The Acquisitions Table: The Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin

The Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin.  Philadelphia: Davis, Porter & Coates, ca. 1866-1868.

This poignantly humorous image of the owl digging departed Cock Robin’s grave is taken from an “indestructible” picture book that had its pages reinforced with cloth for the hard use of young and eager hands.  This hand-colored wood engraving is characteristic of American children’s picture books of the mid-nineteenth century. When Davis, Porter & Coates issued this book New York picture book publisher McLoughlin Brothers was starting to publish picture books mechanically printed using color lithography, revolutionizing the economic production of multi-colored picture books.