's Garden of Verses.
Burnett, Frances Hodgeson. Little Lord Fauntleroy.
Haggard, H. Rider. King Solomon's Mines.
1886 Stevenson, Robert Louis. Kidnapped.
1888 Pyle, Howard. Otto of the Silver Hand.
Wilde, Oscar. The Happy Prince.
1889 Lang, Andrew, ed. The Blue Fairy Book.
1890 Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales.
1892 Collodi, Carlo. The Adventures of Pinocchio.
1893 Saunders, Marshall. Beautiful Joe.
1894 Kipling, Rudyard. The Jungle Book.
1895 Grahame, Kenneth. The Golden Age.
1898 Falkner, J. Meade. Moonfleet.
1899 Bannerman, Helen. The Story of Little Black Sambo.
Grahame, Kenneth. Dream Days.
Kipling, Rudyard. Stalky and Co.
Nesbit, E. The Story of the Treasure Seekers.
1900 Baum, L. Frank. The Wizard of Oz.
1902 De la Mare, Walter. Songs of Childhood.
Kipling, Rudyard. Just So Stories.
Nesbit, E. Five Children and It.
Potter, Beatrix. The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
1903 Brooke, L. Leslie. Johnny Crow's Garden.
Wiggin, Kate Douglas. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Pyle, Howard. King Arthur and His Knights.
London, Jack. Call of the Wild.
1904 Hope, Laura Lee. The Bobbsey Twins.
1905 Burnett, Frances Hodgson. A Little Princess.
1906 Kipling, Rudyard. Puck of Pook's Hill.
Nesbit, E. The Railway Children.
London, Jack. White Fang.
1907 Lagerlof, Selma. The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
1908 Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows.
Montgomery, L.M. Anne of Green Gables.
1909 Stratton-Porter, Gene. A Girl of the Limberlost.
1910 De La Mare, Walter. The Three Mulla-Mulgars.
Kipling, Rudyard. Rewards and Fairies.
1911 Barrie, J.M. Peter and Wendy.
Burnett, Frances Hodgson. The Secret Garden.
Masefield, John. Jim Davis.
1912 Webster, Jean. Daddy Long Legs.
1913 Porter, Eleanor H. Pollyana.
Rackham, Arthur. Mother Goose.
1916 Dulac, Edmund. Fairy-Book.
Farjeon, Eleanor. Nursery Rhymes of London Town.
Ransome, Arthur. Old Peter's Russian Tales.
1918 Lindsay, Norman. The Magic Pudding.
Gruelle, Johnny. Raggedy Ann.
1919 Ashford, Daisy. The Young Visitors.
1920 Lofting, Hugh. The Story of Dr. Dolittle.
1922 Bianco, Margery Williams. The Velveteen Rabbit.
Crompton, Richmal. Just-William.
Sandberg, Carl. The Rootabaga Stories.
1923 Hawes, Charles Boardman. The Dark Frigate.
1924 Milne, A.A. When We Were Very Young.
1926 Milne, A.A. Winnie-the-Pooh.
1927 Dixon, Franklin W. The Tower Treasure.
Masefield, John. The Midnight Folk.
Milne, A.A. Now We Are Six.
1928 Gag, Wanda. Millions of Cats.
Milne, A.A. The House at Pooh Corner.
Nicholson, William. Clever Bill.
Salten, Felix. Bambi.
1930 Kastner, Eric. Emil and the Detectives.
Keene, Carolyn. The Hidden Staircase.
Ransome, Arthur. Swallows and Amazons.
1931 de Brunhoff, Jean. The Story of Babar.
1932 Wilder, Laura Ingalls. Little House in the Big Woods.
1933 Flack, Marjorie. The Story About Ping.
1934 Travers, P.L. Mary Poppins.
Trease, Geoffrey. Bows Against the Barons.
1935 Bagnold, Enid. National Velvet.
Brink, Carol Rylie. Caddie Woodlawn.
Masefield, John. The Box of Delights.
Seredy, Kate. The Good Master.
1936 Ardizzone, Edward. Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain.
Leaf, Munro. The Story of Ferdinand.
Sawyer, Ruth. Roller Skates.
1937 Farjeon, Eleanor. Martin Pippin in the Daisy-Field.
Garnett, Eve. The Family from One-End Street.
Seuss, Dr. And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Streatfield, Noel. Ballet Shoes.
Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again.
1938 Atwater, Richard. Mr. Popper's Penguins.
Enright, Elizabeth. Thimble Summer.
Grahame, Kenneth. The Reluctant Dragon.
Rawlings, Marjorie Kinnan. The Yearling.
White, T.H. The Sword in the Stone.
Williams, Ursula Moray. The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse.
1939 Bemelmans, Ludwig. Madeline.
Eliot, T.S. Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.
Gramatky, Hardy. Little Toot.
Uttley, Alison. Traveller in Time.