Object details
Object number
10.b.1.27
Creator(s)
-
Unknown
-
author
-
J.A. Babcock
(active Hartford, 18th century)
-
printer
Title
The Affecting History of Children in the Wood
Date
1796
Medium
Printed ink on paper
Language
English
Publication Place
Hartford
Binding Description
paper with floral and vine green and pink decoration
Description
30, [2] p. : ill.; 11 cm. (32mo)
Dimensions
10.5 x 5.7 x 0.3 cm (4 1/8 x 2 1/4 x 1/8 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in pencil (on title page): 106
Provenance
Collection of Gerald Ephraim Hart (1849-1936), Montreal, by 1890.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from auctioneers Charles F. Libbie and Co., Boston, for $14 on 16 April 1890, lot 588. (with six other chapbooks (10.b.1.27-33)
Commentary
Alternatively titled The Babes in the Wood, this is a morbid tale of orphaned children abandoned in the woods by a wicked uncle who claims their inheritance.
Isabella Stewart Gardner was a voracious reader, and books were the first objects that she collected. Of the 2700 books she acquired for her museum, about 120 can be considered children's books.
Bibliography
Susan Sinclair and Philip B. Eppard. Catalogue of Children’s Books from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection and the Personal Libraries of John Lowell and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Boston, 1988), pp. 14-15, no. 7a, ill.
Diana Seave Greenwald, “Isabella's Children's Books: From the Babes in the Wood to Doctor Dolittle” Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 16 August 2022, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/isabellas-childrens-books-babes-wood-doctor-dolittle
Gallery
Blue Room
Rights and reproductions
The use of images, text, and all other media found on this website is limited. Please review Rights and Reproductions for details.
