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| Cautionary book for kids: why keeping a lion in the bedroom is problematic Cautionary book for kids: why keeping a lion in the bedroom is problematic | |
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| A book aimed at preparing UK children in the Georgian period for the many dangers of life – such as playing with loaded guns, crashing into rivers in hot air balloons, riding a horse over the parapet of a bridge, and keeping a fully grown lion in the bedroom – is going on sale for £2,000. | A book aimed at preparing UK children in the Georgian period for the many dangers of life – such as playing with loaded guns, crashing into rivers in hot air balloons, riding a horse over the parapet of a bridge, and keeping a fully grown lion in the bedroom – is going on sale for £2,000. |
| The author, William Darton, appeared to think terrifying children into good behaviour was an excellent business model: he wrote, engraved the illustrations, and published the book in 1801, along with two equally gruesome companion volumes. | The author, William Darton, appeared to think terrifying children into good behaviour was an excellent business model: he wrote, engraved the illustrations, and published the book in 1801, along with two equally gruesome companion volumes. |
| Sold for sixpence at the time, the vividly illustrated book tells the story of a lion kept in a chamber by a gentleman. He hired a servant to take care of it, but the servant “frequently mixed blows with caresses”, and the lion took against him. One morning, the gentleman was woken by a great noise, and found his lion growling over the corpse of the servant, having bitten his head off. “The terror of the gentleman may be easily conceived,” the text observes. | Sold for sixpence at the time, the vividly illustrated book tells the story of a lion kept in a chamber by a gentleman. He hired a servant to take care of it, but the servant “frequently mixed blows with caresses”, and the lion took against him. One morning, the gentleman was woken by a great noise, and found his lion growling over the corpse of the servant, having bitten his head off. “The terror of the gentleman may be easily conceived,” the text observes. |
| Another story highlighted the dangers of shooting deer in tiger country. The only son of Sir Hugo Monro was sitting down for a rest with his companions, when a tiger jumped at him and dragged him into the jungle. An intrepid lady in Bengal, however, fared better thanks to an umbrella: she spotted a tiger about to spring on her party, and “with amazing presence of mind, laid hold of an umbrella and unfurling it directly in the animal’s face, it instantly retired”. | Another story highlighted the dangers of shooting deer in tiger country. The only son of Sir Hugo Monro was sitting down for a rest with his companions, when a tiger jumped at him and dragged him into the jungle. An intrepid lady in Bengal, however, fared better thanks to an umbrella: she spotted a tiger about to spring on her party, and “with amazing presence of mind, laid hold of an umbrella and unfurling it directly in the animal’s face, it instantly retired”. |
| The book, titled The Third Chapter of Accidents and Remarkable Events: Containing Caution and Instruction for Children, also points out the dangers of guns: “Parents and others cannot be too careful in keeping guns and pistols out of their reach,” it says. “At one time we hear of a brother firing at his sister, a man at his wife, and of a youth killing his beloved friend, without either having any such intention.” | The book, titled The Third Chapter of Accidents and Remarkable Events: Containing Caution and Instruction for Children, also points out the dangers of guns: “Parents and others cannot be too careful in keeping guns and pistols out of their reach,” it says. “At one time we hear of a brother firing at his sister, a man at his wife, and of a youth killing his beloved friend, without either having any such intention.” |
| Hot air balloons, a late 18th-century craze, were probably better avoided completely, as shown by the case of one-legged Mr Arnold, who was pitched over the side above St George’s Fields in London, and “the perilous situation of Major Money” who fell into the sea in his balloon near Great Yarmouth, and had to spend five hours in the water before he was rescued. | Hot air balloons, a late 18th-century craze, were probably better avoided completely, as shown by the case of one-legged Mr Arnold, who was pitched over the side above St George’s Fields in London, and “the perilous situation of Major Money” who fell into the sea in his balloon near Great Yarmouth, and had to spend five hours in the water before he was rescued. |
| Darton, who specialised in children’s books and is thought to have gathered the stories from newspaper accounts and travellers’ tales, saw his London printing and publishing business flourish in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. His two sons followed him into the trade and Dalton Sr did well enough out of it to retire from publishing and buy a farm in Plaistow, then countryside on the outskirts of London, before his death in 1819. | Darton, who specialised in children’s books and is thought to have gathered the stories from newspaper accounts and travellers’ tales, saw his London printing and publishing business flourish in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. His two sons followed him into the trade and Dalton Sr did well enough out of it to retire from publishing and buy a farm in Plaistow, then countryside on the outskirts of London, before his death in 1819. |
| The book will be included in a new antiquarian book fair, Ink Ldn, in London next Friday and Saturday. | The book will be included in a new antiquarian book fair, Ink Ldn, in London next Friday and Saturday. |