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This series focuses on educational theory and practice, particularly in the context of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe and its colonies and America. During this period, the questions of who should be educated, to what age, to what standard and using what curriculum, were widely debated. The reform of schools and universities, the drive towards improving women's education, and the movement for free (or at least low-cost) schools for the poor were all major concerns both for governments and for society at large. The books selected for reissue in this series discuss key issues of their time, including the 'appropriate' levels of instruction for the children of the working classes, the emergence of adult education movements and proposals for the higher education of women. They also cover topics that still resonate today, such as the nature of education, the role of universities in the diffusion of knowledge and the involvement of religious groups in establishing and running schools.

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45 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Education

Page 1 of 3

An Introduction to Botany
  • In a Series of Familiar Letters, with Illustrative Engravings
  • Priscilla Wakefield
  • Published online:
    05 June 2016
    Print publication:
    11 December 2015
    First published in:
    1796
  • Coming from a prosperous London Quaker family, the author Priscilla Wakefield (1751–1832) wrote educational books for children, and one work for adults, Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female Sex (1798), also reissued in this series. This 1796 book on botany, a science which 'contributes to health of body and cheerfulness of disposition' but is difficult to study because of its Latin nomenclature and the cost of textbooks, offers a simple introduction for children through the medium of letters between sisters, as 'Felicia' shares with 'Constance' her growing understanding of plant science. Felicia's governess is a follower of Linnaeus, whose classificatory system is described as 'the one universally adopted', and by the twenty-eighth and final letter, Felicia is describing the class Cryptogamia. This illustrated account in simple language gives an insight into the level of education thought appropriate for young girls at the end of the eighteenth century.

The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold
  • Late Head Master of Rugby School, and Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford
  • Volume 1
  • Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
  • Published online:
    05 December 2015
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • Head of Rugby School for over a decade, Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) became Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford in the final year of his life. Known for his controversial ideas on schooling and religion, he was a prominent and influential figure in the history of British education. First published in 1844, this two-volume work presents a diverse collection of Arnold's correspondence, compiled by his friend and former pupil Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–81), Dean of Westminster. Interspersed with biographical commentary by Stanley, the letters in Volume 1 illuminate Arnold's early life and work, and his career at Rugby up to 1835. In them he discusses his ideas for reform in both teaching and religion, revealing his unfailing dedication to both. Offering insights into the role of school and church in the early nineteenth century, Arnold's writings continue to interest scholars of both religion and education.

The Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold
  • Late Head Master of Rugby School, and Regius Professor of Modern History in the University of Oxford
  • Volume 2
  • Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
  • Published online:
    05 December 2015
    Print publication:
    15 November 2012
    First published in:
    1844
  • Head of Rugby School for over a decade, Thomas Arnold (1795–1842) became Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford in the final year of his life. Known for his controversial ideas on schooling and religion, he was a prominent and influential figure in the history of British education. First published in 1844, this two-volume work presents a diverse collection of Arnold's correspondence, compiled by his friend and former pupil Arthur Penrhyn Stanley (1815–81), Dean of Westminster. Interspersed with biographical commentary by Stanley, the letters in Volume 2 illustrate Arnold's theological position through his correspondence with various church figures. Other letters further reveal his views on education, politics and public affairs, and document his year at Oxford. Included at the end of the volume is a supplement from 1847 which provides additional material that was unavailable at the time of the first edition.

The Woman Question in Europe
  • A Series of Original Essays
  • Edited by Theodore Stanton
  • Introduction by Frances Power Cobbe
  • Published online:
    05 November 2015
    Print publication:
    30 April 2015
    First published in:
    1884
  • The American journalist Theodore Stanton (1851–1925), son of the leading feminist and suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, published this remarkable collection of essays in 1884. His intention had been to get from each European country 'the collaboration of one or more women, who … had participated, either actively or in spirit, in some phase of the women's movement'. In seventeen chapters, all but two written by women, the progress of 'the woman question' - the debate on the rights of women to financial independence, higher education and the franchise - across Europe (and in the Ottoman empire) is described, largely for an American and British readership. The work, introduced by the veteran feminist Frances Power Cobbe, has among the contributors (each given a short biography) many famous names in the struggle for women's rights at the end of the nineteenth century, including (from Britain) Millicent Garrett Fawcett, Jessie Boucherett and Maria Grey.

