Food for the Young, Adapted to the Mental Capacities of Children of Tender Years. By a Mother.
London: W. Darton, 1818. First edition. With a frontispiece and two engraved plates. Ink ownership signature, dated 1819, to preliminary blank. Some dampstaining and dustsoiling to leaves. A very good copy. Rebound in modern quarter morocco over marbled boards. Twelvemo. [4], 176 pp. Item #17423
A collection of stories “by a mother” to her children on zoology, geography, botany, travel, and morality. Several of the stories are narrated by a character named Mr. Selby, whose travels in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and India are recounted here: “When I had traveled about four miles,” said Mr. Selby, “I was overtaken and stopped by a party of Moors on horseback. I dreaded the consequence of the meeting; for the Moors, who inhabit the same country as the Negroes, are of a very different composition, being as gloomy and cruel as the Negroes are open and friendly,” (p. 125). Other stories describe experiments with microscopes, Mt. Etna, and gardening, and animals including beavers, sharks, and camels.
Darton H598(1). Osborne II, p. 708. Gumuchian 2589.
Price: $650.00