The Ladder to Learning: Step the Second

Title

en_US The Ladder to Learning: Step the Second

en_US Uncle John's Library, First Series, #II

Description

en_US By Mrs. Trimmer

Creator

en_US Trimmer, Sarah

Date

2016-01-25T19:49:31Z

en_US 2006-02

en_US 1850?

Date Available

2016-01-25T19:49:31Z

Date Issued

en_US 1850?

Abstract

en_US This little paperbound booklet is 4½ x 5½ in size. It seems to be an American adaptation of the second section of the British work of slightly smaller dimensions. Though I am not able to compare the two now, I doubt that the plates are the same, even though the comments that I made on my 1835 British copy seem to fit the illustrations and texts here once one notes the different page numbers. Let me repeat some of those comments and then mention some of the curiosities of this volume: Mrs. Trimmer's work is mentioned by Hobbs (22), with a first edition in 1789. Mrs. Trimmer's booklet tookthe name of ladder because it offers three steps, divided according to the number of syllables it allows in the words. Step the Second features fables using two-syllable words. The cuts occur throughout two to a page, one over the other. Unsigned, they are always titled and include a page reference to the appropriate fable. They surprise me with their detail and quality. A special prize goes to the pair of illustrations facing 65, including a good reflection of the stag in the water and a great deal of surprise from the naked thief in the well as the clever boy steals his clothes! By contrast both illustrations facing 72 are ghastly. The boy from BW is about to be torn limb from limb by a dragon-like wolf, and the man in GGE looks as though he has either seen a ghost or become one! I like this little book very much, since it tells its tales pointedly and illustrates them well. It seems to me to avoid the preachiness of so many contemporary works. When it comes then to this American edition, there are a number of curiosities worth noting. First, the second title-page has Containing Fables Consisting of Words Not Exceeding Three Syllables, while the the first page of text, two pages later, has Containing Fables Consisting of Words Not Exceeding Two Syllables. The latter page seems more correct. Secondly, the long sub-title has been dropped: A Collection of Fables Arranged Progressively in Words of One, Two, and Three Syllables, with Original Morals. Thirdly, the British edition had said Edited and Improved by Mrs. Trimmer, but this edition has simply By Mrs. Trimmer. Fourthly, there is no reference in this edition to the illustrations; the British edition had said With Seventy-Nine Engravings. Fifthly, the book has now joined a series, namely the First Series of Uncle John's Library. Of course the place and publisher have changed. There is a hand-colored first frontispiece of a girl feeding a lamb. The pagination of this book begins at 65 for the first page of fables and ends on 122. The pages of illustrations are now paginated with the other pages. There are in fact thirteen pages of illustrations relating to twenty-six of the thirty-two fables here. The illustrations retain at least some of the spirit and character that I noted in the 1835 English edition. The book is inscribed in 1854. The strings holding together its binding are either loose or gone.

Identifier

en_US 5830 (Access ID)

uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/81313

Language

en_US eng

Publisher

en_US William J. Reynolds

en_US Boston, MA

Subject

en_US PN982.T85 1850

en_US Aesop

Type

en_US Book, Whole