1840.]. 36mo, pp. 70, [2] publisher’s advertisements; with hand-coloured engraved frontispiece and three further uncoloured engraved plates; paper a little browned with some minor offsetting from plates, in the original printed embossed wrappers, all edges gilt, inner hinge cracked but holding, upper cover ruled and lettered in black though faded, covers a little soiled, and scuffed, with crease mark to front lower corner, extremities a little rubbed; with contemporary inscription on front free endpaper, ‘Charlotte Wills from her affectionate sister Bessie, March 1st, 1841’; an appealing copy. Second edition of this charming work for young children, first published in 1837. ‘In the eighteen-thirties the range of useful knowledge was considerably extended - even to include conchology. The author is no other than Samuel Clark (1810-1875), of Darton & Clark. He gave up publishing to be ordained, but continued to write as “The Rev. T. Wilson” (James, Children’s Books of Yesterday, p. 55). This was not his only pseudonym, Clark also writing under the pen name of “Peter Parley” and “Reuben Ramble”. A keen advocate of scientific education for the young, he wrote a number of works on subjects such as geology, minerals, geography, chemistry and the physical sciences. The Monthly Review called the work ‘a little gem’ and ‘one of the sweetest tiny volumes that was ever published’, with Tait’s Magazine describing it as ‘a nice sea-side book’.