ILLUSTRATED SHILLING SERIES
OF
FORGOTTEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
The little books printed about a hundred years ago "for the amusement of little masters and misses" must now be looked for in the cabinets of the curious. The type is quaint, the illustrations quainter and the grayish tinted paper abounds in obtrusive specks of embedded dirt. For the covers, gaudy Dutch gilt paper was used, or paper with patchy blobs of startlingly contrasted colours laid on with a brush by young people. The text, always amusing, is of course redolent of earlier days.
1899-1900.
LONDON: PUBLISHED BY
The Leadenhall Prefs, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall Street, E.C.
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd:
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 153-157 Fifth Avenue.
1. THE DAISY; or, Cautionary Stories in Verse, adapted to Ideas of Children from Four to Eight Years Old. 1807.
Re-prints of this laughter-laden little book, written by Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, followed each other right up to about 1850: in the illustrated edition before the reader, nothing is omitted and nothing is added.
With a view to greater profit, the publisher discarded the pretty copperplates which adorned the first edition (now a thing of price) substituting roughly cut wooden blocks.
2. THE COWSLIP; or, More Cautionary Stories in Verse. By the author of that much-admired little work, entitled The Daisy. 1811.
Under this title in 1811 Mrs. Turner wrote some more Cautionary Stories which became almost as popular as The Daisy. She also wrote other books of poetry for children, including The Crocus, The Pink, and Short Poems; but none had the charm or vogue of The Daisy and The Cowslip.
3. NEW RIDDLE-BOOK. By John-the-Giant-Killer, Esquire. 1778.
This covetable little book, published by F(rancis) Newbery, Jun. and T(homas) Carnan, the son and stepson of John Newbery, had been issued by their father at least twenty years earlier than the date on the title-page. The opening note concerning Francis, the nephew of John Newbery, relates to family differences which need not here be referred to. There would seem to be no copyright in riddles, at any rate one finds the same hoary-heads in other collections.
The destructive fingers of little riddle-readers have been the means of causing thousands of copies of this amusing book to disappear, and to obtain an original copy is now almost impossible. The quaintness of the wood-cut pictorial answers should appeal to the modern reader.
It is intended to continue this Illustrated Shilling Series of
Forgotten Children's Books.
OTHER VOLUMES ARE IN PREPARATION.
SMILES AND LAUGHTER IN EVERY PAGE.
PAGES AND PICTURES FROM FORGOTTEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Brought together and introduced to the Reader by Andrew W. Tuer, F.S.A. Four hundred illustrations; five hundred pages, handsomely bound, top edge gilt, silk book-marker. LONDON: The Leadenhall Press, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall-street, E.C.[Six Shillings.
One hundred large paper copies at a Guinea, net.
SMILES AND LAUGHTER IN EVERY PAGE.
STORIES FROM OLD-FASHIONED CHILDREN'S BOOKS brought together and introduced to the Reader by Andrew W. Tuer, F.S.A. Adorned with 250 amusing cuts. Nearly 500 pages: handsomely and attractively bound. LONDON: The Leadenhall Press, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall-street, E.C.[Six Shillings.
THESE ARE QUITE INDEPENDENT VOLUMES.
The back cover image was repaired by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.