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To the Parents, Guardians, and Governesses of Great Britain and Ireland.

AT a time when all complain of the Depravity of Human Nature, and the corrupt Principles of Mankind, any Design that is calculated to remove the Evils, and inforce a contrary Conduct, will undoubtedly deserve the Attention and Ecouragement of the Publick.

It has been said, and said wisely, that the only way to remedy these Evils, is to begin with the rising Generation, and to take the Mind in its infant State, when it is uncorrupted and susceptible of any Impression; To represent their Duties and future Interest in a Manner that shall seem rather intended to amuse than instruct, to excite their Attention with Images and Pitures that are familiar and pleasing; To warm their Affections with such little Histories as are capable of giving the Delight, and of impressing on their tender Minds proper Sentiments of Religion, Justice, Honour, and Virtue.

'When infant Reason grows apace, it calls

'For the kind Hand of an assiduous Care:

'Delightful Task! To rear the tender Thought,

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'To teach the young Idea how to shoot,

'To pour the fresh Instruction o'er the Mind,

'To breathe th'insiring Spirit, to implant

'The generous Purpose in the glowing Breast.'

Thompson.

How far Mr. Newbery's little Books may tend to forward this good Work, may be, in some measure, seen by what are already published, and, it is presumed, will more evidently appear by others which are now in the Press.

The B O O K S published for the Instruction and Amusement of C H I L D R E N, are as follow:

1. NURSE TRUELOVE's CHRISTMAS-BOX: Or, The Golden Play-thing for Little Children: By which they may learn the Letters as soon as they can speak, and know how to behave so as to make everybody love them. Adorned with Thirty-Cuts. Price One-penny.

2. NURSE TRUELOVE's NEW-YEAR's-GIFT: Or, The Book of Books for Children: Adorned with Cuts; and designed for a Present to every little Boy, who would become a great Man, and ride upon a fine Horse; and to every little Girl who would become a great Woman, and ride in a Lord Mayor's gilt Coach. Price Two-pence.

3. The ROYAL BATTLEDORE: Or, First Book for Children. Price Two{-}pence

4. The ROYAL PRIMER: Or, an easy <128> and pleasant Guide to the Art of Reading. Interspersed with a great Variety of pleasant and diverting stories, with suitable Morals and Reflections. Embellished with twenty-seven Cuts, and neatly bound and gilt. Prince Three-pence.

5. The Little LOTTERY-BOOK for Children: Containing a new Method of playing them into a Knowledge of the Letters, Figures, &c. Embellished with above 50 Cuts, and published with the Approbation of the Court of Common Sense. Price Three-pence, bound and gilt.

6. A PRETTY PLAY-THING for Children of all Denominations: Containing, I. The Alphabet in Verse for the Use of little Children. II. An Alphabet in Prose, interspersed with proper Lessons in Life, for the Use of great Children. III. The Sound of the Letters explained by visible Objects, delineated on Copper-Plates. IV. The {Cuz's} Chorus, set to Music. To be sung by Children, in order to teach them to join their Letters into Syllables, and pronounce them properly. V. An exact Representation of a good Fat Cuz, arrayed in the Robes of his Order. The Whole embellished with Variety of Cuts, after the Manner of Ptolomy. Price Three-pence, bound and gilt.

7. A little Pretty POCKET-BOOK, intended for the Instruction and Amusement of litter Master Tommy, and pretty Miss Polly: <129> With two Letter from Jack the Giant-Killer: As also a Ball and Pincushion; the Use of which will infallibly make Tommy a good Boy, and Polly a good Girl. The Ninth Edition. To which is added, A little SONG-BOOK, being a new Attempt to teach Children the Use of the English Alphabet, by way of Diversion. Price Six-pence, bound and gilt.

8. The INFANT TUTOR: Or, An easy Spelling-Book for little Masters and Misses. Designed as an introductory Part to the Circle of Sciences: Published by the King's Authority. The Third Edition. Price Six-pence, bound and gilt.

9. The Pretty BOOK for Children: Or, An easy Guide to the English Tongue: Designed for the easy Instruction of those who cannot read, as well as for the Entertainment of those who can. Price bound and gilt Six-pence.

10. A Pretty Book of PICTURES for little Masters and Misses: Or, Tommy Trip's History of Birds and Beasts; with a familiar Description of each in Verse and Prose: To which is added, The History of little Tom Trip himself, of his Dog Jouler, and of Woglog, the great Giant. Price bound and gilt Six-pence.

