THE PENNY HISTORIES: A STUDY OF CHAPBOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS OVER TWO CENTURIES. by Neuburg, Victor E - 1969

New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969. 227 pp, 12mo (7" H), red cloth spine with lettering/border in gold, cream paper-covered boards reproducing the illustration from the dust jacket. B&w illustrations. "For this, the second volume in Milestones in Children's Literature, Victor E. Neuburg has written an admirable study of the famous 'penny histories' or chapbooks which formed almost the entire reading matter of the poorer people in eighteenth-century England. At a time when children's literature had a strong religious and didactic basis, these little paperbound books, however crudely produced and illustrated, kept alive traditional tales of romance and adventure, and fed the imagination of young and old alike. Facsimiles of seven of the 'penny histories' are included in the present volume, and there is a detailed bibliography of source material." The chapbooks included in facsimile reproduction are: The History of Guy of Warwick; Fairy Stories; The Interesting Story of the Children in the Wood; An Elegy on the Death and Burial of Cock Robin; A Peep at the Various Nations of the World; Toads and Diamonds; The Rod. Includes a section on chapbooks in America. Tiny mark on verso of free front endpaper, minor wrinkling at bottom of spine, minor edge wear. Dust jacket has minor edge wrinkling, one small edge tear - archivally taped.. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good.