Children’s Fiction, 1765-1808

Substantial critical attention has been paid in recent years to the ways in which English-language children’s fiction of the long 18th century reflected diverse adult anxieties and social concerns. Very little investigation, however, has been undertaken into the Irish dimensions of this topic. This volume offers a selection of stories encountered by young readers, written by Irish authors and published between 1765 and 1808. They include: a short novel by John Carey (1756-1829), Learning Better than House and Land (1808); Stories of Old Daniel; or, Tales of Wonder and Delight (1808), a collection of moral tales by Lady Mount Cashell (1772-1835); and The Three Little Fishes by Henry Brooke (1703-1783). Two later versions of Brooke’s fable conclude the volume. Offering variety in content, genre, and style, these texts both complement and complicate existing critical approaches to children’s fiction, while suggesting its importance for anyone concerned with the literature of the long 18th century.