The History of Little Good Twoshoes; Otherwise Called Mrs. Margery Twoshoes.

[GOLDSMITH, Oliver].

$8,200.00

Item Number: 133024

Worcester, Massachusetts: Isaiah Thomas, 1787.

First Worcester edition of the famed fable. 16mo, original wrappers, illustrated with 8 engraved plates, terminal advertisements. In very good condition. From the library of noted collector and philanthropist Estelle Doheny with her bookplate to the folding chemise case. Housed in a custom full morocco and folding chemise case.

Previously thought to be the first American edition, the Isaiah Thomas Worcester edition was preceded by the New York (Hugh Gaine) 1775, the Boston 1783, and the Philadelphia 1786 editions-known in only a handful of copies, and most incomplete. "Much has been written as to the authorship of Little Goody Two Shoes, and it is now usually attributed to Oliver Goldsmith" (Rosenbach 118). The children's fable was first published by John Newbery in London in 1765 and popularized the phrase "goody two-shoes" as a descriptor for an excessively virtuous person or do-gooder. In his introduction to an 1881 edition of the book, Charles Welsh wrote: "Goody Two-Shoes was published in April 1765, and few nursery books have had a wider circulation, or have retained their position so long. The number of editions that have been published, both in England and America, is legion, and it has appeared in mutilated versions, under the auspices of numerous publishing houses in London and the provinces, although of late years there have been no new issues."