Laura Valentine
Laura Belinda Charlotte Jewry (married name Laura Valentine, pen names Mrs. S. Valentine and Aunt Louisa; 1814–1899), was an Victorian English writer primarily known for her children literature.[1] Her work was often produced in children series including Aunt Louisa's Toy Books, Aunt Louisa’s Big Picture Series, and The Young Folk's Shakespeare Series.[2][3]
Biography
Laura Belinda Charlotte Jewry was born at the Victory in England. Her father, Admiral Jewry, served in the English navy. At an early age, she connected with the Lord Elphinstone family. She spent her maiden life in India till she married Reverend Richard Valentine, a clergyman of the Church of England. Within 12 months of their marriage, she was widowed.
Her literature often was educational, told of travel, or described the London scene.[4][5] As an adult novelist, Laura Valentine specialized in florid historical romance. Her main novels were Kirkholme Priory (1847), The Vassal (1850), and the Cup and the Lip (1851).[4] Valentine expressed an expertise in Shakespeare, editing "The Works of William Shakespeare” and creating a number of children's versions of Shakespeare plays including The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest.[2][2] Professionally, Valentine was one of the chief editors of Frederick Warne & Co and the sole editor of Girl's Home Book and The Chandos Classics. Most of Valentine's work was published through Frederick Warne & Co and T. C. Newby.[4] She also published a series of racist books for children.
Valentine died at the age of 84 still an active writer. She was survived only by her sister Mary Jewry for five or six years.[6]
Bibliography
- Beatrice; or, Six Years of Childhood and Youth (William Tegg), 1859
- Nelly, the Gypsy Girl (Routledge, Warne & Routledge), 1860
- The Girl's Own Book; by Mrs. Child; a new edition revised by Mrs. R. Valentine (Miss Laura Jewry) 468 pp. (William Tegg), 1863
- The Knights Ransom (Frederick Warne and Co.), 1870
- Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: Lily Sweet-Briar's Birthday (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1870
- Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: Sea-Side (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1870[7]
- Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: The Birthday Party (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1870[8]
- Aunt Louisa's Nursery Favourite, (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1870
- Aunt Louisa's big picture series: Home games for little girls (McLoughlin Brothers), 1870[9]
- Aunt Louisa's big picture series: Santa Claus and his works (McLoughlin Brothers), 1872[10]
- Uncle Ned's toy books: Play time stories (McLoughlin Bro's), 187?[11]
- Daring and Doing, A Book for Boys (Frederick Warne and Co.), 1874
- Aunt Louisa's Fairy Legends (McLaughlin Brothers), 1875
- Aunt Louisa's London Gift Book (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1875
- Aunt Louisa's Welcome Gift (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1875
- Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: The Zoological gardens hyænas, stag, jaguar, fox, otter, camel (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1875[12]
- Rhymes for the Little Ones (Frederick Warne & Co.), ca. 1880
- Home and Country Pets (Frederick Warne), ca. 1880s
- World-Wide Fables (McLoughlin Brothers), 1880
- Aunt Louisa's Keepsake (Frederick Warne and Co./Scribner, Welford and Co.), ca. 1880
- Aunt Louisa's comicalities (Frederick Warne & Co.), ca. 1880[13]
- Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: Hop O'my Thumb (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1880[14]
- Aunt Louisa's Stories of Old (Frederick Warne and Co.), ca. 1890
- Aunt Louisa's First Book for Children (Frederick Warne & Co.), 1902 (Illustrated by Louis Wain and others)
- Eastern Tales by Many Story Tellers (Frederick Warne and Co.), 1902
- Aunt Louisa's Book of Common Things (F. Warne & Co. Ltd), 1920
- Aunt Louisa's Alphabet book (Frederick Warne and Co.)
- Aunt Louisa's Bible Picture Book
- Aunt Louisa's Golden Gift (Frederick Warne and Co.), 1878
- Aunt Louisa's Oft Told Tales
- Aunt Louisa's Old Nursery Friends
- Aunt Louisa's Sparkling Gems
- Aunt Louisa's Wee, Wee Stories
- Aunt Louisa's Welcome Guest comprising: My favourites, Rover's dinner party, Our boys and girls (Frederick Warne and Co.), 1886?[15]
- Aunt Louisa's Welcome Visitor comprising New Year's Eve; The kingdom of the greedy; Frisky the Squirrel; Dick Whittington (Frederick Warne and Co.), 187?[16]
- Aunt Louisa's London toy books: Hector the Dog (Frederick Warne & Co.) ca. 1870[17]
- Joe and Ned
- Little Peace
- Robinson Crusoe
- Toto
References
- "Aunt Louisa's Books", retrieved 16 April 2011.
- Valentine, Laura (Jewry) (1882). The merchant of Venice... New York. hdl:2027/loc.ark:/13960/t6446kb6r.
- "Home games for little girls". ufdc.ufl.edu. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- Sutherland, John (13 October 2014). The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction. Routledge. ISBN 9781317863335.
- Norcia, Megan A. (1 March 2012). "'Come Buy, Come Buy': Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market' and the Cries of London". Journal of Victorian Culture. 17 (1): 24–45. doi:10.1080/13555502.2011.630268. ISSN 1355-5502.
- H., Peet, Wm. (2 October 1915). "Laura Jewry, afterwards Mrs. R. Valentine". Notes and Queries. s11-XII (301). doi:10.1093/nq/s11-XII.301.266 (inactive 26 March 2020). ISSN 0029-3970.
- "Sea side".
- "Aunt Louisa's welcome visitor".
- "Home games for little girls".
- "Santa Claus and his works".
- "Playtime stories".
- "The Zoological gardens".
- "Humorous pictures".
- "Hop O'my Thumb".
- "Aunt Louisa's welcome guest".
- "Aunt Louisa's welcome visitor".
- "Hector the dog".
External links
- Works by Laura Valentine at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Laura Valentine at Internet Archive
- Works by Laura Valentine at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)