Scribner Illustrated Classics: Children's Books for All Ages

Scribner's Illustrated Classics series was the greatest of the illustrated series of children's books produced in the first half of the 20th century. It was the largest, longest running and most influential illustrated classics series, staying in print throughout most of the last century. And, in my opinion, it also featured some of the most beautiful artwork ever to grace a book's pages, including paintings by N.C. Wyeth, Jessie Willcox Smith, Maxfield Parrish and many other notable artists from the Golden Age of book illustration.

This series of books is a terrific entry point to reading "the classics," for children and adults alike. Some of my first introductions to these titles were these illustrated editions and other similar ones from different publishers.

0:01 What happened to classic childrens' books?
1:43 Charles Scribner's Sons Company
2:50 Overview and origins of Scribner's Illustrated Classics series
6:24 Adventure novels
14:38 Books for younger readers
17:00 Anthologies of Dickens and Alcott excerpts
18:18 Contemporary heartwarmers
19:15 Other related illustrated books
22:30 Influence on other publishers
23:37 Recent additions
24:39 A note for collectors

#classicbooks #bookcollection #reading #classics #childrensbooks #childrensbook #booktube #illustration #wyeth

Film clip and image credits:
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)
Black Sails (2014)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Braveheart (1995)

[TreeBeardBookReviews]

This was a wonderful video Bridger. I really enjoyed the history lesson. Such a joy to watch your channel.

[robertlongoria]

i have a sense of joy knowing this channel is around.

[Paromita_M]

A fantastic video.
I started watching, then went back and played at a slower speed so I could watch all the book covers and illustrations nicely. 🙂
Many memories of great books (e.g. I remember borrowing The Last Of The Mohicans from my junior school library by default because all the Goosebumps by RL Stine were already taken by everyone else 😄 and then ending up enjoying it). But also so many I haven't read or even heard of.

I got introduced to a lot of my favourite classics like The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Ben-Hur, Ivanhoe, The Count of Monte Cristo, most Dickens and SFF titles like Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Time Machine through abridged illustrated versions. And then I read the unabridged versions for the ones where the stories really resonated with me.

The care with which you have preserved these books is so important.

[amalathisdreaming]

These illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. I never knew the modern depictions of pirates came from an illustrated book and at the beginning of twentieth century holding one of these books must have been such a treat.

[rachaelwarrington]

I’m so glad I found your channel. I love the in-depth look into books, but also about publishers, art work and their stories. Please keep doing this, learning so much! Finding new authors! I’m reading my first Perry Mason book! I’m enjoying it throughly. Thank y ou ,

[parinafernandes]

Your channel is truly fantastic. It just blows your mind and makes you dive into classic children literature even though it might be your first time being introduced to it. Thank you for all the effort you've put in.

[onlinedayton]

This channel reminds me of the History Channel. Well, when the History Channel was good. I mean it in the best way possible.

[asdfasdf]

Your channel deserves more recognition.

[albertcscs]

What a wonderful video. I have always maintained that the Scribners & Sons were Americas answer to the golden age illustrators of England, namely Rackham, Dulac and Nielsen. They started a decade earlier and in more of an art book format with tipped in plates. But as you demonstrated, the style and substance of the Illustrated Classics was second to none. Thanks so much. PS- I borrowed some of the PD artwork shown from the Arthurian works for a small volume of "Seven Tales from King Arthurs Court" with Edmund Dulac artwork that will be published this fall by Markosia.

[mohamedalshafi]

The channel is gold
Looking forward to the upcoming videos man.

[bimalgarg]

This channel is gonna blow up, watch out.

[Gking-nj]

Thank you for absolute premium content - and an extra thank you for venturing outside only literature and letting me dip my toe in illustration as well. A new area which I really enjoyed.

[themangog]

Just discovered your channel and have bingewatched all your videos. Picked up The Story of Roland and The Scottish Chiefs because of this video, those Scribner Illustrated Classics are amazing and I can't wait to pick up and read more of them. Thank you so much, I hope you keep making quality videos like this!

[AnotherBrownAjah]

I took a children's literature course while in college and it was one of the most enjoyable experiences. Everyone comparing their various editions and artwork was a bonus!

[duke]

Wonderful and thorough and thoughtful presentation. I’m old enough to have read some if not most of those books. Beautiful illustrationsThank You!

[rickcroucher]

What a great set of posts. Thank you for taking the time.

[Ihearbooks]

An excellent video. So much beautiful work covered. You do incredible work. Thank you. I loved learning about these books.

[asdisskagen]

I'm so glad I found your channel because it is difficult to find discussions of classic children's literature; they get overwhelmed by all the ones for books published in the last few years.

[abrahemsamander]

I’ll definitely get some of these for my nieces and nephews. Thanks for this,

[toods]

Really loving the content on this channel, super interesting and you're a great narrator!