Record Number: 33957
Reading Experience:
Evidence:
‘... [William] Roscoe’s “Butterfly's Ball” and Mrs. [Sarah] Trimmer’s “Flapsy and Pecksey” (which I am glad to see so kindly mentioned in the Doctor [by Robert Southey]) are exactly the sort of Beast stories which I think the wee ’uns may be the better for reading.’
Century:1700-1799, 1800-1849
Date:Between 19 Sep 1796 and 16 May 1835
Country:England
Timen/a
Place:n/a
Type of Experience(Reader):
silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
(Listener):
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown
Reader / Listener / Reading Group:
Reader: Age:Adult (18-100+)
Gender:Male
Date of Birth:19 Sep 1796
Socio-Economic Group:Professional / academic / merchant / farmer
Occupation:Poet, essayist, teacher, biographer
Religion:Church of England
Country of Origin:England
Country of Experience:England
Listeners present if any:e.g family, servants, friends
n/a
Additional Comments:
n/a
Text Being Read:
Author: Title:Fabulous Histories, Designed for the Instruction of Children, Respecting Their Treatment of Animals
Genre:Fiction, Essays / Criticism, Poetry, Children's Lit, Conduct books, Miscellany / Anthology
Form of Text:Print: Book
Publication Detailsn/a
Provenanceunknown
Source Information:
Record ID:33957
Source:Hartley Coleridge
Editor:Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs
Title:Letters of Hartley Coleridge
Place of Publication:London
Date of Publication:1936
Vol:n/a
Page:173
Additional Comments:
Letter addressed to Hartley's mother, Sarah Coleridge, at No. 1 Downshire Place, Hampstead, London, from Grasmere, dated May 16, 1835. Editors’ footnotes: 1.‘See W[illia]m. Roscoe’s Butterfly’s Birthday, 1809.’ 2.‘See Sarah Trimmer’s Fabulous Histories, 1807.’
Citation:
Hartley Coleridge, Grace Evelyn and Earl Leslie Griggs (ed.), Letters of Hartley Coleridge, (London, 1936), n/a, p. 173, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=33957, accessed: 26 April 2025
Additional Comments:
Hartley critiques children's literature and reading at length in this letter. Though the Griggs' note directs the reader to Roscoe's 'Butterfly's Birthday' (1809), Roscoe also wrote another poem called 'The Butterfly's Ball and The Grasshopper's Feast' (published 1806). Sarah Trimmer’s Fabulous Histories was first published in 1786.
