Title: Poetry for Children (By the Author of "How to be Happy")

Author: Lydia Howard Sigourney (Natively published anonymously; features historic period ink attribution "by Mrs Sigourney" on the title page)

Publisher: Robinson & Pratt, Hartford, Connecticut

Publication Date: 1834 (Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1834 by D.F. Robinson)

Format: Small Hardcover in Original Printed Boards (Issued Without Dust Jacket)

Inner Cover Boards: Plain antiquarian pulp endpapers displaying heavy, uniform period spot foxing and dynamic browning.

Subject: 19th Century Children's Poetry / Early American Juvenile Literature / Female Authors / Hartford Publishing

ISBN: N/A (Pre-ISBN Era)

Weight: Approximately 6 oz

SYNOPSIS:

"Poetry for Children" is a foundational, early work of American juvenile verse written by the celebrated 19th-century author Lydia Sigourney. Intended to nurture the moral intellect and imaginative faculties of young minds, this compilation features beautifully structured, instructional poems tracking themes of nature, familial love, childhood innocence, and early Christian devotion. The volume opens with a poignant preface arguing that poetry is of supreme importance in the early moral education of children, helping to refine the heart before more severe academic studies begin. Enriched by an engraved frontispiece plate and title vignette printed by J.H. Wells, this text represents a major milestone in antebellum American children's literature.

Up for sale is a scarce 1834 edition of this early American juvenile classic, published natively in Hartford by Robinson & Pratt. This specific copy boasts phenomenal literary character, bearing a crisp, historic fountain pen attribution identifying the anonymous author as Mrs. Sigourney. Complete in its original publisher's printed boards, it stands as an untouched specimen of Jacksonian-era book production. An elite acquisition for collectors of rare early American poetry, women writers of the Western canon, or pre-Civil War children's books.

The book is bound in its original mid-19th-century printed paper-covered boards over a dark brown leather spine cloth. The front cover paper features an elegant typography design mirroring the title page layout, while the spine features a bright, highly legible gold-gilt stamped title reading "POETRY FOR CHILDREN."

BOOK SPECIFICATIONS:

- Title: Poetry for Children

- Author: Lydia Sigourney

- Publisher: Robinson & Pratt

- Publication Date: 1834

- Format: Hardcover in Printed Boards

- Inner Cover Boards: Standard period pulp endpapers

- Subject: Antique Children's Verse / Early American Female Authors

- ISBN: N/A (Pre-ISBN)

- Weight: Approx. 6 oz

CONDITION REPORT:

Please review the high-resolution listing photos carefully to evaluate the book's precise physical condition before purchasing. This book has been gently surface-brushed but has not undergone deep modern cleaning out of respect for its highly fragile antiquarian state:

- Casing / Hardcover Boards: In good antiquarian condition for its advanced age. The original printed paper-covered boards remain structurally flat with firm internal cardboard. The gold-gilt text on the leather spine remains remarkably well-preserved, sharp, and easy to read. Shows typical indicators of shelf history, including prominent corner rounding, surface dust tracking, edge scuffing, and minor peeling to the paper along the outer margins.

- Binding: Good condition. The text block structure remains fully bound together, square, and secure. Internal paper joints near the hinges show standard antiquarian loosening and browning, but remain fully attached with no exposed structural webbing or loose cords.

- Interior Pages: The internal text sheets and engraved plates are intact, complete, and highly legible. Pages display a uniform, heavy natural antiquarian foxing, variable spot staining, and browning characteristic of 1830s American rag paper stock. The title page hosts an elegant historic fountain pen notation reading "by Mrs Sigourney." The pages are entirely free of modern highlighters, underlines, or ballpoint ink marks.

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