England Primer Hornbooks also appeared in England during this time, teaching children basic information such as the alphabet and

nsive booklets reprinted popular ballads, historical re-tellings, and folk tales. Though not specifically published for children at this time, young people enjoyed the booklets as well.[17]:8 Johanna Bradley in From Chapbooks to Plum Cake says that chapbooks kept imaginative stories from being lost to readers under the strict Puritan influence of the time.[13]:17


An early Mexican hornbook pictured in Tuer’s History of the Horn-Book, 1896.


The New England Primer
Hornbooks also appeared in England during this time, teaching children basic information such as the alphabet and the Lord's Prayer.[18] These were brought from England to the American colonies in the mid-17th century. The first such book was a catechism for children written in verse by the Puritan John Cotton. Known as Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes, it was published in 1646, appearing both in England and Boston. Another early book, The New England Primer, was in print by 1691 and used in schools for 100 years. The Primer begins, "In Adam's fall We sinned all..." and continues through the alphabet. It also contained religious maxims, acronyms, spelling help and other educational items, all decorated by woodcuts.[7]:35
In 1634, the Pentamerone from Italy became the first major published collection of European folk tales. Charles Perrault began recording fairy tales in France, publishing his first collection in 1697. They were not well received among the French literary society, who saw them as only fit for old people and children. In 1658, Jan Ámos Comenius in Bohemia published the informative illustrated Orbis Pictus, for children under six learning to read. It is considered as the first picture book produced specifically for children.[17]:7
The first Danish children's book was The Child's Mirror by Niels Bredal in 1568, an adaptation of a Courtesy book by the Dutch priest Erasmus. A Pretty and Splendid Maiden's Mirror, an adaptation of a German book for young women, became the first Swedish children's book upon its 1591 publication.[1]:700, 706 Sweden published fables and a children's magazine by 1766.
In Italy, Giovanni Francesco Straparola released The Facetious Nights of Straparola in the 1550s. Called the first European storybook to contain fairy-tales, it eventually had 75 separate stories and written for an adult audience.[19] Giulio Cesare Croce also borrowed from stories children enjoyed for his books.[20]:757
Russia's earliest children's books, primers, appeared in the late 16th century. An early example is ABC-Book, an alphabet book published by Ivan Fyodorov in 1571.[1]:765 The first picture book published in Russia, Karion Istomin's The Illustrated Primer, appeared in 1694.[1]:765 Peter the Great's interest in modernizing his country through Westernization helped Western children's literature dominate the field through the 1700s.[1]:765 Catherine the Great wrote allegories for children, and during her reign, Nikolai Novikov started the first juvenile magazine in Russia.[1]:765
Origins of the modern genre[edit]
The modern children's book emerged in mid-18th century Engla