[Baylis, Martha ].

Little Rhymes for Little Folks. [cover title: Little Rhymes for Little Folks, or Poetry for Fanny’s Library.] By a Lady, Author of “Cato,” “Infant’s Friend,” & c.

London: John Harris, [n.d.., ca. 1823]. The text on the printed wrappers identifies this item as the second edition, though there is no edition statement on the title-page. OCLC provides the publication date of 1823, though a date is not specified in this item itself. With a hand-colored, half-page woodcut illustration to accompany each of the 16 poems. Creasing and soiling to wrappers. Some toning to edges throughout, but the pages and illustrations are very clean and bright overall. A very good copy of a scarce, fragile item. Publisher’s printed stiff paper wrappers, once pink but faded. Twelvemo. 18 leaves. Item #16815

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).

Only one other contemporary copy of the item with the subtitle “Poetry for Fanny’s Library” is listed on OCLC (at the National Art Library in the United Kingdom). OCLC also lists 6 copies of a variant with the subtitle “A Present for Fanny’s Library” and 2 copies with no subtitle specified.

Price: $850.00