Making Amusement the Vehicle of Instruction’: Key Developments in the Nursery Reading Market 1783-1900

1 ‘Making amusement the vehicle of instruction’: Key Developments in the Nursery Reading Market 1783-1900 PhD Thesis submitted by Lesley Jane Delaney UCL Department of English Literature and Language 2012 SIGNED DECLARATION 2 I, Lesley Jane Delaney confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– ABSTRACT 3 ABSTRACT During the course of the nineteenth century children’s early reading experience was radically transformed; late eighteenth-century children were expected to cut their teeth on morally improving texts, while Victorian children learned to read more playfully through colourful picturebooks. This thesis explores the reasons for this paradigm change through a study of the key developments in children’s publishing from 1783 to 1900. Successively examining an amateur author, a commercial publisher, an innovative editor, and a brilliant illustrator with a strong interest in progressive theories of education, the thesis is alive to the multiplicity of influences on children’s reading over the century. Chapter One outlines the scope of the study. Chapter Two focuses on Ellenor Fenn’s graded dialogues, Cobwebs to catch flies (1783), initially marketed as part of a reading scheme, which remained in print for more than 120 years. Fenn’s highly original method of teaching reading through real stories, with its emphasis on simple words, large type, and high-quality pictures, laid the foundations for modern nursery books. Chapter Three examines John Harris, who issued a ground- breaking series of colour-illustrated rhyming stories and educational books in the 1810s, marketed as ‘Harris’s Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction’. Chapter Four demonstrates the effect in the 1840s of ‘Felix Summerly’s Home Treasury of books and toys’, through which Henry Cole set new standards for the design and illustration of children’s books and established fairy tales and nursery rhymes as essential early reading. Chapter Five discusses the radical improvement in mass- market children’s books from the mid-1860s, achieved through Walter Crane’s experimental designs for cheap colour toy-books and quality baby-books, which popularised picturebook reading and took it into the classroom. Chapter Six offers a detailed study of the publishing history of Cobwebs to show how interest in this moral reader was sustained throughout the nineteenth century. DEDICATION 4 In memory of my father, David Hinton Manders (14 June 1931-14 September 2011) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My first thanks go to my supervisors in the English department at UCL, Dr Charlotte Mitchell and Professor Henry Woudhuysen, whose incisive feedback and questioning of my methods during the progress of my research helped to shape my argument. Their encouragement sustained my enthusiasm, especially at points when the wide scope of the research proved challenging. The research would not have been possible without the support of the V&A, who were partners with UCL in this generously funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award project. John Meriton, my supervisor at the National Art Library, helped with aspects of the history of the book and encouraged my focus on art and design in several of the chapters. Emma Laws, Warne Curator, shared her office at Blythe House with me and offered advice on how to negotiate the collection of more than 100,000 children’s books. I was privileged with free access to the archives, including the uncatalogued section of the Renier Collection, which enabled me to achieve a more wide-ranging perspective than would have been possible as a visitor to the library. It also allowed me to build a reference archive of pictures that may be developed as a resource for other researchers. Another benefit of the collaboration has been the opportunity to curate a small display focusing on an aspect of my research. ‘Walter Crane: A Revolution in Nursery Picture Books’ ran from November 2010 to April 2011 and showed Crane’s use of art and design in children’s education to an audience outside of academia. My special thanks go to Elizabeth James and her colleagues in the National Art Library, for the guidance they gave me in preparing the display and for general assistance during my studies. I made several gallery presentations relating to the Crane display, and was invited to give a talk to the Children’s Books History Society who published a revised transcript of the paper. Other scholars were generous in sharing their research. At the outset of my project David Stoker and Karlijn Navest sent copies of their articles on Ellenor Fenn ahead of publication. My gratitude extends to the curators of the rare children’s book ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 6 collections who have arranged photography and granted permissions for some of the pictures that illustrate this study. I am pleased to have the opportunity to acknowledge their assistance in the picture credits. Without the expertise of my brother Nigel