Be Merry and Wise: Origins of Children's Book Publishing in England, 1650-1850

New York/ London/ New Castle, DE: Pierpont Morgan Library; British Library; Oak Knoll Press, 2006. Hardcover. VG/VG (very clean and clear, binding tight). Navy cloth boards with gilt lettering; light blue dj, color illustrated; xiv, 318 pp; illustrated in bw and color. "The child as the audience for books in the English language is the subject of this bibliographical study, which had its origins in an exhibition held at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. From this beginning, Felix de Marez Oyens and Brian Alderson have compiled Be Merry and Wise and shown how certain creative talents, driven by a sense of purpose, or a wish to make some money, attempted to appeal directly to children, and how the publishing industry came to realise that this audience might prove to constitute a profitable market."--Jacket. Contents: Vestibulum : theory and practice -- The salvation of souls -- Enter Tom Thumb -- Serious business -- The house that Newbery built -- Rivals and imitators, London -- Frances Laetitia Earle : her books -- Rivals and imitators, the Provinces -- Begged, borrowed, or stolen -- "The dawn of levity" -- The innovators -- Epigones -- "Chapbooks" for children -- Tracts and transition -- The road to Paflagonia -- The rose and the ring -- Marketing -- Bindings -- Special markets -- Marks of possession.