This winter, the Public Library of Cincinnati is showcasing its “Wonderland of Fairytales” exhibit, a commemoration of Peter Thomson, a Cincinnati printer who, in the 1880s, started up a small publishing company on Race Street whose lavishly illustrated children’s books eventually challenged the supremacy of New York.

Thomson became a bibliophile during his first job at a bookstore. Later, he would open his own bookstore before his publishing company.

“He collected old and rare books, all nonfiction,” said Patricia Van Skaik, manager of the Local History and Genealogy Department at the Public Library of Cincinnati. “He was very staid and scholarly. After he got married, he changed direction and got into children’s books with color illustrations, along with toys and games.”

These are what brought Thomson to the attention of the McLaughlin Brothers, a large color printing firm in New York.

“In some ways it was more about the printing process,” Van Skaik said. “Thomson was very aware of the technological changes in printing. He was aware of the use of halftone paper. It made the illustrations very lavish and colorful, so much that it created competition with the McLaughlin Brothers. They bought him out, not to operate his business, but to eliminate the competition.”

Thomson used the proceeds of the sale to open the Champion Coated Paper Company in Hamilton in 1893. Besides being able to produce halftone paper cheaply, Champion was a major employer in Hamilton until 2000, when it was bought out by a paper and packaging multinational.

Although the Champion aspect of Thomson’s legacy is gone, people can still check out the books he published more than 100 years ago. They include “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss N Boots,” “Aladdin,” “Sinbad the Sailor,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Robinson Crusoe” and more. According to Van Skaik, there are also a lot of instructional books that help really young children with the alphabet, and lesser known books that teach morals and ethics.

“It’s a good fit for the holidays,” Van Skaik said. “Some of the themes are very wintry. We get all ages. Children, families, people interested in art and publishing, and just people who are into books. There’s a lot of examples of turn-of-the-20th-century publishing. People are really taken by the beauty.”