12mo. iv, 164pp. Contemporary gilt-tooled red roan-backed marbled paper boards. Heavily rubbed, joints starting. Leaves browned, several protruding from text-block.

The first edition of Mrs. Barbara Hofland’s (bap. 1770, d. 1844) popular children’s story, which, as with the majority of her works, ran through a plethora of editions, under numerous imprints, up to the 1870s. The work, dedicated to Hofland's fellow Yorkshirewoman 'Mrs. Haugh of Doncaster', is a 'sketch of children in very humble life' intended to 'console the sorrows, stimulate the energies, and encourage the efforts of the industrious poor'. The book was heartily endorsed by Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), described in the opening remarks as 'the first female author of the present day'.