Find out more about different aspects of childhood, with our selection of books, covering:

General
Childhood studies
Costume

General
A Child’s World: A Social History of English Childhood 1800-1914, Walvin, James. 1982, Pelican

A History of Childhood: children and childhood in the West from medieval to modern times, Heywood, Colin. 2001, Cambridge, Polity Press, ISBN: 0745617328

A Labour of Love: The Experience of Parenthood in Britain 1900-1950 Humphries, Steve, and Gordon, Pamela. BBC Books, 1993, ISBN: 0283061952

A World of Babies. Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. DeLoache, Judy and Gottleib, Alma. 2000, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0521664756

Centuries of Childhood, Ariès, Phillipe. 1962, translated by Robert Baldock, Harmondsworth, 1973, Penguin

Children and Childhood in Western Society since 1500, Cunningham, Hugh. 2005, 2nd edition, Harlow, Pearson, ISBN:0582784530

Children, childhood and English society 1880-1990, Hendrick, Harry. 1997, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, ISBN: 0521576245
Children in English Society, 2 vols Pinchbeck, Ivy and Hewitt, Margaret. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1969-73, ASIN: Vol 1 - B000H3V360, Vol 2 - BOOOH3XO5M

Forgotten Children: Parent-Child Relations from 1500 to 1900, Pollock, Linda. Cambridge University Press, 1983, ISBN: 0521271339Medieval Children, Orme. 2001, Nicholas Yale University Press, ISBN: 0300097549

Perfect Parents: baby-care advice past and present, Hardyment, Christina, Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN: 0192861727

The History Child, Brockliss, L. and Rousseau, G. 2003, Oxford Magazine, 0th Week, Michaelmas Term, pp. 4–7. The article The History Child is also available online.

Books on childhood studies

After the Death of Childhood: Growing Up in the Age of Electronic Media, Buckingham, David. Polity Press, 2000, ISBN: 0745619339

An introduction to childhood studies, Kehily, Mary Jane. (ed), 2004, Maidenhead, Open University Press, ISBN: 03352126760

Children's Games in Street and Playground, Opie, Peter and Opie, Iona. 1969, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

The Disappearance of Childhood, Postman, Neil. 1982, New York, Delacorte Press.

Pictures of Innocence: The History and Crisis of Ideal Childhood, Higonnet, Anne, Thames and Hudson, 1998, ISBN: 0500280487

Understanding Childhood - An Interdisciplinary Approach, Woodhead, M and Montgomery, H. 2003, Chichester, John Wiley and Sons, ISBN: 0470846925

Books on children's costume

Children’s Costume in England 1300-1900, Cunnington, Phillis and Buck, Anne. 1965, London, A. & C. Black, ASIN: B00071SFNE

Children’s Clothes, Rose, Clare. 1989, London, Batsford, ISBN: 0896761118

Clothes and the Child: a handbook of children’s dress in England 1500-1900, Buck, Anne. 1996, Carlton, Bedford, Ruth Bean, ISBN: 0841913714

History of Children’s Costume, Ewing, Elizabeth. 1977, London, Batsford, ISBN: 0684153572

History of Children’s Costume, Sichel, M. 1983, London, Batsford, ISBN: 1555467512

The Art of Dress: Clothes and society 1500-1914, Ashelford, Jane. 1996, London, The National Trust. (Chapter 7 ‘Swaddling to Sailor’s Suits’ is specifically about children’s clothes), ISBN: 0810963175