Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verses

A Child's Garden of Verses is a delightful look at childhood, written by master poet and storyteller Robert Louis Stevenson. It was among the first poetry written for and about the child's own wonderful world of discovery and imagination—a landmark in the Victorian age, when verse for children was intended to edify and to convey moral instruction in rhyme.

Stevenson had already won renown as a writer of stories when he wrote A Child's Garden of Verses. In this collection of sixty-six poems he uses his mature talent to evoke anew the thoughts and experience of childhood, recalling the joys of his own—from sailing boats down a river, to waiting for the lamplighter, to sailing off to foreign lands in his daydreams. 

First published in 1885 by Longhaus, Green and Co (London), 1,000 copies were run. The book was not illustrated until 1895/96 when it was published by John Lane (London) and Charles Scribner's & Sons (NY) and illustrated by Charles Robinson (view it here for free). Since then many, many artists have turned their hand to this collection of poetry. This page is our attempt to show the breadth of possibilities out there and we'll add to it as we find more!

To ALISON CUNNINGHAM
FROM HER BOY

For the long nights you lay awake:
And watched for my unworthy sake:
For your most comfortable hand
That led me through the uneven land:
For all the story-books you read:
For all the pains you comforted:
For all you pitied, all you bore,
In sad and happy days of yore:—
My second Mother, my first Wife,
The angel of my infant life—
From the sick child, now well and old,
Take, nurse, the little book you hold!

And grant it, Heaven, that all who read
May find as dear a nurse at need,
And every child who lists my rhyme,
In the bright fireside nursery clime,
May hear it in as kind a voice
As made my childish days rejoice!

R.L.S. 

From the 1961 Platt & Munk reprint

Juanita Bennett

Hilda Boswell

Cooper Edens

Eulalie

Michael Foreman edition

Gyo Fujikawa

Eve Garnett

Diane Goode

Ruth Mary Hallock

Margaret Campbell Hoopes edition

Joan Hassall edition

Joanna Isles

Thomas Kinkade

Marie L. Kirk

Henriette Willebeek Le Mair

 

Barbara McClintock edition

E. Dorothy O'Reilly edition

Fern Bisel Peat edition

Alice & Martin Provensen

Paula Rees Good edition

Charles Robinson edition

Ruth Sanderson edition

Jessie Wilcox Smith

Lesley Smith edition

Helen Smithson edition

E. Mars / M.H. Squire edition

Florence Storer

Tasha Tudor

Brian Wildsmith edition

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34 Items found Print
A Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor
from Simon and Schuster
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$19.99 $14.50 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Dover Publications
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$4.00 $1.50 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Cooper Edens
from Chronicle Books
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith
from Random House
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Charles Scribner's Sons
for Preschool-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Alice & Martin Provensen
from Golden Press
for 4th-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
Arcadia
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Princess House Books
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$9.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eve Garnett
from Puffin Books
for Kindergarten-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Florence Storer
from Longmeadow Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Joanna Isles
from Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Thomas Kinkade
First Edition, Thus from Thomas Nelson Publishers
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$10.00 (2 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Dilithium Press, Ltd.
for Kindergarten-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
Books of Wonder
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Diane Goode
from HarperCollins
for Kindergarten-4th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Gyo Fujikawa
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Hilda Boswell
from Collins
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
from Weathervane Books
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Juanita C. Bennett
from Grosset & Dunlap
for 2nd-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$16.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
Popular Edition from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
$8.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Henriette Willebeek Le Mair
from Philomel Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Ruth Mary Hallock
from Barnes & Noble
for Nursery-3rd grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Maria L. Kirk
from J.B. Lippincott Co.
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, unknown illustrator
from Henry Altemus Company
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Charles Robinson
from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Poetry for 1st-5th grade
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Eulalie
from Platt and Munk Publishers
for Preschool-2nd grade
in Vintage Poetry (Location: VIN-POET)
Child's Garden of Verses
Heritage Illustrated Bookshelf
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin
from Heritage Press
for 1st-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Child's Garden of Verses - A Poetry Pop-Up Book
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Martin & Alice Provensen
from Golden Books
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$7.00 (1 in stock)
Land of Nod and Other Poems for Children
by Robert Louis Stevenson, selected and illustrated by Michael Hague
from Henry Holt and Company
for Kindergarten-5th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
Leaves From a Child's Garden of Verses
by Robert Louis Stevenson, Illustrated by Donna Green
from Vermillion, Inc
for Preschool-1st grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)
$6.00 (1 in stock)
My Shadow
by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Ted Rand
from Scholastic Inc.
for Nursery-Kindergarten
in Picture Books (Location: PICTURE)
Poetry for Young People: Robert Louis Stevenson
by Robert Louis Stevenson
from Sterling Publishing Co.
for 2nd-6th grade
in Poetry for Children (Location: POET-CHIL)