1750-1776
_Newbery's Books in America_
In the middle of the eighteenth century Thursdays were red-letter days
for the residents of the Quaker town of Philadelphia. On that day Thomas
Bradford sent forth from the "Sign of the Bible" in Second Street the
weekly number of the "Pennsylvania Journal," and upon the same day his
rival journalists, Franklin and Hall, issued the "Pennsylvania Gazette."
On Thursday, the fifteenth of November, seventeen hundred and fifty, Old
Style, the good people of the town took up their newspapers with
doubtless a feeling of comfortable anticipation, as they drew their
chairs to the fireside and began to look over the local occurrences of
the past week, the "freshest foreign advices," and the various bits of
information that had filtered slowly from the northern and more southern
provinces.
On this particular evening the subscribers to both newspapers found a
trifle more news in the "Journal," but in each paper the same domestic
items of interest, somewhat differently worded. The latest news from
Boston was that of November fifth, from New York, November eighth, the
Annapolis item was dated October tenth, and the few lines from London
had been written in August.
The "Gazette" (a larger sheet than the "Journal") occasionally had upon
its first page some timely article of political or local interest. But
more frequently there appeared in its first column an effusion of no
local color, but full of sentimental or moral reflections. In this day's
issue there was a long letter, dated New York, from one who claimed to
be "Beauty's Votary." This expressed the writer's disappointment that an
interesting "Piece" inserted in the "Gazette" a fortnight earlier had
presented in its conclusion "an unexpected shocking Image." The shock to
the writer it appears was the greater, because the beginning of the
article had, he thought, promised a strong contrast between "Furious
Rage in our rough Sex, and Gentle mildness adorn'd with Beauty's charms
in the other." The rest of the letter was an apostrophe to the fair sex
in the sentimental and florid language of the period.
To the women, we imagine, this letter was more acceptable than to the
men, who found the shipping news more to their taste, and noted with
pleasure the arrival of the ship Carolina and the Snow Strong, which
brought cargoes valuable for their various industries.
Advertisements filled a number of columns. Among them was one so novel
in its character that it must have caught the eye of all readers. The
middle column on the second page was devoted almost entirely to an
announcement that John Newbery had for "Sale to Schoolmasters,
Shopkeepers, &c, who buy in quantities to sell again," "The Museum," "A
new French Primer," "The Royal Battledore," and "The Pretty Book for
Children." This notice--a reduced fac-simile of which is given--made
Newbery's début in Philadelphia; and it must not be forgotten that but a
short period had elapsed since his first book had been printed in
England.
[Illustration: _John Newbery's Advertisement of Children's Books_]
Franklin had doubtless heard of the publisher in St. Paul's
Churchyard through Mr. Strahan, his correspondent, who filled orders for
him from London booksellers; but the omission of the customary
announcement of special books as "to be had of the Printer hereof"
points to Newbery's enterprise in seeking a wider market for his wares,
and Franklin's business ability in securing the advertisement, as it is
not repeated in the "Journal."
This "Museum" was probably a newer book than the "Royal Primer,"
"Battledore," and "Pretty Book," and consequently was more fully
described; and oddly enough, all of these books are of earlier editions
than Mr. Welsh, Newbery's biographer, was able to trace in England.
"The Museum" still clings to the same idea which pervaded "The
Play-thing." Its second title reads: "A private TUTOR for little MASTERS
and MISSES." The contents show that this purpose was carried out. It
tutored them by giving directions for reading with eloquence and
propriety; by presenting "the antient and present State of _Great
Britain_ with a compendious History of _England_;" by instructing them
in "the Solar System, geography, Arts and Sciences" and the inevitable
"Rules for Behaviour, Religion and Morality;" and it admonished them by
giving the "Dying Words of Great Men when just quitting the Stage of
Life." As a museum it included descriptions of the Seven Wonders of the
World, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Churchyard, and the Tower of
London, with an ethnological section in the geographical department! All
of this amusement was to be had for the price of "One Shilling," neatly
bound, with, thrown in as good measure, "Letters, Tales and Fables
illustrated with Cuts." Such a library, complete in itself, was a fine
and most welcome reward for scholarship, when prizes were awarded at the
end of the school session.
Importations of "Parcels of entertaining books for children" had earlier
in the year been announced through the columns of the "Gazette;" but
these importations, though they show familiarity with Newbery's quaint
phraseology in advertising, probably also included an assortment of such
little chap-books as "Tom Thumb," "Cinderella" (from the French of
Monsieur Perrault), and some few other old stories which the children
had long since appropriated as their own property.
