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The Wise Boys: or, The Entertaining Histories of Fred Forethought, Matt Merrythought, Luke Lovebook and Ben Bee (ca. 1842)

- March 30, 2017 in children, children's book, death, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, wisdom

Collection of poetic stories championing exemplary boyhood behaviour, the work of the American poet Sarah Josepha Buell Hale.

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The Wise Boys: or, The Entertaining Histories of Fred Forethought, Matt Merrythought, Luke Lovebook and Ben Bee (ca. 1842)

- March 30, 2017 in children, children's book, death, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, wisdom

Collection of poetic stories championing exemplary boyhood behaviour, the work of the American poet Sarah Josepha Buell Hale.

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Manual Training — Play Problems (1917)

- January 6, 2016 in children, construction, design, diy, education, play

This charming book from 1917 presents a manual training in what the author William S. Marten terms constructive-play, full of how-to guides for making all manner of toys and other objects.

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Manual Training — Play Problems (1917)

- January 6, 2016 in children, construction, design, diy, education, play

This charming book from 1917 presents a manual training in what the author William S. Marten terms constructive-play, full of how-to guides for making all manner of toys and other objects.

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In the Image of God: John Comenius and the First Children’s Picture Book

- May 14, 2014 in Books, children, education, latin, orbis pictus, orbis sensualiam pictus, Religion, Myth & Legend

In the mid 17th-century John Comenius published what many consider to be the first picture book dedicated to the education of young children, Orbis Sensualium Pictus - or The World of Things Obvious to the Senses drawn in Pictures, as it was rendered in English. Charles McNamara explores how, contrary to Comenius' declarations, the book can be seen to be as much about the invisible world as the visible.

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Nursery Lessons in Words of One Syllable (1838)

- August 1, 2013 in California Digital Library, children, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, Internet Archive, nursery, texts, Texts: 19th, Texts: Childrens, Texts: Picturebooks, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, words

Nursery Lessons in Words of One Syllable; 1838; Darton and Harvey, London. A charming little illustrated book for young readers, consisting entirely of words of one syllable. Housed at: Internet Archive | From: California Digital Library Found via: Tiffany Johnson Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: No Additional Rights Download: PDF | Kindle | EPUB | Torrent HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public Domain Review is a not-for-profit project and we rely on support from our readers to stay afloat. If you like what we do then please do consider making a donation. We welcome all contributions, big or small - everything helps! Become a Patron Small angel : £3.00 GBP - monthly Medium sized hero : £5.00 GBP - monthly Large emperor : £10.00 GBP - monthly Vast deity : £20.00 GBP - monthly Make a one off Donation SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER Sign up to get our free fortnightly newsletter which shall deliver direct to your inbox the latest brand new article and a digest of the most recent collection items. Simply add your details to the form below and click the link you receive via email to confirm your subscription! Name: E-mail:

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The Blossoms of Morality (1806)

- June 13, 2013 in California Digital Library, children, collections, Digital Copy: No Additional Rights, instruction, Internet Archive, morality, texts, Texts: 18th, Texts: 19th, Texts: Childrens, Texts: Fiction, Underlying Work: PD Worldwide, vice

The Blossoms of Morality intended for the amusement and instruction of young ladies and gentlemen by the editor of The looking-glass for the mind ; with forty-seven cuts ; designed and engraved by I. Bewick.; 4th edition, 1806; Printed for J. Harris in London. As the subtitle proclaims, this book originally published in the late 18th century is “intended for the amusement and instruction of young ladies and gentlemen”. The introduction is presumably one into the moral ridden world of adults. A vast array of different little stories are told for the purpose, including the excellently titled “Juvenile tyranny conquered” and “The melancholy effects of pride”. Each is told in a brilliantly earnest yet flowery style, for example, the first sentence of the first story, “Ernestus and Fragilus”, reads: The faint glimmerings of the pale-faced moon on the troubled billows of the ocean are not so fleeting and inconstant as the fortune and condition of human life. 47 beautiful illustrations by I. Bewick adorn it throughout. Housed at: Internet Archive | From: California Digital Library Underlying Work: PD Worldwide | Digital Copy: No Additional Rights Download: PDF | Kindle | EPUB | Torrent HELP TO KEEP US AFLOAT The Public [...]

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Robert Louis Stevenson’s Baby Book (1922)

- November 13, 2012 in baby book, childhood, children, collections, dreams, robert louis stevenson, texts, Texts: 19th, Texts: 20th, Texts: Miscellaneous, Texts: Non-fiction

Stevenson’s baby book, being the record of the sayings and doings of Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson, son of Thomas Stevenson, C.E. and Margaret Isabella Balfour or Stevenson; 1922; John Howell / J.H. Nash, San Francisco . A remarkable record of the first few years of author Robert Louis Stevenson’s life, as noted down by his mother in a “Baby Book”. The book featured above, published in 1922, consists of a facsimile of the original handwritten baby book followed by a transcription. Amid various baby-related milestones, such as first teeth, crawl, walk, etc., we hear reports of a young “Lou” (also called “Boulihasker, Smoutie, Baron Broadnose, Signor Sprucki,.. Maister Sprook”) first engaging with and questioning the world around him… here’s a few little golden snippets: When 1 year old… Jan 13th: Smout gives up his forenoon sleep and calls books “oufs” because he expects to find pictures of dogs in them. 3 years old… April 17th: When Smout was drawing pictures he said “I have drawed a man’s body, shall I do his soul now?” 4 years old… January 10th : When Lou saw the sun looking red he said “It’s just like a great big orange thrown up into the [...]

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Leo Tolstoy´s Fables for Children (1904)

- August 7, 2012 in children, fables, fairytales, non-article, stories, texts, Texts: 19th, Texts: Childrens, Texts: Fairytales, Texts: Fiction, tolstoy


Fables for children, stories for children, natural science stories, popular education, decembrists, moral tales, by Count Lev N. Tolstoy, translated from the original Russian and edited by Leo Wiener; 1904; Dana Estes & Co., Boston.

As well as writing such lengthy literary classics as Anna Karenina and War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy turned his hand to writing stories for younger readers. Most of the works in the collection above, translated here by Leo Wiener, had their seed in primers which Tolstoy wrote for the school which he established in 1849 for peasant children at his country estate, Yasnaya Polyana (Clear Glades). In the huge variety of tales – through a host of kings, hermits, peasants and talking animals – he expounds his clear vision for a more human and socially just society.

The book is housed on the Internet Archive, donated by the New York Public Library.








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