Object details
Object number
10.b.1.33
Creator(s)
Title
The Wisdom of Crop the Conjurer
Date
1794
Medium
Printed ink on paper
Language
English
Publication Place
Worcester, Massachusetts
Binding Description
silver paper
Description
viii, 9-59, [5] p. : ill. ; 11 cm. (16mo)
Dimensions
10.2 x 6.4 x 0.8 cm (4 x 2 1/2 x 5/16 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Insscribed in ink (on label, affixed to the cover, upper left): Brinley / 7186 / 8
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
Crop the Conjurer was produced by the most important publisher of children's books in 18th-century America, Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, Massachusetts. His primary purpose was moral instruction but he also saw value in making the lessons entertaining. 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), po. 14-15, no. 7b.
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.
