Napoleon called the English a “nation of shopkeepers,” and in England art may owe much to trade. Children’s literature in England got its start from merchants such as Thomas Boreman, of whom little is known, and especially John Newbery, of whom a great deal more is known. Research has established that at least as early as 1730 Boreman began publishing for children (largely educational works) and that in 1742 he produced what sounds like a recreational story, Cajanus, the Swedish Giant. Beginnings of English children’s literature might be dated from the first decade of the 18th century, when a tiny
The last book that will ever bear the David R Godine imprint is, fittingly, by David Godine himself. It's called Godine at Fifty: A Retrospective of Five Decades in the Life of an Independent Publisher, and it's a safe bet that the people who these days run his company (now called just Godine) will never put out such a volume again.