Narrative

Lessons for Little Learners

18. The History of the Robins. For the Instruction of Children on Their Treatment of Animals by Sarah Trimmer was first published in 1788 by John Marshall and went into many editions. More importantly, the edition here was published by Grant and Griffith, who succeeded Harris, who succeeded Newbery. The connection from the later Romantic period back to key printers of the mid-eighteenth century is indicative of the earlier inroads and later popular expansion of the market for children’s literature by publishers who created ‘favourite libraries’ full of lessons for little learners.

David Buchanan, University of Alberta, 2013