Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Drawn from scenes of real life by mrs sherwood. copyright edition illustrated.

Item Description

8vo. 7.25 x 5 inches. 109 + [1] pp. + [2] pp. publisher's advertisements Bound in original dark green cloth, gilt, with blind stamped decorative borders on boards, enclosing gilt title block on front board. Some wear to extremities, including corners and head and tail of spine, with small splits to spine joints. Small stains on front first free endpaper, but otherwise a very good copy. Illustrated by chromolithograph frontispiece and by wood engraved text figures. Decorated by tailpiece vignettes. Copyright edition of a work of juvenile fiction relating the story of a young soldier sent to serve in India. It has a strong moral undertone, being originally published as as parts 5-9 of William Whittemore's tracts series in 1821. This 1866 edition was published to establish the copyright in the work. Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851) was a prolific children's author and, as an evangelical Christian, of religious tracts. Born Mary Martha Butt, she accompanied her husband, Captain Henry Sherwood to India where she opened a school to educate the children of British officers (writing fiction for their children) and of local people. On their return to Britain in 1816, she and her husband both opened schools and she further developed her career as a writer, becoming a popular author after the publication of The History of Henry Milner (1822).