A Child's History of England
  • Volume 3
  • Charles Dickens
  • Published online:
    05 September 2015
    Print publication:
    19 March 2015
    First published in:
    1854
  • This three-volume history of England from before the Roman conquest through to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words between 1851 and 1853. The text was published in book form in the same period, although each volume was post-dated to the following year. Dickens dedicated the work to his own children, intending it to be a stepping stone to more substantial histories. The volumes were popular with readers for decades, and were used in British schools well into the twentieth century. Dickens employs his signature style to bring events and personalities to life, making use of vivid similes, unabashedly partisan language and direct speech, as well as the occasional moral lesson. Volume 3 covers the period from Henry VII through to the fall of James II, with a short chapter on events between 1688 and the accession of Queen Victoria.

Little Arthur's History of England
  • Maria Callcott
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    11 December 2014
    First published in:
    1835
  • This children's history of England by Maria Callcott (1785–1842) was written as though she were telling a series of stories to a young boy known as 'Little Arthur'. Having travelled widely during her first marriage, publishing accounts under the name Maria Graham, she had become an invalid by 1831 owing to a burst blood vessel. Nevertheless, she continued her literary activity and became best known for this highly popular work. The first edition, published by John Murray in two volumes in 1835, is reissued here in a single volume. In the course of the century after its appearance, the book went through seventy editions and sold some 80,000 copies. Its success stemmed partly from its romantic and patriotic depiction of the protagonists of English history. Also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection are Callcott's travel journals describing her time in India, Brazil and Chile.

A Child's History of England
  • Volume 2
  • Charles Dickens
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    19 March 2015
    First published in:
    1853
  • This three-volume history of England from before the Roman conquest through to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words between 1851 and 1853. The text was published in book form in the same period, although each volume was post-dated to the following year. Dickens dedicated the work to his own children, intending it to be a stepping stone to more substantial histories. The volumes were popular with readers for decades, and were used in British schools well into the twentieth century. Dickens employs his signature style to bring events and personalities to life, making use of vivid similes, unabashedly partisan language and direct speech, as well as the occasional moral lesson. Volume 2 covers the period from the reign of Henry III through to the death in 1485 of the 'usurper and murderer' Richard III.

Practical Hints to Young Females
  • On the Duties of a Wife, a Mother, and a Mistress of a Family
  • Ann Taylor
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1815
  • Displaying her intellectual and literary abilities from a young age, 'Mrs Taylor of Ongar' (1757–1830) enjoyed writing all her life. She had eleven children, of whom six (four of them writers) survived to adulthood. Her published works began with advice books for her own daughters, produced when increasing deafness made ordinary conversation difficult for her. Given the difficulty of providing advice equally appropriate to girls at all levels of society, this 1815 work is addressed to 'females in the middle ranks'. It is assumed that a girl's aspiration, as well as her destiny, is to be a wife and mother: conduct towards the husband, and the rearing of children, are of prime importance. But there is also a chapter for the husband, pointing out his reciprocal duties to his wife as an equal partner in their relationship. The book offers fascinating insights into the middle-class ideal of domestic happiness.

A Child's History of England
  • Volume 1
  • Charles Dickens
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    19 March 2015
    First published in:
    1852
  • This three-volume history of England from before the Roman conquest through to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 was originally serialised in Charles Dickens' magazine Household Words between 1851 and 1853. The text was published in book form in the same period, although each volume was post-dated to the following year. Dickens dedicated the work to his own children, intending it to be a stepping stone to more substantial histories. The volumes were popular with readers for decades, and were used in British schools well into the twentieth century. Dickens employs his signature style to bring events and personalities to life, making use of vivid similes, unabashedly partisan language and direct speech, as well as the occasional moral lesson. Volume 1 covers the period from the campaigns of Julius Caesar up to the close of the reign of the 'miserable brute' King John.

Reciprocal Duties of Parents and Children
  • Ann Taylor
  • Published online:
    05 June 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1818
  • Displaying her intellectual and literary abilities from a young age, 'Mrs Taylor of Ongar' (1757–1830) enjoyed writing all her life. She had eleven children, of whom six (four of them writers) survived to adulthood. Her published works began with advice books for her own daughters, produced when increasing deafness made ordinary conversation difficult for her. This book, published in 1818, follows her earlier works for young women with a guide to conduct and 'reciprocal duties' within the family. Stern warnings and cautionary tales are given to show the importance of duty to and respect for parents by children, but the parental duties of care in rearing and especially in education are emphasised. Early discipline, lovingly applied, is seen as the key to successful parenting, and its absence is deemed disastrous. Like Ann Taylor's Practical Hints to Young Females (also reissued in this series), the book offers fascinating insights into the middle-class ideal of domestic happiness.

