The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley – Told to Children by Amy Steedman – Reprint, 1930s, Illustrated.

Description The Details:Good condition. Mild yellowing of pages. Age stains on front end pages. No dust jacket. Beautiful illustrations. The Story:The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby is a children’s novel by Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862–1863 as a serial for Macmillan’s Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. It was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The book was extremely popular in the United Kingdom and was a mainstay of British children’s literature for many decades. The protagonist is Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he appears to drown and is transformed into a “water-baby”, as he is told by a caddisfly – an insect that sheds its skin – and begins his moral education. (Wiki) The Author:Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men’s college, and forming labour cooperatives, which failed, but encouraged later working reforms. (Wiki) Related