attention was paid to the needs of children; although the authors applied themselves to
using simple language and a childlike presentation, everything was concentrated on the
moral content, the ‘lesson’.
Hieronymus van Alphen’s Kleine gedigten voor kinderen (3 volumes, 1778–1782;
English translation: Poetry For Children, 1856) fits this description completely. Apart
from a few poems about God’s love and the love of father and mother, he put model
children on the stage. In poem after poem, virtues are shown to the reader: gratitude,
modesty, honesty, patience, obedience, inquisitiveness, diligence.
The reviews were unanimously laudatory: the poems were praised for the profitable
lessons they contained, articulated in a language that children could understand. The
collection appeared to fulfill exactly the needs of the cultivated public, as was proven by
seven printings of the first volume in 1778. But that was not all: the poems were written
with a rare literary talent, because of which they survived until the beginning of the
twentieth century, and acquired a place in the literary history of The Netherlands, as
very few children’s books did.
This success stimulated other authors to make an effort as well. Within one year there
was such a large supply of children’s books that they were considered a separate literary
category; besides poetry, other genres appeared. But for a very long time Van Alphen
remained the example for authors and the standard for critics. For more than half a
century, he overshadowed his followers: they could imitate his moral lessons, but not
his talent.
As far as we know, the needs of children were not taken into account before 1830, for
a thorough inventory of nineteenth-century children’s books has not been made yet: to a
large extent, our knowledge of this period consists of stereotypes. Although this period
did not produce real classics, as it did in England and Germany, a serious investigation
might unearth some attractive, childlike books, which were forgotten because they did
not fulfil the pedagogical demands of their time.
After 1850 several new genres emerged. School-teachers, like P.J.Andriessen and
P.Louwerse, covered almost the complete history of The Netherlands in numerous
children’s novels. And around 1880 the girl’s novel (in imitation of Louisa May Alcott’s
books) and the boy’s novel came into vogue.
1900–1945: The Republic of ChildhoodAt the turn of the century children’s literature began to bloom, partly because of the
increasing interest in children. By that time it was generally accepted that children’s
books should first of all offer diversion. Moral considerations were still applied, but the
emphatic moral had been replaced by self-censorship by the authors. The nursery no
longer had an outlook on the adults’ world: children lived in their own jeugdland.
Even in historical surveys authors often react against this ‘segregation’, but it can also
be interpreted in a positive way. Child labour had been abolished, compulsory education
had just been adopted. In this ‘century of the child’ children were to enjoy their
childhood years in peace. In children’s literature this notion was reflected by a growing
attention to the emotions of children, their play and their leisure. And although the
image of childhood was sometimes too happy for today’s taste, the increasing interest in
702 THE NETHERLANDS