In 1751 we find New York waking up to the appreciation of children's
books. There J. Waddell and James Parker were apparently the pioneers in
bringing to public notice the fact that they had for sale little
novel-books in addition to horn-books and primers; and moreover the
"Weekly Post-Boy" advertised that these booksellers had "Pretty Books
for little Masters and Misses" (clearly a Newbery imitation), "with
Blank Flourished Christmas pieces for Scholars."
But as yet even Franklin had hardly been convinced that the old way of
imparting knowledge was not superior to the then modern combination of
amusement and instruction; therefore, although with his partner, David
Hall, he without doubt sold such children's books as were available, for
his daughter Sally, aged seven, he had other views. At his request his
wife, in December, 1751, wrote the following letter to William Strahan:
MADAM,--I am ordered by my Master to write for him Books
for Sally Franklin. I am in Hopes She will be abel to write for
herself by the Spring.
8 Sets of the Perceptor best Edit.
8 Doz. of Croxall's Fables.
3 Doz. of Bishop Kenns Manual for Winchester School.
1 Doz. Familiar Forms, Latin and Eng.
Ainsworth's Dictionaries, 4 best Edit.
2 Doz. Select Tales and Fables.
2 Doz. Costalio's Test.
Cole's Dictionarys Latin and Eng. 6 a half doz.
3 Doz. of Clarke's Cordery. 1 Boyle's Pliny 2 vols. 8vo.
6 Sets of Nature displayed in 7 vols. 12mo.
One good Quarto Bibel with Cudes bound in calfe.
1 Penrilla. 1 Art of making Common Salt. By Browning.
My Dafter gives her duty to Mr. Stroyhan and his Lady, and her
compliments to Master Billy and all his brothers and Sisters....
Your humbel Servant
DEBORAH FRANKLIN
Little Sally Franklin could not have needed eight dozen copies of
Aesop's Fables, nor four Ainsworth's Dictionaries, so it is probable
that Deborah Franklin's far from ready pen put down the book order for
the spring, and that Sally herself was only to be supplied with the
"Perceptor," the "Fables," and the "one good Quarto Bibel."
As far as it is now possible to judge, the people of the towns soon
learned the value of Newbery's little nursery tales, and after seventeen
hundred and fifty-five, when most of his books were written and
published, they rapidly gained a place on the family book-shelves in
America.
By seventeen hundred and sixty Hugh Gaine, printer, publisher, patent
medicine seller, and employment agent for New York, was importing
practically all the Englishman's juvenile publications then for sale. At
the "Bible and Crown," where Gaine printed the "Weekly Mercury," could
be bought, wholesale and retail, such books as, "Poems for Children
Three Feet High," "Tommy Trapwit," "Trip's Book of Pictures," "The New
Year's Gift," "The Christmas Box," etc.
Gaine himself was a prominent printer in New York in the latter half of
the eighteenth century. Until the Revolution his shop was a favorite one
and well patronized. But when the hostilities began, the condition of
his pocket seems to have regulated his sympathies, and he was by turn
Whig and Tory according to the possession of New York by so-called
Rebels, or King's Servants. When the British army evacuated New York,
Gaine, wishing to keep up his trade, dropped the "Crown" from his sign.
Among the enthusiastic patriots this ruse had scant success. In
Freneau's political satire of the bookseller, the first verse gives a
strong suggestion of the ridicule to follow:
"And first, he was, in his own representation,
A printer, once of good reputation.
He dwelt in the street called Hanover-Square,
(You'll know where it is if you ever was there
Next door to the dwelling of Mr. Brownjohn,
Who now to the drug-shop of Pluto is gone)
But what do I say--who e'er came to town,
And knew not Hugh Gaine at the _Bible_ and _Crown_."
A contemporary of, and rival bookseller to, Gaine in seventeen hundred
and sixty was James Rivington. Mr. Hildeburn has given Rivington a
rather unenviable reputation; still, as he occasionally printed (?) a
child's book, Mr. Hildeburn's remarks are quoted:
"Until the advent of Rivington it was generally possible to tell from an
American Bookseller's advertisement in the current newspapers whether
the work offered for sale was printed in America or England. But the
books he received in every fresh invoice from London were 'just
published by James Rivington' and this form was speedily adopted by
other booksellers, so that after 1761 the advertisement of books is no
longer a guide to the issues of the colonial press."
