This collection encompasses two different but interrelated types of material. The first series is made up of catalogs and advertising materials from publishers of children's books. Many of these catalogs exclusively advertise children's materials, with some catalogs aimed at children themselves and others aimed at their parents and teachers. A number of the items are general publishers' catalogs with dedicated sections for children's books. A few of these general catalogs list no children's books; there is a note in the item's description where this is the case. The second series lists advertising materials from a variety of retailers that feature products for children. Some of these retailers are book sellers, while others advertise toys, games, dolls and educational materials. Each entry in the retailers' series gives a brief description of the kind of material advertised in the catalog. Items in this series range from the glossy catalogs of large national toy companies such as American Girl to a holiday catalog from the Gilmore Stationery Store in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The retailers' series also includes some advertising compendiums from publishing guilds or trade groups, e.g. Children's Buyer's Guide, produced by the British book trade magazine The Bookseller. Most of the materials in the collection are in English, with a few French and German firms represented in the publishers' series and a few Italian and German companies represented in the retailers' series.