Manders in arranging the pictures and text I fear that this thesis would never have reached completion. I am in debt for his patient assistance and skill. My other brother and my sister took over family responsibilities for my elderly mother to aid my progress in the final stages, and friends in the English department at UCL steadied my nerve and offered seasoned advice. My daughter Florence encouraged me to undertake this research, for which I am grateful, and my other two children, Arthur and Cicely, have provided a welcome distraction with their music. Observing them all learning to read as young children led to my focus on early education and children’s literature, but it was my father’s passion for reading that first inspired my interest in children’s books. My one regret is that he did not live to see this project completed, because he shared my enthusiasm for the research from its inception. I have dedicated this thesis in honour of his memory. Lastly, but by no means least, I want to acknowledge the help of my husband Greg. He has read drafts, listened patiently and raised my spirits. I have valued his friendship, love and support. CONTENTS 7 CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 29 CHAPTER ONE: 31 Introduction CHAPTER TWO: 54 Ellenor Fenn’s Cobwebs to catch flies and the development of the first commercial home reading scheme CHAPTER THREE: 105 John Harris and the rise of the picturebook CHAPTER FOUR: 166 Henry Cole and the promotion of art and design CHAPTER FIVE: 234 Walter Crane and the decorative art of reading CHAPTER SIX: 298 Cobwebs to catch flies: a publishing case study CONCLUSION 338 APPENDICES 349 WORKS CITED 360 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figs. 1.1–1.3 ‘George Johnson his Book’ (1745), cover, leaf 15 verso and a selection of the reading materials created by Jane Johnson for her children (detail). Johnson, J. mss, ca. 1740-1759, Collection no. LMC 1649. Courtesy Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Fig. 1.4 Ivory Hornbook, [England? 17--?]), front and back. Cotsen Children’s Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library. Item in process no. 3875755. Pictures Princeton University Library. Fig. 1.5 Bowles & Carver ‘lottery’ prints (late eighteenth-century). Fig. 1.6 The child’s own battledoor (Darton & Harvey, [1798]). NAL 60.Z.404. Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Fig. 2.1 Cobwebs (J. Marshall, [17--?; 1789?]), II, cover. By permission of the Institute of Education Special Collections, University of London, [Baines 144] Fig. 2.2 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783; 1799?]), I, Preface. NAL 60.Z.189 (e). Courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Fig. 2.3 Cobwebs (J. Marshall, [17--?; 1789?]), I, frontispiece and title page. By permission of the Institute of Education Special Collections, University of London, [Baines 144] Fig. 2.4 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), I, ‘The cat’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.5 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), II, ‘The kind brother’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.6 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [17--?; 1794?]), II, frontispiece and title page. By permission of the Institute of Education Special Collections, University of London, [Baines 144] Fig. 2.7 Mrs. Barbauld, Lessons for children of three years old. Part I (Dublin: R. Jackson, [1779]), p.19. © British Library Board 12809.a.7. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 9 Fig. 2.8 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), I, ‘The morning’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.9 Ellenor Fenn, Set of toys (John Marshall, [ca. 1790]). ‘The spelling box’. Cotsen Children’s Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library. (CTSN) 22612. Picture Princeton University Library. Fig. 2.10 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), II, ‘The useful play’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.11 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), II, ‘The useful play’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Figs. 2.12–2.14 Contents list for Ellenor Fenn, Set of toys (John Marshall, [ca. 1790]). ‘The spelling box’. Cotsen Children’s Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library. (CTSN) 22612. Pictures Princeton University Library. Fig. 2.15 Catalogue of John Marshall, bookseller. 1793. © The Trustees of the British Museum, Heal, 17.97. Fig. 2.16 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), I, ‘The toilet’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.17 Cobwebs (John Marshall, 1783), I, ‘The fan’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.18 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), I, ‘The walk’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.19 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), II, ‘The flies’. © British Library Board 1210.l.1.(2.) Fig. 2.20 Cobwebs (John Marshall, [1783]), II, ‘The fair’.

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