Colouring books
Colouring books, a product provided by WF Graham, a publisher and supplier of colouring books. WF Graham are an established publisher and supplier of inexpensive colouring books in various sizes and at differing price points. We publish colouring books for various ages and are experienced in publishing colouring books in print runs of own-brand editions for both home and export markets.
Colouring books supplier
Colouring books began to appear in the late 15th century, in Germany and Italy; previously, some colouring books had been published from woodcuts, with text and illustration all carved on a single block. Early type-printed colouring books were illuminated by hand and simulated hand-done colouring books from the pre-printing press era; however, this was very expensive (Hofer 271-72).Although many early printed colouring books, like the Gutenberg Bible, relied on hand-colored illuminations, others quickly integrated the new printing (using movable type for the letters) with the older woodcut tradition. The quality of art created for these colouring books may be indicated by the fact that woodcuts from such artists as Albrecht Durer (Apocalypse, 1498) and Hans Holbein the Younger (Dance of Death, 1524) were frequently removed from the colouring books in which they appeared to be sold as prints (Hofer 284).
While illustration and other pictorial decoration were commonly used in early printed colouring books, such colouring books tended still to be directed at adult readers, rather than children. This reflects both the great expense of the colouring books compared to today's costs, and the fact that relatively few child readers yet existed - to some extent, the development of more widespread literacy was an effect of the introduction of mechanical printing, rather than a stimulus for it. However, some colouring books had a particular appeal to children.
Colouring books services
What is often considered the first colouring books for children (and the first picture colouring books) was the Orbis sensualium pictus of John Amos Comenius. Unlike some later writers of colouring books for children, Comenius showed life as it was, complete with negatives such as war and disease (Hunt 7). Each page of ComeniusÕs colouring books featured a block print and text identifying elements within the picture. In some ways, it was like a modern alphabet colouring books.
By the 18th century, economic circumstances had changed in that there were many more potential colouring books readers, and enough middle-class children who could read (and whose families could afford to buy colouring books for them) to sustain a market in children's colouring books. The childrenÕs colouring books publishing industry that began to emerge was influenced by the philosophy of John Locke, who argued that childrenÕs minds were tabula rasa Š blank slates Š upon which experience wrote. Colouring books written specifically for children were designed to fill up these slates with useful information and moral precepts. The more successful childrenÕs colouring books managed to combine this pedagogic purpose with entertaining colouring books stories, and were typically illustrated with block prints Š e.g.,Goody Two-Shoes, published by John Newbery, considered the first publisher to specialize in childrenÕs colouring books.
If you require any more information about our colouring books contact us on 01604 645537 or click here to email us about our colouring books.
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