Sarah Trimmer
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Sarah Trimmer (1741-1810), daughter of landscape artist John Kirby, was a noted writer and critic of children's literature in the 18th century. She wrote books of instruction based on her experiences with her own children. Titles of her work include An easy introduction to the knowledge of nature, and reading the holy scriptures, adapted to the capacities of children (1780), Description of a set of prints of scripture history (1786), Fabulous histories, designed for the instruction of children, respecting their treatment of animals (1786) and Charity School Spelling Book (1798). These books were designed to teach children Christian morality and also about nature.
Later in her life she published a journal that ran for four volumes (ending sometime around 1802) which included ideas for instructing children in Christian education and reviews of various contemporary children's books. She typically praises books which encourage intellectual instruction, such as Anna Barbauld's Lessons for children series, which teaches children how to read and write. Other notable authors that she critiques in her journal include Sarah Fielding, Mary Wollstonecraft, Dorothy Kilner and the 'anonymously' written Goody-Two Shoes. However, she criticizes books which may frighten children (Barbauld's Lessons included an episode with a lion) and Fairy Tales, such as translations of Charles Perrault's Histoires ou Contes du Temps passé (1697) which was translated as Histories, or tales of past times in 1729 (a collection which includes Sleeping Beauty and Puss in Boots), because they were not of any educational importance and may encourage immorality or at least rampant imaginations.
Her grandson is geologist Joshua Trimmer.
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18th-Century British Children's Literature |
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