Main Collection (1347 books)
The ICDL Main Collection includes outstanding children's books from around the world. Created for children ages 3-13, the collection's focus is on books that help children understand the world around them and the global society in which they live. Most books are in copyright and were selected by experts in children's literature from the country in which the books were published. All books are presented in their original language.
Special Collections
The ICDL Special Collections are primarily historical children's materials published before 1923. The books in each of the Special Collections were selected by the Curator of the Collection at the institution where the physical books are housed. The Special Collections are designed primarily for use by researchers and/or scholars in children's literature, although some titles are also included in the ICDL Main Collection.
Baldwin Collection (546 books)
The Baldwin Collection was contributed to the ICDL by the Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Materials at the University of Florida. The Baldwin Library includes more than 93,000 children's materials published in the United States and Great Britain between the 16th century and the early 1990s. The materials included in the ICDL represent books published for children from the mid-to-late 19th century and were digitized through grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. For more information about the Baldwin Library, visit the Library's website at http://palmm.fcla.edu/juv/.
Jordan Collection (575 books)
The Alice M. Jordan Collection was contributed to the ICDL by Boston Public Library in honor of Alice Jordan (1870-1960), its first Supervisor of Children's Services. The collection at Boston Public Library contains historic, contemporary and international titles including picture books, fiction, non-fiction, toy and moveable books from the infant to the young adult level from the 19th Century to the present day. The materials represented in the ICDL provide examples of 19th-century tract titles including cautionary tales, religious and moral stories and instruction, natural history, rhymes, and stories of amusement and riddles. Additional items include numerous editions of Mother Goose, 19th- and early 20th-century editions of Aesop's Fables, series titles by G. A. Henty, Grimm's fairy tales, and stories by Hans Christian Andersen.