11. FOOD for the MIND: Or, A New Riddle Book; compiled for the Use of the great and the little good Boys and Girls of England, Scotland, and Ireland. By John-the Giant-Killer, Esq; The Second Edition. Price bound and gilt Six-pence.

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12. Be MERRY and WISE: Or, The Cream of the Jests and Marrow of Maxims, for the Conduct of Life; published for the Use of all the little good Boys and Girls, by T Trapwit, Esq; Adorned with Cuts. The Second Edition. Price Six pence bound and gilt. Would you be agreeable in Company, and useful to Society, carry some merry Jests in your Mind, and honest Maxims in your Heart. Gronovius.

13. A Set of Fifty-six Squares, and Directions for playing with them, so contrived as to learn Children to read in a little Time, and to yield them as much Entertainment as any of their Play Games usually do. By which Means a great deal of Time, commonly idled away by Children, will be profitably as well as pleasantly employed. Upon the Plan of the great Mr. Locke. Price One Shilling.

14. FABLES in Verse for the Improvement of the Young and the Old. By Abraham Æsop, Esq; To which are added, Fables in Verse and Prose, with the Conversation of Birds and Beasts, at their several Meetings, Routs and Assemblies. By Woglog the Great Giant. Illustrated with a Variety of curious Cuts, by the best Masters, and an Account of the Lives of the Authors. Price Six pence bound.

15. The HOLY BIBLE abridged: Or, the History of the Old and New Testament, illustrated with Notes, and adorned with Cuts, <131> for the Use of Children. Price Six pence bound and gilt. Suffer little Children to come unto me, and forbid them not.-Luke.

16. The MOSAIC CREATION: Or, Divine Wisdom displayed in the Works of the first six Days. Attempted to enlarge Childrens Ideas, and give them an early Sense of those infinite Obligations which they lie under to the great Author of their Beings. In Prose and Verse with Occasional Remarks. Embellished with Variety of Copper-plates, neatly engraved. Price bound Six-pence.

17. PHILOSOPHY for CHILDREN: Extracted from the universally admired Belles Lettres of Mr. Rollin: In which is introduced an accurate, though compendious Description of several select Animals, viz. Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and Insects. Compiled from the Writings of the most approved Naturalists, both Ancient and Modern. Embellished with a Variety of curious Copper-plates, neatly engraved, expressive of each Animal. Price Six-pence.

18. A Collection of Pretty POEMS, for the Amusement of Children Three Foot high. By Tommy Tagg, Esq; Adorned with above sixty Cuts. Price bound Six-pence.

19. A New HISTORY of ENGLAND, from the Invasion by Julius Caesar, to the present Time. Adorned with Cuts of all the Kings and Queens who have reigned since the Norman Conquest. Price Six-pence bound <132> and gilt.--The Memory of Things past ought not to be extinguished by Length of Time, nor great and admirable Actions remain destitute of Glory. HERODOTUS.

20. The LILLIPUTIAN MAGAZINE : Or, The Young Gentleman and Ladies Golden Library. Being an Attempt to mend the World, to render the Society of Man more amiable, and to establish the Plainness, Simplicity, Wisdom and Virtue of the Golden Age, so much celebrated by the Poets and Historians. Adorned with Copper-plate Cuts. Price bound One Shilling.

For the Instruction and Amusement of young GENTLEMEN and LADIES.

1. LETTERS on the most common, as well as important Occasions in Life. By Cicero, Pliny, Voltaire, Balzac, St. Evremond, Locke, Lords Lansdowne, Oxford, Peterborough and Bolingbroke, Sir W. Temple, Sir W. Trumbull, Dryden, Atterbury, Gar{th}, Addison, Steele, Pope, Gay, Swift, Berkeley, Rowe, and other Writers of distinguished Merit. With many original Letters and Cards by the Editor: Who has also prefixed, a Dissertation on the Epistolary Stile; with proper Directions for addressing Persons of Rank and Eminence. A new Edition (being the Fourth) printed in a neat Pocket Volume, and on a fine Elzevir Type, Price One Shilling and Six-pence bound, or Two Shillings bound and gilt. <133> N.B. The Regard which the Public has been pleased to pay to this Volume of Letters, has induced the Editor to print it in three different Sizes; that is to say, the above Edition on a new Elzevir Letter at Eighteen Pence; an Edition in Twelves on a larger Letter, at Two Shillings, and a small Edition for those who are very young, at One Shilling.

2. A Collection of Pretty POEMS for the Amusement of Children Six Foot high, interspersed with a Series of Letters from Cousin Sam to Cousin Sue, on the Subjects of Criticism, Poetry, and Politics, with Notes Variorum. Calculated with a Design to do good; and adorned with a Variety of Copper-plate Cuts, by the best Masters. Price bound One Shilling.

