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John Aikin
John Aikin was an English doctor and writer.-Life:He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son of Dr. John Aikin, Unitarian divine, and received his elementary education at the Nonconformist academy at Warrington, where his father was a tutor. He studied medicine at the...
and his sister Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld
Anna Laetitia Barbauld was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and children's author.A "woman of letters" who published in multiple genres, Barbauld had a successful writing career at a time when female professional writers were rare...
. It is an early example of children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
. The late Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
children's writer Mary Louisa Molesworth
Mary Louisa Molesworth
Mary Louisa Molesworth was an English writer of children's stories who wrote for children under the name of Mrs Molesworth. She was born in Rotterdam, a daughter of Charles Augustus Stewart who later became a rich merchant in Manchester and his wife Agnes Janet Wilson . Mary had three brothers...
named it as one of the handful of books that was owned by every family in her childhood and read enthusiastically. In their introduction, the authors explain the title in these words:
W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
took the title for one of his plays, Eyes and No Eyes
Eyes and No Eyes
Eyes and No Eyes, or The Art of Seeing is a one-act musical entertainment with a libretto by W. S. Gilbert and music originally by Thomas German Reed that premiered on July 5, 1875 at St. George's Hall in London and ran for only a month. The original music was lost, and twenty years later new...
(1875), from one of the stories in the collection.
External links
- British Library: Children's Literature
- Search publishing histories: Copac: Academic & National Library Catalogue at the University of Manchester.
- Another website: British Library: Integrated Catalogue.
- Search: Library of Congress Online Catalog
- Search: National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections
- Course syllabus: Studies in Eighteenth century literature: Books for Children, at the University of Toronto.