Selections from Harris's Cabinet: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Selections from Harris's Cabinet, credited to William Roscoe, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Selections from Harris's Cabinet by William Roscoe. Read in English by Phil Benson n the early 1800s, London publisher John Harris began producing small books for children that were designed not to instruct, but to entertain. One of these books, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast by William Roscoe, reprinted from The Gentleman's Magazine, was so successful that it was reissued in a second and much revised edition with illustrations by a young William Mulready. This was followed by sequels in a similar vein and a series called 'Harris's Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction'. By 1809, Harris's catalogue comprised more than 400 titles, some of which became classics of 19th century children's literature. Harris is now recognized as having played an important role in liberating publishing for children from the didactic and morally improving volumes of the late 18th century. The works that he published were important precursors to those later nonsense poets such as Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. This collection includes the revised edition of the Butterfly's Ball and sequels by Catherine Ann Dorset, 'W. B.', and Roscoe himself. Appended are the version of the Butterfly's Ball that appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine and an informative introductory essay to an 1883 reprint by Charles Welsh. (Phil Benson)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Selections from Harris's Cabinet
• Author credits: William Roscoe
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 7
• Listed recording duration: 1:07:58

Catalogue topics

• dog
• Lancashire
• butterfly
• grasshopper

Track guide

1. 01 - The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (2nd edition) by William Roscoe — 3:45
2. 02 - The Peacock — 10:24
3. 03 - The Lion's Masquerade by Catherine Ann Dorset — 11:18
4. 04 - The Elephant's Ball, and Grande Fete Champetre by 'W. B.' — 9:39
5. 05 - The Council of Dogs by William Roscoe — 18:42
6. 06 - The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (from The Gentleman's Magazine) — 2:48
7. 07 - Introduction to the 1883 facsimile reproduction of the Butterfly's Ball by Charles Welsh — 11:21

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.