Although Rivington did not set up a press until about seventeen hundred
and seventy-three,--according to Mr. Hildeburn,--he had a book-shop much
earlier. Here he probably reprinted the title-page and then put an
elaborate notice in the "Weekly Mercury" for November 17, 1760, as
follows:
JAMES RIVINGTON
_Bookseller and Stationer from London over against the Golden Key in
Hanover Square._
This day is published, Price, seven Shillings, and sold by the said
JAMES RIVINGTON, adorned with two hundred Pictures
THE
FABLES OF AESOP
with a moral to each Fable in Verse, and an Application in Prose,
intended for the Use of the youngest of readers, and proper to be
put into the hands of Children, immediately after they have done
with the Spelling-Book, it being adapted to their tender Capacities,
the Fables are related in a short and lively Manner, and they are
recommended to all those who are concerned in the education of
Children. This is an entire new Work, elegantly printed and
ornamented with much better Cuts than any other Edition of Aesop's
Fables. Be pleased to ask for DRAPER'S AESOP.
From such records of parents' care as are given in Mrs. Charles
Pinckney's letters to her husband's agent in London, and Josiah Quincy's
reminiscences of his early training, it seems very evident that John
Locke's advice in "Thoughts on Education" was read and followed at this
time in the American colonies. Therefore, in accordance with the
bachelor philosopher's theory as to reading-matter for little children,
the bookseller recommended the "Fables" to "those concerned in the
education of children." It is at least a happy coincidence that one of
the earliest books (as far as is known to the writer), aside from school
and religious books, issued as published in America for children, should
have been the one Locke had so heartily recommended. This is what he had
said many years previously: "When by these gentle ways he begins to
_read_, some easy pleasant Book, suited to his capacities, should be put
into his Hands, wherein the Entertainment that he finds might draw him
on, and reward his Pains in Reading, and yet not such as will fill his
head with perfectly useless Trumpery, or lay the Principles of Vice and
Folly. To this Purpose, I think Aesop's Fables the best which being
Stories apt to delight and entertain a child, may yet afford useful
Reflections to a grown Man.... If his Aesop has pictures in it, it will
entertain him much better and encourage him to read." The two hundred
pictures in Rivington's edition made it, of course, high priced in
comparison with Newbery's books: but New York then contained many
families well able to afford this outlay to secure such an acquisition
to the family library.
Hugh Gaine at this time, as a rule, received each year two shipments of
books, among which were usually some for children, yet about 1762 he
began to try his own hand at reprinting Newbery's now famous little
duodecimos.
In that year we find an announcement through the "New York Mercury" that
he had himself printed "Divers diverting books for infants." The
following list gives some idea of their character:
_Just published by Hugh Gaine_
A pretty Book for Children; Or an Easy Guide to the English Tongue.
The private Tutor for little Masters and Misses.
Food for the Mind; or a new Riddle Book compiled for the use of
little Good Boys and Girls in America. By Jack the Giant-Killer,
Esq.
A Collection of Pretty Poems, by Tommy Tag, Esq.
Aesop's Fables in Verse, with the Conversation of Beasts and Birds,
at their several Meetings. By Woglog the great Giant.
A Little pretty Book, intended for the Amusement of Little Master
Tommy and pretty Miss Polly, with two Letters from Jack the
Giant-Killer.
Be Merry and Wise: Or the Cream of the Jests. By Tommy Trapwit, Esq.
The title of "Food for the Mind" is of special importance, since in it
Gaine made a clever alteration by inserting the words "Good Boys and
Girls in _America_." The colonials were already beginning to feel a
pride in the fact of belonging to the new country, America, and
therefore Gaine shrewdly changed the English title to one more likely to
induce people to purchase.
Gaine and Rivington alone have left records of printing children's
story-books in the town of New York before the Revolution; but before
they began to print, other booksellers advertised their invoices of
books. In 1759 Garrat Noel, a Dutchman, had announced that he had "the
very prettiest gilt Books for little Masters and Misses that ever were
invented, full of wit and wisdom, at the surprising low Price of only
one Shilling each finely bound and adorned with a number of curious
Cuts." By 1762 Noel had increased his stock and placed a somewhat larger
advertisement in the "Mercury" of December 27. The late arrival of his
goods may have been responsible for the bargains he offered at this
holiday sale.
GARRAT NOEL _Begs Leave to Inform the Public, that according to
his Annual Custom, he has provided a very large Assortment of Books
for Entertainment and Improvement of Youth, in Reading, Writing,
Cyphering, and Drawing, as Proper Presents at _CHRISTMAS_
and _New-Year_._
The following Small, but improving Histories, are sold at _Two
Shillings_, each, neatly bound in red, and adorn'd with Cuts.
[Symbol: hand]Those who buy _Six_, shall have a _Seventh Gratis_,
and buying only _Three_, they shall have a present of a fine large
Copper-Plate Christmas Piece: [_List of histories follows._]
The following neat Gilt Books, very instructive and Amusing being
full of Pictures, are sold at _Eighteen Pence_ each.
Fables in Verse and Prose, with the Conversation of Birds &
Beasts at their several meetings, Routs and Assemblies for the
Improvement of Old and Young, etc.
