Item #16814 The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c. Martha Baylis.
The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c.
The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c.
The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c.
The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c.

The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children. By a Lady; Author of “Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog;” “Easy Rhymes for Children,” &c. &c.

London: John Harris, 1824. Fourth edition (based on the date on the title-page), though there is no edition specified anywhere in the present item. OCLC lists previous editions with publication dates of 1819, 1820, and 1822. Note that the list of titles pasted down on the inside of the wrappers is likely from an earlier edition of the item: OCLC specifies that the 1824 edition has 58 titles in its “Harris’s Cabinet” list, but the list included here has only 52. With 12 hand-colored half-page woodcut illustrations and 2 additional in-text illustrations. With a list of 52 “Harris’s Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction” titles pasted down on inside of wrappers. Some creasing and soiling to wrappers. Some toning to edges and a bit of light foxing, but the pages and illustrations are very clean and bright overall. Ink signature dated 1826 on inside of wrappers. A very good copy of a scarce, fragile item. Expertly restored in the original printed tan stiff paper wrappers. Twelvemo. 36 pp. Item #16814

Martha Baylis, née Barnet (1777 – 1858) was an educational writer, the aunt of writer and education reformer Elizabeth Lachlan (1790 – 1849), and the wife of the printer Thomas Baylis, who printed most of her works. She also wrote The Infant’s Friend, or Easy Reading Lessons for Young Children (John Harris, ca. 1819). Note that many of Baylis’s works, including this one, are often misattributed to Hannah Glasse. More information can be found through a British Library search of Martha Baylis (see a record of her publications in the BL archives catalogue reference Loan 96 RLF 1/1413).

OCLC lists only 9 copies total of all editions of The Infant’s Friend. There are only 2 copies of this edition (one at Princeton and one at the University of Washington) listed on OCLC.

Price: $850.00

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