Limed Twigs, to Catch Young Birds, in Two Parts

Fourth edition. 94pp [ii], with engraved frontispiece. In a later binding of green cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering on spine. 16mo. Boards a clean and crisp, with hints of rubs at corners and spine ends. A little toning internally, with a few minor bumps on page edges. Shadow of pencilled previous owner’s name, which appears to be dated 1821, on first page. One of the Taylor sisters’ rarest collaborations, a graded reader with twenty-six storylets in words of one to five letters, and then one to four syllables. The Taylor’s biographer, Lawrence Darton, thought ‘Limed Twigs’ a dreary little book, and the Taylor’s are often criticised for the mundanity of their stories but these storylets suggest they deserve more credit for lively dialogue and self-depreciating humour in their children’s books. The engraved frontispiece, showing a women nursing a babe in arms alongside a young child and dolls, differs from that in the first edition which was originally attributed to the Taylors’ brother, Isaac Taylor. Publisher’s advertisements on two pages at end of text. LHD (COPAC) reveals no holdings of this edition.