To-day none of these gay little volumes sold in New York are to be seen.
The inherent faculty of children for losing and destroying books,
coupled with the perishable nature of these toy volumes, has rendered
the children's treasures of seventeen hundred and sixty-two a great
rarity. The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is the fortunate
possessor of one much prized story-book printed in that year; but though
it is at present in the Quaker City, a printer of Boston was responsible
for its production.
In Isaiah Thomas's recollections of the early Boston printers, he
described Zechariah Fowle, with whom he served his apprenticeship, and
Samuel Draper, Fowle's partner. These men, about seventeen hundred and
fifty-seven, took a house in Marlborough Street. Here, according to
Thomas, "they printed and opened a shop. They kept a great supply of
ballads, and small pamphlets for book pedlars, of whom there were many
at that time. Fowle was bred to the business, but he was an indifferent
hand at the press, and much worse at the case."
This description of the printer's ability is borne out by the "New-Gift
for Children," printed by this firm. It is probably the oldest
story-book bearing an American imprint now in existence, and for this
reason merits description, although its contents can be seen in the
picture of the title-page. Brown with age and like all chap-books
without a cover--for it was Newbery who introduced this more durable and
attractive feature--all sizes in type were used to print its fifteen
stories. The stories in themselves were not new, as it is called the
"Fourth edition." It is possible that they were taken from the Banbury
chap-books, which also often copied Newbery's juvenile library, as the
list of his publications compiled by Mr. Charles Welsh does not contain
this title.
The loyalty of the Boston printers found expression on the third page by
a very black cut of King George the Third, who appears rather puzzled
and not a little unhappy; but it found favor with customers, for as yet
the colonials thought their king "no man of blood." On turning the page
Queen Charlotte looks out with goggle-eyes, curls, and a row of beads
about the size of pebbles around her thick neck. The picture seems to be
a copy from some miniature of the queen, as an oval frame with a crown
surmounting it encircles the portrait. The stories are so much better
than some that were written even after the nineteenth century, that
extracts from them are worth reading. The third tale, called "The
Generosity of Confessing a Fault," begins as follows:
"Miss _Fanny Goodwill_ was one of the prettiest children that ever was
seen; her temper was as sweet as her looks, and her behavior so genteel
and obliging that everybody admir'd her; for nobody can help loving good
children, any more than they can help being angry with those that are
naughty. It is no wonder then that her papa and mama lov'd her
dearly, they took a great deal of pains to improve her mind so that
before she was seven years old, she could read, and talk, and work like
a little woman. One day as her papa was sitting by the fire, he set her
upon his knees, kiss'd her, and told her how very much he lov'd her; and
then smiling, and taking hold of her hand, My dear Fanny, said he, take
care never to tell a lye, and then I shall always love you as well as I
do now. You or I may be guilty of a fault; but there is something noble
and generous in owning our errors, and striving to mend them; but a lye
more than doubles the fault, and when it is found out, makes the lyar
appear mean and contemptible.... Thus, my dear, the lyar is a wretch,
whom nobody trusts, nobody regards, nobody pities. Indeed papa, said
Miss _Fanny_, I would not be such a creature for all the world. You are
very good, my little _charmer_, said her papa and kiss'd her again."
[Illustration: _Title-page from "The New Gift for Children"_]
The inevitable temptation came when Miss Fanny went on "a visit to a
Miss in the neighborhood; her mama ordered her to be home at eight
o'clock; but she was engag'd at play, and did not mind how the time
pass'd, so that she stay'd till near ten; and then her mama sent for
her." The child of course was frightened by the lateness of the hour,
and the maid--who appears in the illustration with cocked hat and
musket!--tried to calm her fears with the advice to "tell her mama that
the Miss she went to see had taken her out." "_No Mary_, said Miss
_Fanny_, wiping her pretty eyes, I am above a lye;" and she rehearsed
for the benefit of the maid her father's admonition.
Story IX tells of the _Good Girl and Pretty Girl_. In this the pretty
child had bright eyes and pretty plump cheeks and was much admired. She,
however, was a meanly proud girl, and so naughty as not to want to grow
wiser, but applied to those good people who happened to be less favored
in looks such terms as "bandy-legs, crump, and all such naughty names."
The good sister "could read before the pretty miss could tell a letter;
and though her shape was not so genteel her behavior was a great deal
more so. But alas! the pretty creature fell sick of the small-pox, and
all her beauty vanished." Thus in the eighteenth century was the adage
"Beauty is but skin deep" brought to bear upon conduct.
On the last page is a cut of "Louisburg demolished," which had served
its time already upon almanacs, but the eight cuts were undoubtedly made
especially for children. Moreover, since they do not altogether
illustrate the various stories, they are good proof that similar
chap-book tales were printed by Fowle and Draper for little ones before
the War of Independence.
