Beatrix Potter's Pigling Bland at the Rosetta Project
Wonderful things happen when the Internet connects a worldwide bunch of bibliophiles in pursuit of a common cause: the historical archiving of children’s books from a bygone era - such is Children’s Books On-line: The Rosetta Project.
Started in 1996 by one man with a vision for capturing vintage children’s literature before it was lost forever and preserving it for future generations, the non-profit corporation based in Maine utilizes an army of volunteers from all four corners of the globe, who secure original, often out-of-print children’s storybooks, which they donate, scan, publish, and lovingly translate into a Babel of tongues.
After all, it is a library about and for the children of the world.
Book lovers from countries such as Romania, Afghanistan, Italy, China, Croatia, Greece, Great Britain, Finland, Mexico, Syria, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Israel, Russia, the United States and more, have come together to provide downloadable antique children’s books for a modest charge with the price based on the size of the file being downloaded..
The books are available to sample or read free on-line in JPEG format by clicking on arrows to advance pages.
The downloadable versions come in zip files to your computer.
If you are not familiar with zip formats, Rosetta provides instructions, which if you are not computer-savvy you would best be served by printing the instructions out first so you can easily follow the downloading process, which isn’t difficult once you follow it step-by-step.
Take a look at one of Rosetta’s older offerings, “A Child’s First Book,” published by McLoughlin Brothers in 1880. This English version with a Romanian translation provided below the original text may be slightly formal in speech, but is literacy-rich in words, much different from some of today’s publications, which rely heavily on illustration and less on verbiage. Also, the illustrations are charming and visually rich in capturing a child’s world that is long gone.
If you want to bypass the download and just sit your young one on your lap to peruse the offerings by reading the text out loud, the entire experience is transforming, as is the option to have some texts read aloud from an audio file with a proper ‘Kings-English’ narrated accent.
Multi-media files are also downloadable from Rosetta’s on-line museum store.
The entire site is an enchanting find and well worth the time to explore for you and your child.
One of this week’s showcased books is the original “Tale of Pigling Bland” – check it out, you won’t be disappointed: it’s like stepping through an hourglass and capturing moments when life was a bit slower, slightly more dignified, filled with more time that could be shared between a parent and child exploring fine literature.
Reading levels are broken down into Pre-Reader and Very Early Readers, Early Readers, Intermediate and Advanced Readers as well as Adult and Books in Multiple Languages.
The Rosetta Project is perhaps the largest illustrated antique book collection available on-line and is funded from tax-deductible public donations and the John and Frances Beck Foundation.
If you enjoyed this article, you may want to read:
A lesson in corporate responsibility: Disney/Pixar grants last wish to dying child
Classic kids book in the making: Are you Ready for Baby?
Comments