John Newbery (baptized 9 July 1713 – 22 December 1767) was an English publisher of books who first made children's literature a sustainable and profitable part of the literary market. He also supported and published the works of Christopher Smart, Oliver Goldsmith and Samuel Johnson. In honour of his achievements in children's publishing, the Newbery Medal was named after him.[1]
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Newbery was born in 1713 to a farmer in Waltham St Lawrence, Berkshire. He was apprenticed to a local printer at the age of sixteen. In 1737 his master, William Carnan, died and left the business to him and Charles Carnan, William's brother. Two years later, he married William Carnan's widow, Mary.[2] He was known to have created the first children's books.
By 1740 he had started publishing books in Reading, Berkshire; his first two publications were an edition of Richard Allestree's The Whole Duty of Man and Miscellaneous Works Serious and Humerous [sic] In Verse and Prose. In 1743, Newbery left Reading, putting his stepson John Carnan in charge of his business there, and established a shop in London, first at the Bible and Crown near Devereux Court and then at the Bible and Sun at 65 St. Paul's Churchyard. The first book he published there was A Little Pretty Pocket-Book in 1744.[3] This book has sometimes been called the "first children's book"; while other children's books by Thomas Boreman and Thomas and Mary Cooper had been published previously, A Little Pretty Pocket-Book is the first in Newbery's successful line of children's books. It already contains all of the hallmarks of a Newbery book. In developing his particular brand of children's literature, Newbery borrowed techniques from other publishers, such as binding his books in Dutch floral paper and advertising his other products and books within the stories he wrote or commissioned.[4] Newbery's firm published children's stories, ABC books, children's novels and children's magazines; his children's books constituted about one-fifth of the five hundred books he published.[2]
Newbery, it seems, both hired authors to write his books and wrote himself. Scholars have speculated that Oliver Goldsmith[citation needed] or Giles and Griffith Jones[5] wrote one of Newbery's best-selling stories, The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes. This was Newbery's most popular book, going through 29 editions between 1765 and 1800.[5]
Newbery published a compilation of English rhymes, Mother Goose's Melody, or, Sonnets for the Cradle (London, undated, c.1765)[6], which switched the focus from fairy tales to nursery rhymes.
Newbery also published a series of books written by "Tom Telescope" that were wildly popular, going through seven editions between 1761 and 1787 alone.[5] These were based on the emerging science of the day and consisted of a series of lectures given by a boy, Tom Telescope. The most famous is entitled The Newtonian System of Philosophy Adapted to the Capacities of Young Gentlemen and Ladies.
Newbery accrued most of his fortune from his patent and sales of Dr. James's Fever Powder, a medicine which claimed to cure the gout, rheumatism, scrofula, scurvy, leprosy, and distemper in cattle.[2] This product became successful due in part to Newbery's advertisements for it in his literature. In Goody Two-Shoes, the heroine's father dies because he was "seized with a violent fever in a place where Dr. James Fever Powder was not to be had."[7]
Locke had written that "children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters; be taught to read, without perceiving it to be anything but a sport, and play themselves into that which others are whipped for." He also suggested that picture books be created for children. Locke also argued that children should be considered "reasoning beings." Newbery acted upon these suggestions. He also made his books relative cheap, charging only sixpence for A Little Pretty Pocket-Book, eightpence with a ball or pincushion.[3] The book was a hodge-podge of information and games, including riddles and advice on a proper diet, but its primary message was "learn your lessons ... and one day you will ride in a coach and six."[5] "In Newbery's universe work is always rewarded and altruism pays dividends as reliably as Isaac Newton's laws of motion."[5]
Newbery's tales seem painfully didactic today, but were popular and enjoyed by children of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Most of his stories concern a virtuous orphan who works hard (or is "industrious"), and therefore eventually becomes prosperous. They draw the world as a meritocracy where a child rises or falls on his or her character. Furthermore, many of the stories tell the life of the orphan from childhood to adulthood to illustrate rewards and punishments associated with "good" and "bad" behaviour.
His son Francis, his nephew Francis and Francis's wife Elizabeth and his grandson Francis Power continued the business after his death.
In 1922, the Newbery Medal was created in his honour; it is awarded each year to the best children's book published in the United States.
According to the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL 2.120), Newbery "wrote, wholly or partly" and "edited or materially influenced" the following works:
  | Pirated US edition of ''A Little Pretty Pocket-Book'' - From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division |
| | One version of ''Giles Gingerbread'' with an introductory essay at the Hockliffe Collection - hockliffe 66484 default.anv |
| | A.H. Bullen's 1904 facsimile of Newbery's 1791 edition of ''Mother Goose's Melody'' - Internet Archive: Free Download: Mother Goose's melody |
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