In the southern provinces the sea afforded better transportation
facilities for household necessities and luxuries than the few
post-lines from the north could offer. Bills of exchange could be drawn
against London, to be paid by the profits of the tobacco crops, a safer
method of payment than any that then existed between the northern and
southern towns. In the regular orders sent by George Washington to
Robert Carey in London, twice we find mention of the children's needs
and wishes. In the very first invoice of goods to be shipped to
Washington after his marriage with Mrs. Custis in seventeen hundred and
fifty-nine, he ordered "10 Shillings worth of Toys, 6 little books for
children beginning to read and a fashionable dressed baby to cost 10
Shillings;" and again later in ordering clothes, "Toys, Sugar, Images
and Comfits" for his step-children he added: "Books according to the
enclosed list to be charged equally to John Parke Custis and Martha
Parke Custis."
But in Boston the people bought directly from the booksellers, of whom
there were already many. One of these was John Mein, who played a part
in the historic Non-Importation Agreement. In seventeen hundred and
fifty this Englishman had opened in King Street a shop which he called
the "London Book-Store." Here he sold many imported books, and in
seventeen hundred and sixty-five, when the population of Boston numbered
some twenty thousand, he started the "earliest circulating library,
advertised to contain ten thousand volumes."[73-A] This shop was both
famous and notorious: famous because of its "Very Grand Assortment of
the most modern Books;" notorious because of the accusations made
against its owner when the colonials, aroused by the action of
Parliament, passed the Non-Importation Agreement.
Before the excitement had culminated in this "Agreement," John Mein's
lists of importations show that the children's pleasure had not been
forgotten, and after it their books singularly enough were connected
with this historic action.
In 1766, in the "Boston Evening Post," we find Mein's announcement that
"Little Books with Pictures for Children" could be purchased at the
London Book-Store; in December, 1767, he advertised through the columns
of the "Boston Chronicle," among other books, "in every branch of polite
literature," a "Great Variety of entertaining Books for CHILDREN, proper
for presents at Christmas or New-year's day--Prices from Two Coppers to
Two Shillings." In August of the following year Mein gave the names of
seven of Newbery's famous gilt volumes, as "to be sold" at his shop.
These "pretty little entertaining and instructive Books" were "Giles
Gingerbread," the "Adventures of little TOMMY TRIP with his dog JOULER,"
"Tommy Trip's Select Fables," and "an excellent Pastoral Hymn," "The
Famous Tommy Thumb's Little Story-Book," "Leo, the Great Giant," and
"URAX, or the Fair Wanderer--price eight pence lawful money. _A very
interesting tale in which the protection of the Almighty_ is proved to
be the first and chief support of the FEMALE SEX." Number seven in the
list was the story of the "Cruel Giant Barbarico," and it is one of this
edition that is now among the rare Americana of the Boston Public
Library. The imprint upon its title-page coincides with Isaiah Thomas's
statement that though "Fleming was not concerned with Mein in
book-selling, several books were printed at their house for Mein." Its
date, 1768, would indicate that Mein had reproduced one of his
importations to which allusion has already been made. The book in
marbled covers, time-worn and faded now, was sold for only "six-pence
lawful" when new, possibly because it lacked illustrations.
[Illustration: _Miss Fanny's Maid_]
One year later, when the Non-Importation Agreement had passed and was
rigorously enforced in the port of Boston, these same little books were
advertised again in the "Chronicle" of December 4-7 under the large
caption, PRINTED IN AMERICA AND TO BE SOLD BY JOHN MEIN. Times
had so changed within one year's space that even a child's six-penny
book was unpopular, if known to have been imported.
Mein was among those accused of violating the "Agreement;" he was
charged with the importation of materials for book-making. In a November
number of the "Chronicle" of seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, Mein
published an article entitled "A State of the Importation from Great
Britain into the Port of BOSTON with the advertisement of a set
of Men, who assume to themselves THE TITLE of _ALL the Well
Disposed Merchants_." In this letter the London Book-Store proprietor
vigorously defended himself, and protested that the quantity of his work
necessitated some importations not procurable in Boston. He also made
sarcastic references to other men whom he thought the cap fitted better
with less excuse. It was in the following December that he tried to keep
this trade in children's books by his apparently patriotic announcement
regarding them. His protests were useless. Already in disfavor with some
because he was supposed to print books in America but used a London
imprint, his popularity waned; he was marked as a loyalist, and there
was little of the spirit of tolerance for such in that hot-bed of
patriotism. The air was so full of the growing differences between the
colonials and the king's government, that in seventeen hundred and
seventy Mein closed out his stock and returned to England.
