‘Such Constant Affectionate Care’: Lady Charlotte Finch, Royal Governess to the Children of George III
Cotsen Occasional Press, 2003. Available for purchase at brill.com
Nominated for the F.J. Harvey Darton Award; included in the juried “Western Books exhibition,” of the Rounce & Coffin Club, Los Angeles, 2005. Research for this project funded by the Cotsen Family Foundation.
“…an enjoyable & unusual book of cultural history. It deals with broad trends in family life (pedagogy, the education of women, & the workings of hierarchy & patronage) & illuminates them through domestic detail, through unpublished texts, letters by & about children, & through surviving toys & educational games.”
—Isobel Grundy, University of Alberta, University of Toronto Quarterly 74.1 (Winter 2004/2005)
“This is an engaging book with much to say to those interested in eighteenth-century progressive education & the material culture of childhood. It is carefully researched, & beautifully produced & illustrated, with detailed annotations & fascinating appendices. In making thorough research so easy to read, the book is following the educational methods of its subject.” —Ruth Watts, University of Birmingham, Paedagogica Historica 4 (June 2005)
“Shefrin… reveals a great deal about the web of connections between the authors, publishers, theorists, practitioners & readers who did so much to make children’s books & games respectable & profitable, & an enduring fixture of the nursery.”
—M.O. Grenby, Professor of Eighteenth- Century Studies, Newcastle University, Children’s Books History Society Newsletter 79 (2004)
“…an important contribution to the origins of dissected maps in England, & a useful supplement to the author’s earlier work on [John] Spilsbury.”
—Map Forum (Spring 2004)
A NOTE TO READERS: This book was written when the Finch cabinet of dissected maps was the property of the Cotsen Children’s Library at Princeton University. However, in 2004 the library was denied a UK export license. The puzzles are now jointly owned by the V&A Museum of Childhood & the Historic Royal Palaces & are on permanent display at Kew Palace.
The dedication at the front of the book is that of the publisher, not the author.