The current special exhibition inside the Cotsen Children’s Library, “Sixpenny Stunners,” is a charming collection of illustrated children’s tales cleverly printed in pamphlet form.
One of the stories included in the exhibition, Aquarium Comicum, is a hilarious poem about the realm of King Sturgeon and his nemesis, the rebellious Octopus, and how peace between the two rivals was eventually restored with help from Lord Mayor John Dory. The illustrations are super quirky and fun, and Katie wanted to share a few of them for Coloring Cotsen!
The Toronto Public Library has a digital version of the Aquarium Comicum for anyone who would like to read more about the pamphlet’s cast of characters or sing the accompanying music score. There is also much more to learn about the “Sixpenny Stunners” exhibition on Cotsen’s curatorial blog.
Starting the post off with the master of suspense himself, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe. This was a simple 
2023 summer intern Daniel Dias not only got to test a 
On the topic of being cajoled into costumes, we present Ian Dooley, Cotsen’s former Curatorial Assistant, who climbed into a robot costume to make a 
While these costumes might not seem terribly exciting, Katie and I both wanted to include them on the list. Our pit crew coveralls served as well at a Cars and Trucks and Things that Go creative 
Switching over to the forces of good, we have Princeton University student Sylvia Jacobson, who gamely stepped up to be a Literal Fairy Godmother for our children’s literary society. Here we see her sporting an old wedding dress I spruced up with some rainbow fabric. Sylvia the Sparkly granted wishes very specifically. Definitely 
One of my favorite programs was a historic Victorian tea, complete with costumes, games, and a glorious tea time (blog readers might recognize our beloved 
Here we have three Victorian spelunkers at a massive Journey to the Centre of the Earth event we hosted in 2013. On the right is Princeton University student Kim Freid. As you can see, we were ready to tackle anything the day threw at us, thanks to all the ancient camping equipment I scored on ebay!
We started this post with Poe, and we’ll finish with the equally gothic 
VC Salon, you are amazing. Last week, 5 stylists donated their time and significant skills to give 6 girls totally historic makeovers. And we don’t mean “historic” as in slang for “awesome” (even though the results were awesome). We mean historic as let’s-go-back-in-history-and-do-a-Marie-Antoinette-updo historic.
The collaboration was lead by stylist Delia Salguero. We provided her with the models and pages of historic photos, and Delia recruited the stylists. The stylists then selected the model, the hairdo, and also put together costumes and accessories for the photo shoot.
The models were volunteers Cotsen Critix, our children’s literary society. You might recognize one of the faces below. Yes, that’s Hope, our blog’s 
Along with the costumes and the hair came makeup, including one wicked pair of fake eyelashes. So…are you ready to see some historic makeovers?
