Scarce Harris publication
____ The Children in the Wood. London; J. Harris, corner of St. Paul’s Churchyard. 1818.

16mo.; publisher’s buff card wrappers with printed border, title and floral vignette in black to upper cover, lower cover with publisher’s advertisment list, sewn; pp. [15] with 12 additional fine and captioned copperplates, including frontispiece, all with original handcolouring; a very good, sound copy with original covers expertly and almost invisibly relaid sometime in its history, spine with mild surface wear, covers rubbed, but not obscure, with small marking; internally fresh throughout, with none of the expected foxing or marking and no ownership inscription; rare.

Second or, possibly, third edition, printed by E. Hemsted, Gough Square, c.f. Moon. John Harris’s Books for Youth 1801-1843, item 126, 1, for an imperfect copy.  An earlier edition of 1813, printed by H. Bryer, is listed there (126, 1) with reference made to the possibility of an earlier printing which, if it exists, is untraced.

“The Children in the Wood”, known more usually as “The Babes in the Wood”, is a traditional English broadside ballad first published in 1595, being a well-known morality tale involving greed, betrayal, innocence and divine retribution. 

The storyline follows a wealthy Norfolk couple who, on their deathbeds, entrust the well-being of their two young children to the father’s brother. The will they leave favours the children unless they die before coming of age. The wicked uncle hires two brutes to take them to the woods and slaughter them. One, however, is moved to pity and is driven to kill his accomplice. The children, now left deeper in the wood, expect to be claimed however the ruffian abandons them and leaves them to perish from hunger and exposure. Divine justice intervenes to serve its desserts to both uncle and the hired killer.

The context of the ancient story is often linked to Wayland Wood in Norfolk with local legend claiming events occurred there, with the uncle residing at Griston Hall. Ghosts of the children are said to haunt the wood

1 copy located on Library Hub (Bodleian, Oxford). Only 2 copies located on WorldCat (University of California; Royal Philosophical Society).