Pandora Press edition, with introduction by Mary Cadogan.

One of the most influential children's books of the 18th-century, and widely considered the first English novel written explicitly for children, Sarah Fielding's 1749 The Governess; or, Little Female Academy was one of the assigned texts in the class on early children's literature that I took, during the course of getting my masters degree. I read the 2005 Broadview Press edition, edited by Candace Ward, for class. So struck was I by the book, that I ended up writing a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. To commence my research for that paper, I read the 1968 Oxford University Press edition, with its marvelous introduction by Jill E. Grey. I have reviewed both of those editions separately. This review is for the Pandora Press edition of 1987, with introduction by Mary Cadogan.

I undertook this third reread at the end of my research for the aforementioned paper, in order to see what new insights I might gain, in light of having read numerous other subsequent works in the field. It reinforced my idea that concern with girls' reading habits was a theme throughout all of the books, and that they all exhibited the tension between controlling and liberatory forces that was the subject of my paper. I chose this particular edition because I wanted to read the introduction by Cadogan, who is known for her work on 19th and 20th-century girls' school stories, and is the author of such books as You're a Brick, Angela!: The Girls' Story 1839-1985. I found her insights helpful, and appreciated her understanding of the book's pioneering role, despite its 'demure' title and "occasionally over-sedate text." Given the scorn heaped on the girls' school story until very recently by both the general public and by children's literature scholars, it's interesting to note that the first novel written for children belonged to this genre, and that the first boys' school story, according to Cadogan, did not surface until some sixty years later, in the form of Harriet Martineau's The Crofton Boys. Having not researched the boys' school story as carefully as the girls', I could not say with certainty that this title is indeed the first boys' school story, but Cadogan's point about the greater antiquity and influence of the girls' school story nevertheless stands.

I appreciated Cadogan's argument here that the girls' school story in general is one of the few areas of English literature, of any kind, to celebrate female friendship, and that Fielding began the trend with her book. It was written at a time when books for girls were rare, and features a role model, in the form of Mrs. Teachum, who is a symbol of female self-sufficiency. As Cadogan notes, Fielding influenced many subsequent authors, including Mrs. Trimmer, Mrs. Sherwood, Maria Edgworth, the Lamb siblings, and Charlotte M. Yonge. Although I don't know that the introduction here was an informative, or as helpful to my own research, as the one by Jill E. Grey, it was still quite fascinating, particularly as someone who is interested in later examples of the school story genre, in addition to late 18th and early 19th-century ones. I don't know that I'd particularly recommend this edition over the others, but I am certainly glad to have read it. ( )

Oxford University Press edition, edited by Jill E. Grey.

Widely considered the first children's novel to be published in the Anglophone world, Sarah Fielding's The Governess was a groundbreaking book in many respects, focusing on what was then a new development: i.e., a school for girls. Published in 1749, it was an assigned text in a course I took while getting my masters in children's literature, and it made such an impression upon me that I decided to write a paper on its influence on girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825. The first edition of the book that I read, for class, was the one produced by Broadview Press in 2005, edited by Candace Ward. When I went to reread the book, preparatory to beginning my research, I reread it using this edition, published by Oxford University Press in 1968, and edited by Jill E. Grey. I chose this alternative and older edition specifically for Grey's introduction. For a further analysis of the story itself, see my review of the Ward edition. This review will focus on Grey's introduction, a significant eighty-two pages.

The introduction is divided into seven sections, beginning with one examining Fielding's life, from her early days (she was born in 1710) through the publication of The Governess in 1749. It is fascinating to note that Fielding was sent to a girls' boarding school, and at one point studied Classical Greek - both very unusual for girls of her day - which no doubt influenced her subsequent work. It is believed that she began writing The Governess in part for her niece Harriet, the motherless daughter of her brother, famed novelist and playwright Henry Fielding. The second section here looks at Fielding's life from 1749 through her death in 1768, and the third at the influences upon The Governess. Chief among these was her brother; the novelist Samuel Richardson, a personal friend of Fielding's (and a rival of said brother); and the wealth of stories found in classical epics, medieval romances, and eastern tales. In her work, Fielding adapted the educational ideas of John Locke for use with girl pupils, and also adopted some of the methodology recommended by François Fénelon in his Instructions for the Education of a Daughter, first published in Paris in 1687, and translated into English in 1707. Subsequent sections are devoted to Sarah Fielding's views on education, the history of the publication of The Governess, and the influence of the novel on subsequent children's book creators. Here we find authors and titles such as Mme. le Prince de Beaumont (The Young Misses' Magazine and The Young Ladies' Magazine), the pioneering publisher John Newbery (The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes), Richard Johnson (The Little Female Orators), among many others. The seventh and final section of the introduction is devoted to the significance of The Governess, and goes into detail in its analysis of the many groundbreaking and influential aspects of the work, when it came to the development of children's literature in general.

