‘A Going! a Going! for Nothing ‘Tis Going’
[DARTON, William.]
Little Jack of all Trades, with suitable Representations. Part I [– Part II]. London, printed and sold by Darton and Harvey, 1809 [– printed for Darton, Harvey, and Darton, 1812].
Two vols, 8vo, I: pp. 47, [1]; II: pp. 48; each part with 23 copper engraved illustrations printed in the text; some creasing to corners and light staining, a little foxing, short tears (without loss) to first two leaves of part II; good copies in original printed wrappers; worn and marked, losses to spines and to corner of front cover of part II, part II loose.
Added to your basket:
Little Jack of all Trades, with suitable Representations. Part I [– Part II].
Extremely rare early editions of this popular introduction to trades for children, likely written by the printer William Darton, with forty-six illustrations.
Darton opens with an ‘address from the printer to his little readers’ in which he proudly notes that ‘Guy’s noble hospital was founded by a bookseller; and that great and immortal Dr Franklin was once, like me, a journeyman printer’.
Several of the descriptions and accompanying illustrations relate to the production and sale of books. Part I features two printers – one pulling on a rolling press, and another inking the forme in a flatbed press – and a bookbinder (‘You print in single sheets, about they’re tost; And but for me for ever might be lost’). In part II we find paper makers in a busy paper mill; an auctioneer (‘A going! a going! for nothing ‘tis going’); and an engraver (‘Dogs and horses I can show; Fields of wheat, and hills of snow’), the accompanying text containing the following interesting remark: ‘Until very lately, children’s books were only allowed coarse wooden cuts: but now the copper-plate engraver condescends to work for them also; and, you must allow, the pictures adorning this work are a very pleasing specimen of his art.’
Part I: only one copy traced in the UK (CUL) and one in the US (Florida University). Part II: two copies located in the UK (Bodleian, V&A) and two in the US (Rakow Research Library, Princeton).