Conversations on Arithmetic
  • Sarah Ricardo Porter
  • Published online:
    05 March 2015
    Print publication:
    01 January 2015
    First published in:
    1835
  • In this 1835 work, Sarah Porter, née Ricardo (1790–1862) shows her enthusiasm for arithmetic, and her concern for teaching it in a way that will develop the pupil's mind: 'There is no branch of early education so admirably adapted to call forth and strengthen the reasoning powers.' She uses the device of a conversation between pupil and teacher, popularised by Jane Marcet (several of whose works are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), to guide young Edmund from the written symbols for numbers through addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions and decimals, proportion, and square and cube roots. Answers to the questions are provided at the end of the book. A member of the Central Society of Education, which promoted imaginative theories of education instead of rote learning, Mrs Porter reworked her book in 1852 as Rational Arithmetic, a more conventional and less entertaining textbook for use in schools.

The Educator
  • Prize Essays on the Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society
  • John Lalor, John Abraham Heraud, Edward Higginson, J. Simpson, Sarah Porter
  • Published online:
    05 February 2015
    Print publication:
    06 November 2014
    First published in:
    1839
  • This work on the theory of education was first published in 1839. The five writers had been chosen as the winners in a competition for an essay on the 'Expediency and Means of Elevating the Profession of the Educator in Society', organised by the Central Society of Education, founded in 1837 to promote state funding of education, at a time when the 'monitor' system, whereby older children taught younger ones, was seen as an effective (and money-saving) method. The journalist John Lalor (1814–56) won first prize with a wide-ranging consideration of all the aspects of education, comparing the status of teachers through history and across several countries, and championing their 'sacred mission'. The runners-up were the writer John A. Heraud, the Unitarian minister Edward Higginson, the lawyer and author James Simpson, and Mrs Sarah Porter, prolific writer on education and sister of the political economist David Ricardo.

Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education
  • Volume 1
  • Elizabeth Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 January 2015
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton (1756?–1816) received her education at a day school from the age of eight, and later recalled her childhood and schooldays fondly. However, intellectual girls in the period were regarded with some suspicion, and she remembered hiding from visitors those books that might be deemed inappropriate for a young woman. Later embarking on a literary career, she published in 1801 her Letters on Education, republished in this second edition of 1801–2. Owing much to the theories of John Locke as well as the period's standard conduct-book advice on the education of girls, Hamilton's work offers detailed theoretical explorations of how children learn. 'Be not afraid my good friend,' she writes, 'that I intend making speculative philosophers of your daughters.' Volume 1 includes comments on the 'pernicious effects of parental partiality', considering also 'contempt for the female character' and 'pride of station'.

The English Spelling-Book
  • William Fordyce Mavor
  • Published online:
    05 December 2014
    Print publication:
    12 December 2013
  • Variously a teacher, clergyman and town mayor, William Fordyce Mavor (1758–1837) wrote prolifically on a range of literary, historical and educational topics. This work, first published in 1801 and reissued here in a corrected and improved edition of 1843, is Mavor's most famous. Intended to 'sow the seeds of useful learning', it is both a reading primer and a compendium of general knowledge. Beginning with the alphabet, with each letter illustrated by the delightful wood engravings of Thomas Bewick, the book presents vocabulary of increasing complexity together with simple and amusing stories for reading practice, as well as guidance on spelling and grammar. General knowledge is addressed through sections on such topics as weights and measures, geography, key dates in history, and the solar system. So successful was the work that it ran to 500 editions, had sold more than 2 million copies by 1823, and was translated into Hindi and French.

Exercises in Idiomatic Italian
  • Through Literal Translation from the English
  • Maria Francesca Rossetti
  • Published online:
    05 November 2014
    Print publication:
    17 April 2014
    First published in:
    1867
  • This innovative aid to the study of Italian was published in 1867 by Maria Francesca Rossetti (1827–76), the older sister of Dante Gabriel, William Michael and Christina. A scholar and teacher of Italian, she was later to publish A Shadow of Dante, a guide to the Divine Comedy, also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection. Her purpose here, as she explains in her preface, is to demonstrate idiomatic Italian usage by providing short passages translated very literally into English, so that the 'unnatural' English phraseology demonstrates the correct Italian construction. The passages are to be translated back into Italian, with the help of some supplied vocabulary and an opening chapter which elucidates some of the more difficult aspects of Italian grammar, often by comparing Italian with French usage. The technique had long been used for Latin and Greek prose composition, but was innovatory for modern languages.

