{{Short description|1796 collection of children's stories by Maria Edgeworth}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox book <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books --> | name = The Parent's Assistant | image = EdgeworthAssistant.png | caption = Title page from the second edition | author = Maria Edgeworth | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | genre = children's literature | publisher = Joseph Johnson | release_date = 1796 | media_type = Print | pages = }} '''''The Parent's Assistant''''' is the first collection of children's stories by Maria Edgeworth, published by Joseph Johnson in 1796.
==Contents== thumb|200px|left|Illustration for the story ''Lazy Lawrence''. The first edition (Part I) had five stories: ''Lazy Lawrence'', ''Tarlton'', ''The Little Dog Trusty,'' ''The Orange Man'' and ''The False Key''. ''Barring Out'' was included in the second edition of Part I published the same year. In later editions more material was added, most notably, "The Purple Jar", and a play for children, ''Old Poz''.<ref>Carpenter, H. and M. Prichard. 1984. ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'', Oxford University Press, Oxford and New York. p 395.</ref> The 1865 American edition contained the following stories: "Lazy Lawrence", "Tarlton", "The False Key", "The Birthday Present", "Simple Susan", "The Bracelets", "The Little Merchants", "Old Poz", "The Mimic", "Mademoiselle Panache", "The Basket Woman", "The White Pigeon", "The Orphans", "Waste Not, Want Not", "Forgive and Forget", "The Barring Out, or Party Spirit", and "Eton Montem".<ref>Edgeworth, Maria. 1796, 1865. ''The Parent's Assistant, or Stories for Children'', Ashmead and Evans, Philadelphia.</ref>
==Influence== Queen Victoria was reading ''The Parent's Assistant'' in 1837, just three months before her coronation. She recalls reading "The Birthday Present" in "Miss Edgeworth's inimitable and delightful ''Parent's Assistant''" while doing her hair.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/search/displayItem.do?FormatType=fulltextimgsrc&&QueryType=articles&ResultsID=2738826585759&ItemNumber=1&ItemID=qvj01653&volumeType=ESHER |title=Queen Victoria's Journals | date=4 March 1837 |work=Lord Esher's typescripts |publisher= RA VIC/MAIN/QVJ (W) |accessdate=24 May 2013}}</ref> The collection is also mentioned in William Thackeray's novel ''Vanity Fair'' and is mentioned in Eight Cousins also. ==Notes== {{reflist|1}}
==References== * Carpenter, Humphrey and Mari Prichard. ''Oxford Companion to Children's Literature''. Oxford University Press, 1997. {{ISBN|0-19-860228-6}} * Zipes, Jack (ed) et al. ''The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature: The Traditions in English.'' W. W. Norton, 2005. {{ISBN|0-393-32776-0}} * Zipes, Jack (ed.). ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Children's Literature. Volumes 1-4''. Oxford University Press, 2006. {{ISBN|0-19-514656-5}} * Watson, Victor, ''The Cambridge Guide to Children's Books in English''. Cambridge University Press, 2001. {{ISBN|0-521-55064-5}} * Demmers, Patricia (ed). ''From Instruction to Delight: An Anthology of Children's Literature to 1850'', Oxford University Press, 2003. [http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/LiteratureEnglish/WorldLiterature/Canada/?view=usa&sf=toc&ci=9780195418897 '''Table of Contents''']. 384 pages. {{ISBN|0-19-541889-1}}. * St. John, Judith. ''The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, 1566-1910, A Catalogue'', Toronto Public Library.
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080205223833/http://www.bl.uk/collections/britirish/chilintro.html British Library: Children's Literature] * Search publishing histories: [http://copac.ac.uk/ Copac: Academic & National Library Catalogue] at the University of Manchester. * Another website: [http://catalogue.bl.uk/F/?func=file&file_name=login-bl-list British Library: Integrated Catalogue]. * Search: [http://catalog.loc.gov/ Library of Congress Online Catalog] * Search: [https://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/ National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections] * [http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~cpercy/courses/eng457-2004-CourseDescription.htm Course syllabus: Studies in Eighteenth century literature: Books for Children], at the University of Toronto.
{{Maria Edgeworth}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Parents Assistant, The}} Category:1790s short story collections Category:1796 books Category:1790s children's books Category:Children's short story collections Category:Irish short story collections Category:18th-century British children's literature