ott's Family Bible, contrasted the gruesome
doctrines it set forth with the story of Christian told in "Pilgrim's
Progress," a book which captivated his imagination.

As to story-books, Dr. Holmes once referred to Mrs. Barbauld and Dr.
Aikin's joint production, "Evenings at Home," with an accuracy bearing
testimony to his early love for natural science. He also paid a graceful
tribute to Lady Bountiful of "Little King Pippin" in comparing her in a
conversation "At the Breakfast Table" with the appearance of three
maiden ladies "rustling through the aisles of the old meeting-house, in
silk and satin, not gay but more than decent."

Although Dr. Holmes was not sufficiently impressed with the contents of
Miss Edgeworth's tales to mention them, at least one of her books
contained much of the sort of information he found attractive in
"Evenings at Home." "Harry and Lucy," besides pointing a moral on every
page, foreshadowed that taste for natural science which turned every
writer's thought toward printing geographical walks, botanical
observations, natural history conversations, and geological
dissertations in the guise of toy-books of amusement. A batch of books
issued in America during the first two decades of the nineteenth century
is illustrative of this new fashion. These books, belonging to the
Labor-in-Play school, may best be described in their American editions.

One hundred years ago the American publishers of toy works were devoting
their attention to the make-up rather than to the contents of their
wares. The steady progress of the industrial arts enabled a greater
number of printers to issue juvenile books, whose attractiveness was
increased by better illustrations; and also with the improved facilities
for printing and publishing, the issues of the various firms became more
individual. At the beginning of the century the cheaper books entirely
lost their charming gilt, flowery Dutch, and silver wrappers, as home
products came into use. Size and illustrations also underwent a change.

[Illustration: _A Wall-paper Book-Cover_]

In Philadelphia, Benjamin and Jacob Johnson, and later Johnson and
Warner, issued both tiny books two inches square, and somewhat larger
volumes containing illustrations as well as text. These firms used
for binding gray and blue marbled paper, gold-powdered yellow cardboard,
or salmon pink, blue, and olive-green papers, usually without
ornamentation. In eighteen hundred J. and J. Cruk