On the other hand, the patriotic booksellers did not fail to take note
of the crystallization of public opinion. Robert Bell in Philadelphia
appended a note to his catalogue of books, stating that "The Lovers and
Practisers of Patriotism are requested to note that all the Books in
this Catalogue are either of American manufacture, or imported before
the Non-Importation Agreement."
The supply of home-made paper was of course limited. So much was needed
to circulate among the colonies pamphlets dealing with the injustice of
the king's government toward his American subjects, that it seems
remarkable that any juvenile books should have been printed in those
stirring days before the war began. It is rather to be expected that,
with the serious turn that events had taken and the consequent questions
that had arisen, the publications of the American press should have
received the shadow of the forthcoming trouble--a shadow sufficient to
discourage any attempt at humor for adult or child. Evidence, however,
points to the fact that humor and amusement were not totally lacking in
the issues of the press of at least one printer in Boston, John Boyle.
The humorous satire produced by his press in seventeen hundred and
seventy-five, called "The First Book of the American Chronicles of the
Times," purported to set forth the state of political affairs during the
troubles "wherein all our calamities are seen to flow from the fact that
the king had set up for our worship the god of the heathen--The Tea
Chest." This pamphlet has been one to keep the name of John Boyle among
the prominent printers of pre-Revolutionary days. Additional interest
accrues for this reason to a play-book printed by Boyle--the only one
extant of this decade known to the writer.
This quaint little chap-book, three by four inches in size, was issued
in seventeen hundred and seventy-one, soon after Boyle had set up his
printing establishment and four years before the publication of the
famous pamphlet. It represents fully the standard for children's
literature in the days when Newbery's tiny classics were making their
way to America, and was indeed advertised by Mein in seventeen hundred
and sixty-eight among the list of books "Printed in America." Its title,
"The Famous Tommy Thumb's Little Story-Book: Containing his Life and
Adventures," has rather a familiar sound, but its contents would not now
be allowed upon any nursery table. Since the days of the Anglo-Saxons,
Tom Thumb's adventures have been told and retold; each generation has
given to the rising generation the version thought proper for the ears
of children. In Boyle's edition this method resulted in realism pushed
to the extreme; but it is not to be denied that the yellowed pages
contain the wondrous adventures and hairbreadth escapes so dear to the
small boy of all time. The thrilling incidents were further enlivened,
moreover, by cuts called by the printer "_curious_" in the sense of very
fine: and _curious_ they are to-day because of the crudeness of their
execution and the coarseness of their design. Nevertheless, the
grotesque character of the illustrations was altogether effective in
impressing upon the reader the doughty deeds of his old friend, Tom
Thumb. The book itself shows marks of its popularity, and of the hard
usage to which it was subjected by its happy owner, who was not critical
of the editor's freedom of speech.
The coarseness permitted in a nursery favorite makes it sufficiently
clear that the standard for the ideal toy-book of the eighteenth century
is no gauge for that of the twentieth. Child-life differed in many
particulars, as Mr. Julian Hawthorne pointed out some years ago, when he
wrote that the children of the eighteenth century "were urged to grow up
almost before they were short-coated." We must bear this in mind in
turning to another class of books popular with adult and child alike in
both England and America before and for some years after the Revolution.
This was the period when the novel in the hands of Richardson, Fielding,
and Smollett was assuming hitherto unsuspected possibilities. Allusion
must be made to some of the characteristics of their work, since their
style undoubtedly affected juvenile reading and the tales written for
children.
Taking for the sake of convenience the novels of the earliest of this
group of men, Samuel Richardson, as a starting-point, we find in Pamela
and Mr. Lovelace types of character that merge from the Puritanical
concrete examples of virtue and vice into a psychological attempt to
depict the emotion and feeling preceding every act of heroine and
villain. Through every stage of the story the author still clings to the
long-established precedent of giving moral and religious instruction.
Afterwards, when Fielding attempted to parody "Pamela," he developed the
novel of adventure in high and low life, and produced "Joseph Andrews."
He then followed this with the character-study represented by "Tom
Jones, Foundling." Richardson in "Pamela" had aimed to emphasize virtue
as in the end prospering; Fielding's characters rather embody the
principle of virtue being its own reward and of vice bringing its own
punishment. Smollett in "Humphrey Clinker's Adventures" brought forth
fun from English surroundings instead of seeking for the hero thrilling
and daring deeds in foreign countries. He also added to the list of
character-studies "Roderick Random," a tale of the sea, the mystery of
which has never palled since "Robinson Crusoe" saw light.
