Stories Before 1850. 0116: Anon., The Good Child's Delight
| Author: |
Anon. |
| Title: |
The Good Child's Delight; or, Joy to the Eye and Light to the Mind: A Collection of Curious Engravings, and Amusing Original Stories |
| Cat. Number: |
0116 |
| Date: |
No date (but c.1822?) |
| 1st Edition: |
|
| Pub. Place: |
London |
| Publisher: |
Hodgson and Co., Juvenile Press, No.10 Newgate Street |
| Price: |
6d |
| Pages: |
1 vol., 34pp. |
| Size: |
14 x 8.5 cm |
| Illustrations: |
Title-page vignette, frontispiece pllus 30 further wood-engravings |
| Note: |
|
Images of all pages of this book
Introductory essay
This is a rigidly structured work in which each page contains a self-contained wood-engraving, anecdote and moral. The anecdotes directly reference the picture, explaining what is to be seen there, and then, at the bottom of each page, the moral follows, always given in two lines or verse. Each page endeavours to teach a particular lesson. These range from the natural history of the elephant (p.30) to the decoration of Greek architecture (p.8), and from the dangers of eating acorns (p.13) to the mildness of a curate unable to pay his rent, who nevertheless does not disapprove of his landlord's application for what is due to him (p.14). Perhaps the most interesting pages are those which prove the justness and necessity of road tolls (p.24), the wickedness of war (p.32), and the possibility, though some wrongly think otherwise, of happiness outside England (p.21).
Hodgson was publishing in 1822 judging from other, dated books which bear his imprint. There is no reason to suppose that this work was not published sometime around then too.