As the foregoing should make plain, Jill E. Grey's sizable introduction here is most informative and illuminating, and well worth the trouble of seeking it out. It certainly aided me in my own research, providing a wealth of ideas for further reading, and is an excellent piece of scholarship, in its own right. I enjoyed rereading The Governess of course, but I found that this time around, armed with the additional information provided by Grey, I had a better understanding of the work, in its context. This 1968 publication from Oxford University Press is part of their "Juvenile Library" series, and so favorably impressed me that I would love to discover any other early children's literature gems included in the collection. Recommended to anyone interested in reading The Governess, and to those who have already read the work, and are seeking more information about it. ( )

Broadview Press edition, edited by Candace Ward.

First published in 1749, Sarah Fielding's The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy is not, as some other reviewers have claimed, the first children's book to be published in English (far from it!), but it is widely regarded as the first children's novel to appear in that language. Written by Sarah Fielding, the sister of 18th-century literary giant Henry Fielding, it is the story of a group of girls at a school in the north of England, run by one Mrs. Teachum. When the pupils become involved in a school brawl over who has the right to the largest apple (ah, the way of temptation!), Miss Jenny Peace, at fourteen years old the eldest girl, and Mrs. Teachum's factotum, steps in and fulfills the promise of her name. Using a dialogue with twelve-year-old Miss Sukey Jennet, Jenny brings all of the nine girls around, and they settle down to a discussion in the garden. Over the next nine days they engage in morally uplifting conversation, reading various fables and stories, and relating incidents from their own young lives which tally with the messages and themes of those readings. Jenny reports on their progress to her teacher, who is pleased by these new developments. In the end, Miss Peace is called home by her aunt, but her example remains, and continues to be used to reform and instruct newer girls...

Although long aware of The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy - I first saw it referenced in Sue Sims and Hilary Clare's The Encyclopaedia of Girls' School Stories - I didn't pick it up until it was an assigned text in one of the courses for my masters program in children's literature. Unlike some other reviewers, I was not put off by its didactic moralizing - one comes to expect this from books of the period, and many that followed it - but rather, fascinated by its depiction of what was then still a new development: a school for girls. Whatever one thinks of the actual messages about girlhood behavior the author seeks to impart - and they are certainly open to criticism - there can be no denying that, by setting her story in a "female academy," and depicting the possibility of young girls changing for the better, as a result of education - the possibility that girls could be educated at all - Sarah Fielding was doing something very progressive and ground-breaking for her day. The form that the author uses to do this - the use of inset stories, moral dialogues between the characters, even the use of aptronyms in naming them - may feel awkward and foreign to the contemporary reader, but then, these are common characteristics of 18th-century literature in general, and can make that literature something of an acquired taste, I find. From the apple-driven brawl at the beginning - a clear reference to the biblical story of Eve, often used to denigrate women in western cultures - to the departure of Jenny Peace at the end - suggesting subsequent Victorian ideas about the reforming angel - this is a book that in some ways looks both forward and backward in its themes. Perhaps it was this that led me to work on a paper about the influence of The Governess on subsequent girls' educational narratives from 1750 through 1825, a most pleasurable and enlightening project.

Highly recommended, to anyone interested in the evolution of children's literature, and particularly, the children's novel, in English. Given its pioneer status, I find it most amusing that the genre to which it belongs - the girls' school story - was until very recently dismissed as trivial by many in the field of children's literature studies. Although I ended up reading many different editions of the book, for my research, the one I started with was this, edited by Candace Ward, and published by Broadview Press (who also published the edition of another 18th-century children's classic I read, The History of Sandford and Merton), in 2005. ( )