Fables ancient and modern. Adapted for the use of children

London: Printed for Thomas Hodgkins, 1805 [i.e. 1808] In two volumes. viii, 206; iv, 219pp, [1]. With 73 copperplate illustrations in the text. Modern gilt-tooled half-calf, marbled boards, contrasting red roan lettering-pieces. Minor shelf- wear, chipping to lettering-pieces. Occasional short tears to margins, spotted. William St. Clair's copy, with his distinctive pencilled ownership inscription and manuscript note on the text to recto of FFEP, Vol. I. William Godwin's (1756-1836) first book for children, published under his often-used pseudonym Edward Baldwin, profusely adorned with handsome copperplate illustrations commonly attributed to William Blake (1756-1827). The author's prefatory remarks clearly reveal his intentions behind writing the book, specifically his disapproval at comparable works: 'Half the fables which are to be found in the ordinary books end unhappily, or end in an abrupt manner. This is what a child does not like. The first question he asks, when he has finished his reading, if he is interested in the tale, is, What became of the poor dog, the fox, or the wolf?...I have accordingly endeavoured to make almost all my narratives end in a happy and forgiving tone, in that tone of mind which I would wish to cultivate in my child'. The book received near universal critical praise from a diverse range of periodicals. The British Critic (November, 1805) wrote: 'These Fables are better calculated to excite the attention of Children, to amuse and instruct them, than any we have ever perused. We recommend them without reserve.' The Anti-Jacobin Review was equally effusive: 'They are unquestionably written on a much better plan for making an impression on, and conveying instruction to, those for whose use they are designed, than any other Fables which have fallen under our cognizance.' A remarkable endorsement given anti-Jacobin resentment of Godwin's earlier publications; indeed, the primary factor behind the adoption of a pseudonym had been as protection from their continued ire. The sheets of this issue are identical to the first edition published in 1805, however the advertisement at the end of volume II offers up this 'New Edition' from the Juvenile Library, 41, Skinner Street - the premises purchased following the firms departure from their Hanway Street address in 1807, from which the first edition had emanated. Godwin himself, with the assistance of friends, had established the central London bookshop and publishers in Hanway Street (in the name of Thomas Hodgkins), persuading literary acquaintances to contribute work for the press, the most famous result being the Lambs' Tales from Shakespeare (1807). Following the move to Skinner Street, Finsbury, Godwin opened a subscription for a juvenile library which raised around £1,500. The bookshop and juvenile library absorbed most of Godwin's time between 1805 and 1815, a period in which he published occasional essays but no substantial philosophical or literary work. William St. Clair (1937-2021), British scholar and senior civil servant, notable as the author of The Godwins and the Shelleys, The Biography of a Family (1989) and The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period (2004). . Second edition. 12mo.