3. An Easy SPELLING DICTIONARY (on a new Plan) for the Use of young Gentlemen, Ladies, and Foreigners. In which each Word is accented to prevent a vicious Pronunciation; the several Syllables are pointed out by a small Figure in the Margin, and whatever Part of Speech it is, specified by a Letter immediately following each Word; so contrived as to take up no more Room in the Pocket than a common Snuff-Box. Neatly bound, Price One Shilling.

4. A POCKET DICTIONARY: Or, Compleat English Expositor: Shewing readily the Part of Speech to which each Word belongs; its true Meaning, when not self-evi <134> dent; and various Senses, if more than one, placed in proper Order: and the Language from whence it is derived pointed out immediately after the Explication: Also the Technical Terms are clearly explained; every Word is so accented, that there can be no Uncertainty as to the Pronunciation; and the Names of the Cities and principal Towns, their Distances from London, their Market-Days and Fairs, according to the New-Stile, alphabetically interspersed; with other useful Articles. To render this Book compleat, many modern Words are introduced, which are not to be found in other Dictionaries; and to make it more concise and portable, such Words are omitted, as being neither properly English, nor ever used by good Authors, would only serve to mislead and embarra{s}s the Learner. A Work entirely new, and designed for the Youth of both Sexes, the Ladies, and Persons in Business. To which is prefixed, an Introduction, containing an History of the Language, with a Compendious Grammar. And a Recommendation of the Manuscript Copy, in a Letter from Dr. Bevis to the Publisher. Price Three Shillings.

5. The NEW TESTAMENT of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Adapted to the Capacities of Children. Adorned with Cuts, designed by the celebrated Raphael, and engraved by Mr. Walker. To which is added, An Historical Account of the Lives, Actions, <135> Travels, Sufferings, and Deaths of the Apostles and Evangelists: With a Preface, setting forth the Nature and Necessity of the Work. Neatly bound, Price Two Shillings and Six-pence.

6. TRAVELS thro' TURKEY in Asia, the Holy Land, Arabia, Egypt, and other Parts of the World: Giving a particular and faithful Account of what is most remarkable in the Manners, Religion, Polity, Antiquities, and Natural History of those Countries: With a curious Description of Jerusalem, as it now appears, and other Places mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. By Charles Thompson, Esq; Interspersed with the Remarks of several other modern Travellers; illustrated with Notes, historical, geographical, and miscellaneous, by the Editor, and adorned with Maps and Prints. (In Two Pocket Vols. Price Six Shillings, with the Maps neatly coloured.) N.B. This Book (which is not only an agreeable Companion to Ladies and Gentlemen, but is likewise very necessary for every Family, as it will illustrate and explain various Passages in the Old and New Testament) is adorned with the following Maps and Prints, viz. 1. A View of Smyrna. 2. St. John's Grotto; and the Chapel of the Hermitage in the Island of Patmos. 3. A View of Balbec and its Temple. 4. A Map of the Terrestrial Paradise, according to Mr. Hurt and others. 5. A Map of the Holy Land. 6. A View of the <136> City of Jerusalem as it now appears. 7. A Plan of the City and Country about Jerusalem. 8. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. 9. A Map of Egypt. 10. A View of the Pyramids, the Sphinx, and some Egyptian Mummies. 11. Views of Mount Sinai, Tabor, Carmel, Hereb, the Rock of Mirabah-Kadash, and the Hill of Moses.

7. The MUSEUM for young Gentlemen and Ladies; or, a compleat Tutor for little Masters and Misses. Being a second Volume of the Pretty Book for Children. Price bound One Shilling.

8. The CIRCLE of SCIENCES. (In seven small Pocket Volumes, neatly bound in Red, Price Seven Shillings,) Vol. I. Containing Grammar made easy to young Gentlemen, Ladies, and Foreigners. Vol. II. Arithmetic made easy. Vol. III. Rhetoric made easy, and illustrated with several beautiful Orations from Demesthenes, Cicero, Sallust, Homer, Shakespeare, Milton, &c. Vol. IV. Poetry made easy, and embellished with great Variety of Epigrams, Epitaphs, Songs, Odes, Pastorals, &c. from the best Authors. Vol. V. Logic made easy: To which is added, a compendious System of Metaphysics, or Ontology. Vol. VI. Geography made easy: To which is prefixed a Map of the World. Vol. VII. Chronology made easy: To which is added, a Table of the most memorable Events from the Beginning of the World to the Year 1747.

