Flowers of Delight : An agreeable Garland of Prose and Poetry for the Instruction and Amusement of little Masters and Misses and their distinguished Parents culled from the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Embellished with some 750 elegant Woodcuts and Engravings on Wood and Cooper of which upwards of 125 are neatly coloured, Selected with the greatest Care from Books for Juvenile Minds 1765-1830

Dennis Dobson. London, first edition, 1965. Decorated paper-covered boards, 4to,. 232 pp, numerous ills, many in colour. From the blurb: "Many tales for children have gone to the making of British culture and tradition. Some have stayed with us to the present day - Dick Whittington, Jack the Giant Killer and Cock Robin for example - but others, equally popular in their day, have either been forgotten or rewritten so many times as to be unrecognizable. Yet, until Flowers of Delight, there did not exist any comprehensive anthology con-taining the best and the most beautiful from these early English children's books.. Here .. is a unique book containing hundreds of the best poems, nursery rhymes, chapbooks and stories written between 1765 and 1830. The pre-Victorian children's books were certainly not dull; they are amazingly vivid and touching and often have an unparalleled realism. Flowers of Delight is a pleasure to look at or read aloud. Its over seven hundred illustrations are reproduced from the original woodcuts, copper engravings, title-pages and chapbooks and include more than 125 in full colour. Its emotions range from sadness to amusement and from horror to wonder - a variety which combines to delight the public of today. Very Good in a yellowed and slightly soiled dustwrapper.