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A Chapbook for Children

Robie Rover. New York: James Wrigley, [ca. 1867-1876] Little Annie's Series.

Robie Rover is a fanciful tale of a country boy who would rather ride pigs through pastures than go to school. His mother takes Robie and his pet monkey Jocko to New York in hopes of putting him "to some steady work." Instead, Robie gets lost in the city, and the ever-resourceful Jocko finds a broom, so his master can embark on the closely linked careers of street sweeping and begging.

With its broadly drawn illustrations, this chapbook is a precursor to the comic book; like a comic book, the story has an abrupt ending: interested readers can follow Robie and Jocko's further adventures in an upcoming sequel. The back cover advertises James Wrigley as a publisher of toy books, valentines, songsters, and broadside ballads — reflecting his niche in the production of pleasure reading and ephemera.
Purchased from Michael Burstein. Harry G. Stoddard Memorial Fund.

-Laura Wasowicz, Curator of Children's Literature

Recent Acquisitions Index

"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography; another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and in this way I am kept very busy."
~Christopher Columbus Baldwin
 3rd Librarian of AAS