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9. ATLAS MINIMUS; or, a new Set of Pocket Maps of the several Empires, Kingdoms, and States of the known World; with historical Extracts relative to each. Drawn and engraved by J. Gibson, from the best Authorities. Revised, corrected and improved by E. Bowen, Geographer to his Majesty. Price bound Four Shillings, and Five Shillings and Six-Pence with the Maps coloured.

10. A Compendious HISTORY of ENGLAND, from the Invasion by the Romans, to the present Time. Adorned with a Map of Great Britain and Ireland, coloured; and embellished with Thirty-one Cuts of all the Kings and Queens who have reigned since the Conquest. Drawn chiefly from their statues at the Royal Exchange. Price Two Shillings bound.

11. An Account of the CONSTITUTION and PRESENT STATE of Great Britain: Together with a View of its Trade, Policy, and Interest, respecting other Nations; and of the Curiosities of Great Britain and Ireland. Adorned with Copper-plate Cuts, neatly engraved. Price Two Shillings bound.

12. New and Accurate MAPS of the Counties of England and Wales. Drawn from the latest Surveys by J. Gibson. Price Four Shillings bound, and Five Shillings and Six-pence with the Maps coloured.

13. Short HISTORIES for the Improvement of the Mind. Extracted chiefly from <138> the Works of the celebrated Joseph Addison, Esq; Sir Richard Steele, Mr. R{ossen}, and other eminent Writers: With suitable Reflections by the Editor. Price One Shilling bound and gilt.

14. The Philosophy of TOPS and BALLS; or the Newtonian System of Philosophy adapted to the Capacities of Youth, and familiarized and made entertaining by Objects with which they are intimately acquainted. Being the Substance of Six Lectures read to the Lilliputian Society by Tom Telescope, A. M. and collected and methodized for the Benefit of the Youth of these Kingdoms, by their old Friend, Mr. Newbury, in St. Paul's Churchyard; who has also added Variety of Copper-Plate Cuts to illustrate and confirm the Doctrines advanced. Price One Shilling bound and gilt.

15. The Gentleman and Lady's Key to Polite Literature; or, a compendious Dictionary of Fabulous History: Containing the Characters and principal Actions ascribed to the Heathen Gods, Goddesses, Heroes, &c. and the Manner in which the Ancients represented the Deities and Heroes, Virtues and Vices, in their Paintings, Statues, and Gems: Together with some Account of their Poets, and References to the principal Places mentioned in their Works. Intended for the Assistance of those who would understand Mythology, Poetry, Painting, Statuary, and <139> Theatrical Entertainments; and particularly adapted to the Use of Latin and French Schools. Price Two Shillings bound.

16. The NEWS-READER'S POCKET-BOOK: Or, A Military Dictionary. Explaining the most difficult Terms made Use of in Fortification, Gunnery, and the whole Compass of the Military Art: And a Naval Dictionary, explaining the Terms used in Navigation, Ship building, &c. To which is added, A concise Political History of Europe, with the Genealogies and Families of the several Emperors, Kings, and Princes, now reigning; and some Account of the Religions they profess. Price Two Shillings bound.

Where may be had, now publishing in Volumes, at One Shilling and Six-pence each Volume, adorned with Variety of Copper Plate Cuts and Maps,

The WORLD DISPLAYED; or a curious Collection of Voyages and Travels, from the Writers of all Nations. In which the Conjectures and Interpolations of several vain Editors and Translators are expunged; every Relation is made concise and plain, and the Divisions of Countries and Kingdoms are clearly and distinctly noted.

Curiosity is seldom so powerfully excited, or so amply gratified, as by faithful Relations of Voyages and Travels. The different appearances of Nature, and the various Customs of Men, the gradual Discovery of <140> the World, and the Accidents and Hardships of a naval Life, all concur to fill the Mind with Expectation and with Wonder; and as Science, when it can be connected with Events, is always more easily learned, and more certainly remembered, the History of a Voyage may be considered as the most useful Treatise on Geography, since the Student follows the Traveller from Country to Country, and retains the Situation of Places by recounting his Adventures. It is hoped that this Collection will be favourably received, as no one has hitherto been offered so cheap or so commodious.

© 2024 The Newton Project

Professor Rob Iliffe
Director, AHRC Newton Papers Project

Scott Mandelbrote,
Fellow & Perne librarian, Peterhouse, Cambridge

Faculty of History, George Street, Oxford, OX1 2RL - newtonproject@history.ox.ac.uk

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