Schools for Girls and Colleges for Women
  • A Handbook of Female Education Chiefly Designed for the Use of Persons of the Upper Middle Class
  • Charles Eyre Pascoe
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
  • The author of handbooks that reflected the Victorian emphasis on bettering one's prospects, Charles Eyre Pascoe (1842–1912) addressed the topic of female education in this work of 1879, at a time when the Cambridge colleges of Girton and Newnham were in their infancy. 'Chiefly designed for the use of persons of the upper middle class', the guide aims to assist parents in making informed choices about their daughters' education. The coverage extends from kindergarten through to university, before focusing on career options for women in the late nineteenth century, in fields such as teaching, the arts and medicine. Throughout, Pascoe's recommendations are based on consideration of the breadth of the curriculum, the qualifications of the teaching staff and the results achieved in examinations. For higher education, details of entrance examinations are provided, together with information on the subjects and lectures that were open to women at that time.

Letters on the Elementary Principles of Education
  • Volume 2
  • Elizabeth Hamilton
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014
  • The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton (1756?–1816) received her education at a day school from the age of eight, and later recalled her childhood and schooldays fondly. However, intellectual girls in the period were regarded with some suspicion, and she remembered hiding from visitors those books that might be deemed inappropriate for a young woman. Later embarking on a literary career, she published in 1801 her Letters on Education, republished in this second edition of 1801–2. Owing much to the theories of John Locke as well as the period's standard conduct-book advice on the education of girls, Hamilton's work offers detailed theoretical explorations of how children learn. 'Be not afraid my good friend,' she writes, 'that I intend making speculative philosophers of your daughters.' Volume 2 begins with a comment on the necessity of obtaining knowledge of our intellectual faculties, and how this knowledge is to be acquired.

Letters on the Improvement of the Mind
  • Addressed to a Young Lady
  • Hester Chapone
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    21 November 2013
  • Originally published in 1773 in two volumes, and now reissued here together in one, this work by the writer Hester Chapone (1727–1801), a renowned proponent of female education, contains advice delivered in the form of letters to her niece. The first volume deals primarily with matters of religion and morality, while the second volume addresses questions of behaviour and schooling. Unusually for self-improvement books of this era, Chapone recommends that a young woman should have a rigorous education in a wide variety of subjects, including ancient history and geography, as well as instruction in ladylike deportment and mastery of household matters. She exhorts young ladies to avoid vanity and other vices through devoted study of scripture, and writes of the importance of choosing worthy and sensible friends who can be trusted to offer good advice. Chapone's posthumously published works, in two volumes, are also reissued in this series.

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters
  • With Reflections on Female Conduct, in the More Important Duties of Life
  • Mary Wollstonecraft
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    20 March 2014
  • Paving the way for modern feminist thinking, Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) dared to challenge traditional eighteenth-century attitudes towards women. First published in 1787, this book discusses how girls can best be educated to become valuable wives and mothers. It argues that women can offer the most effective contribution to society if they are brought up to display sound morals, character and intellect, rather than superficial social graces. Wollstonecraft later developed her ideas in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (also reissued in this series), in which she attacked the educational restrictions imposed upon women. Her writings formed a cornerstone of the battle for women's rights in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prompting deeper reflection upon the role and status of women in modern society, the present work remains an instructive and provocative read for those seeking to learn about the roots of feminism in its social and historical context.

Miscellaneous Observations Relating to Education
  • More Especially as it Respects the Conduct of the Mind
  • Joseph Priestley
  • Published online:
    05 October 2014
    Print publication:
    31 October 2013
    First published in:
    1778
  • The English polymath Joseph Priestley (1733–1804) wrote on a wide range of scientific, theological and pedagogical subjects. After the appearance of his influential Rudiments of English Grammar (1761) and A Course of Lectures on the Theory of Language and Universal Grammar (1762), both of which are reissued in this series, Priestley produced in 1765 his Essay on a Course of Liberal Education, which is included and expanded on in this 1778 publication. Here he explains the reasons behind his decision to guide the curriculum at Warrington Academy towards a greater focus on subjects with a more direct application to 'civil and active life'. He offers more general instruction on the cultivation of young men in various spheres, notably through foreign travel and developing 'knowledge of the world'. Priestley ends by outlining a suggested course of lectures on the history and laws of England.

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