The Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books contains more than 80,000 items. The nucleus of the collection, which has a cut-off date of 1910, was donated to the Toronto Public Library in 1946 by a British librarian from Derbyshire, Edgar Osborne. Unable to get any English libraries to meet his conditions –  to properly house his books, describe them and publish a catalogue – he settled on Toronto, largely because he was so impressed by its Children’s librarian Lillian H. Smith who he’d met during a visit to the library with his wife in 1934.

I met with Librarian Jennifer Yan in late 2019. Listen as she explains why we literary tourists need to visit the Osborne Collection in Toronto.