The History of Sandford and Merton

<p>Among the earliest novels written about children, for children, <em>The History of Sandford and Merton</em> was enormously popular for a century and a half after its first publication in 1783–9. The novel is Enlightenment for beginners, offering a course of education in class, race, and gender to its six year-old protagonists, the robust farm-boy Harry Sandford and Tommy Merton, the spoiled boy from the big house. <em>Sandford and Merton</em> offers entertaining and practical lessons in manners, masculinity, and class politics.</p><p>This Broadview Edition includes the original illustrations, along with contemporary reviews and other material on childhood by John Locke, Thomas Day, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and others.</p>