Web mastery…pick of the week

Mother Goose and the Flopsy Bunnies live on line! Lovers of children’s literature will totally enjoy browsing this Web site, which was compiled by William Touponce, professor of English at IUPUI, and features the Elizabeth Ball Collection of rare, old editions of children’s books.

The Ball Collection, housed in the Lilly Library at IU Bloomington, includes a 1550 silver ABC book, a 1697 volume of Mother Goose Tales and Beatrix Potter’s 1904 The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.

It also includes pages from a 1744 book published by John Newbery and several illustrated by Randolph Caldecott, for whom the present day Newbery Medal and Caldecott Medal awards are named. According to Touponce, the site will soon be cited in the on-line version of The Encyclopedia Americana.