From the Dairyman's Daughter to Worrals of the WAAF: The Religious Tract Society, Lutterworth Press and Children's Literature (review)

In any study concerning children's literature, the history and role of publishing houses and corporations play a significant part. This is particularly the case concerning the publishing history of Britain during the hundred or so years that saw the so-called Golden Age of children's books; the books from this period have become the canon of classic children's literature. For that reason, this book, produced by the Lutterworth Press, with which it is in part concerned, is an extremely valuable contribution to the area of academic children's literature studies. From the Dairyman's Daughter to Worrals of the WAAF: The Religious Tract Society, Lutterworth Press and Children's Literature, edited by Dennis Butts and Pat Garrett, is a collection of essays detailing the history and influence of the Religious Tract Society (RTS), and of the associated Lutterworth Press, in connection to the development and history of children's literature. The collection is drawn from the material used in a conference celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Religious Tract Society.

Beginning with an examination of the tract genre in general—both in the United Kingdom and the United States—the book goes on to detail the specific range of children's literature titles covered by the Religious Tract Society and Lutterworth Press throughout their history of publishing, including books and magazines as well as the earlier religious tracts. Beginning with a brief history of the society ("A Short History of the Religious Tract Society," by Aileen Fyfe) and a discussion of the tract genre ("What Is a Tract?" by Ann Thwaite), the collection moves on to examine some of the earlier tract productions of the society and how the society progressed from the publication of religious tracts to increasingly secularized and varied publications for children ("The Golden Thread: Some Early Tract Writers," by Dee Carter, and "The Dairyman's Daughter: From Yesterday to Today," by Alexandra N. Leach). Vivian Lawton Fowler provides a piece on American religious tracts ("American Religious Tracts and Children's Spirituality"), while Michael Rupert Taylor begins the discussion of the children's magazines ("The Child's Companion and Our Little Dots"). Suzanne Rickard examines the contributions of Hesba Stretton to the society ("'A Gifted Author': Hesba Stretton and the Religious Tract Society"), while Morna Daniels examines that of Mrs. Walton ("The Search for Mrs. Walton and Her World"). Dennis Butts in "Quicquid Agunt Pueri Nostri Farrago Libelli" and Robert J. Kirkpatrick in "Different Schools of Thought: Other Stories for Boys" both explore the publication of works aimed at young boys, while Mary Cadogan in "The Girl's Own Paper (1880–1956) and the New Woman" and Hilary Clare and Sue Sims in "Twentieth-Century Secular Publishing for Girls" examine the publication of works aimed particularly at young girls. Finally, Adrian Brink offers a piece celebrating the bicentenary of Lutterworth as a publisher, and Brian Alderson closes the critical selection with a further more general look at the tract genre in "Postlude: The Universality of Tracts." Following the critical material is a section containing a sampling of relevant works comprising the catalog of an exhibition that accompanied the conference upon which the collection was based. Its purpose and nature is best described by quoting the introduction to the section:

the main purpose of the catalogue . . . is to describe and justify the choice of the exhibits as "indicative examples'"of the progress of RTS publishing. The general drift of the catalogue is chronological . . . the method for describing individual titles . . . is something of a compromise between a bald title-statement and a full bibliographical analysis and it aims to give readers other than those visiting the exhibition some simple facts about what was displayed.

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Although at first it may seem slightly odd to include such a catalog as part of a critical...