There was also the novel of letters. In the age of the first great
novelists letter-writing was among the polite arts. It was therefore
counted a great but natural achievement when the epistolary method of
revealing the plot was introduced. "Clarissa Harlowe" and "Sir Charles
Grandison" were the results of this style of writing; they comprehended
the "most Important Concerns of private life"--"concerns" which moved
with lingering and emotional persistency towards the inevitable
catastrophe in "Clarissa," and the happy issue out of the
misunderstandings and misadventures which resulted in Miss Byron's
alliance with Sir Charles.
Until after the next (nineteenth) century had passed its first decade
these tales were read in full or abridged forms by many children among
the fashionable and literary sets in England and America. Indeed, the
art of writing for children was so unknown that often attempts to
produce child-like "histories" for them resulted in little other than
novels upon an abridged scale.
But before even abridged novels found their way into juvenile favor, it
was "customary in Richardson's time to read his novels aloud in the
family circle. When some pathetic passage was reached the members of the
family would retire to separate apartments to weep; and after composing
themselves, they would return to the fireside to have the reading
proceed. It was reported to Richardson, that, on one of these occasions,
'an amiable little boy sobbed as if his sides would burst and resolved
to mind his books that he might be able to read Pamela through without
stopping.' That there might be something in the family novel expressly
for children, Richardson sometimes stepped aside from the main narrative
to tell them a moral tale."[80-A]
Mr. Cross gives an example of this which, shorn of its decoration, was
the tale of two little boys and two little girls, who never told fibs,
who were never rude and noisy, mischievous or quarrelsome; who always
said their prayers when going to bed, and therefore became fine ladies
and gentlemen.
To make the tales less difficult for amiable children to read, an
abridgment of their contents was undertaken; and Goldsmith is said to
have done much of the "cutting" in "Pamela," "Clarissa Harlowe," "Sir
Charles Grandison," and others. These books were included in the lists
of those sent to America for juvenile reading. In Boston, Cox and Berry
inserted in the "Boston Gazette and Country Journal" a notice that they
had the "following little Books for all good Boys and Girls:
The Brother's Gift, or the Naughty Girl Reformed.
The Sister's Gift, or the Naughty Boy Reformed.
The Hobby Horse, or Christmas Companion.
The Cries of London as Exhibited in the Streets.
The Puzzling Cap.
The History of Tom Jones.
The History of Joseph Andrews. Abridg'd from the works of H. Fielding
The History of Pamela. abridg'd from the works of Samuel
Richardson, Esq.
The History of Grandison.
The History of Clarissa."
Up to this time the story has been rather of the books read by the
Puritan and Quaker population of the colonies. There had arisen during
the first half of the eighteenth century, however, a merchant class
which owed its prosperity to its own ability. Such men sought for their
families the material results of wealth which only a place like Boston
could bestow. Many children, therefore, were sent to this town to
acquire suitable education in books, accomplishments, and deportment. A
highly interesting record of a child of well-to-do parents has been left
by Anna Green Winslow, who came to Boston to stay with an aunt for the
winters of 1771 and 1772. Her diary gives delightful glimpses of
children's tea-parties, fashions, and schools, all put down with a
childish disregard of importance or connection. It is in these jottings
of daily occurrences that proof is found that so young a girl read,
quite as a matter of course, the abridged works of Fielding and
Richardson.
On January 1, 1772, she wrote in her diary, "a Happy New Year, I have
bestowed no new year's gifts, as yet. But have received one very
handsome one, Viz, the History of Joseph Andrews abreviated. In nice
Guilt and Flowers covers." Again, she put down an account of a day's
work, which she called "a piecemeal for in the first place I sew'd on
the bosom of unkle's shirt, and mended two pairs of gloves, mended for
the wash two handkerch'fs, (one cambrick) sewed on half a border of a
lawn apron of aunt's, read part of the xxist chapter of Exodous, & a
story in the Mother's Gift." Later she jotted in her book the loan of "3
of Cousin Charles' books to read, viz.--The puzzling Cap, the female
Orators & the history of Gaffer Two Shoes." Little Miss Winslow, though
only eleven years of age, was a typical child of the educated class in
Boston, and, according to her journal, also followed the English custom
of reading aloud "with Miss Winslow, the Generous Inconstant and Sir
Charles Grandison." It is to be regretted that her diary gives no
information as to how she liked such tales. We must anticipate some
years to find a comment in the Commonplace Book of a Connecticut girl.
Lucy Sheldon lived in Litchfield, a thriving town in eighteen hundred,
and did much reading for a child in those days. Upon "Sir Charles
Grandison" she confided to her book this offhand note: "Read in little
Grandison, which shows that, virtue always meets its reward and vice is
punished." The item is very suggestive of Goldsmith's success in
producing an abridgment that left the moral where it could not be
overlooked.
To discuss in detail this class of writings is not necessary, but a
glance at the story of "Clarissa" gives an instructive impression of
what old-fashioned children found zestful.
"Clarissa Harlowe" in its abridged form was first published by Newbery,
Senior. The book that lies before the writer was printed in seventeen
hundred and seventy-two by his son, Francis Newbery. In size five by
three and one-half inches, it is decked in once gay parti-colored heavy
Dutch paper, with a delicate gold tracery over all. This paper binding,
called by Anna Winslow "Flowery Guilt," can no longer be found in
Holland, the place of its manufacture; with sarsinet and other
fascinating materials it has vanished so completely that it exists only
on the faded bindings of such small books as "Clarissa."
The narrative itself is compressed from the original seven volumes into
one volume of one hundred and seventy-six closely printed pages, with
several full-page copper-plate illustrations. The plot, however, gains
rather than loses in this condensed form. The principal distressing
situations follow so fast one upon the other that the intensity of the
various episodes in the _affecting_ history is increased by the total
absence of all the "moving" letters found in the original work. The
"lordly husband and father," "the imperious son," "the proud ambitious
sister, Arabella," all combined to force the universally beloved and
unassuming Clarissa to marry the wealthy Mr. Somers, who was to be the
means of "the aggrandisement of the family." Clarissa, in this
perplexing situation, yielded in a desperate mood to "the earnest
entreaties of the artful Lovelace to accept the protection of the Ladies
of his family." Who these ladies were, to whom the designing Lovelace
conducted the agitated heroine, is set forth in unmistakable language;
and thereafter follow the treacherous behaviour exhibited by Lovelace,
the various attempts to escape by the unhappy beauty, and her final
exhaustion and death. An example of the style may be given in this
description of the death-scene:
"Clarissa had before remarked that all would be most conveniently over
in bed: The solemn, the most important moment approached, but her soul
ardently aspiring after immorality [immortality was of course the
author's intention], she imagined the time moved slowly; and with great
presence of mind, she gave orders in relation to her body, directing her
nurse and the maid of the house, as soon as she was cold, to put her
into her coffin. The Colonel [her cousin], after paying her another
visit, wrote to her uncle, Mr. John Harlowe, that they might save
themselves the trouble of having any further debates about
reconciliation; for before they could resolve, his dear cousin would
probably be no more....
"A day or two after, Mr. Belford [a friend] was sent for, and
immediately came; at his entrance he saw the Colonel kneeling by her
bed-side with the ladies right hand in both his, which his face covered
bathing it with tears, though she had just been endeavoring to comfort
him, in noble and elevated strains. On the opposite side of the bed was
seated Mrs. Lovick, who leaning against the bed's-head in a most
disconsolate manner, turned to him as soon as she saw him, crying, O Mr.
Belford, the dear lady! a heavy sigh not permitting her to say more.
Mrs. Smith [the landlady] was kneeling at the bed's feet with clasped
fingers and uplifted eyes, with tears trickling in large drops from her
cheeks, as if imploring help from the source of all comfort.
"The excellent lady had been silent a few minutes, and was thought
speechless, she moving her lips without uttering a word; but when Mrs.
Lovick, on Mr. Belford's approach, pronounced his name, O Mr. Belford!
cried she, in a faint inward voice, Now!--now!--I bless God, all will
soon be over--a few minutes will end this strife--and I shall be happy,"
etc. Her speech was long, although broken by dashes, and again she
resumed, "in a more faint and broken accent," the blessing and
directions. "She then sunk her head upon the pillow; and fainting away,
drew from them her hands." Once more she returned to consciousness,
"when waving her hand to him [Mr. Belford] and to her cousin, and bowing
her head to every one present, not omitting the nurse and maid servant,
with a faltering and inward voice, she added Bless--Bless--you all!--"
The illustrations, in comparison with others of the time, are very well
engraved, although the choice of subjects is somewhat singular. The last
one represents Clarissa's friend, "Miss Howe" (the loyal friend to whom
all the absent letters were addressed), "lamenting over the corpse of
Clarissa," who lies in the coffin ordered by the heroine "to be covered
with fine black cloth, and lined with white satin."
As one lays aside this faded duodecimo, the conviction is strong that
the texture of the life of an old-fashioned child was of coarser weave
than is pleasant to contemplate. How else could elders and guardians
have placed without scruple such books in the hands of children? The one
explanation is to be found in such diaries as that of Anna Winslow, who
quaintly put down in her book facts and occurrences denoting the
maturity already reached by a little miss of eleven.
FOOTNOTES:
[73-A] Winsor, _Memorial History of Boston_, vol. ii, p. xix.
[80-A] Cross, _Development of the English Novel_, pp. 38, 39.