A Little Pretty Pocket-Book

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A Little Pretty Pocket-Book (1787) ⭐⭐

I read the PDF version of A Little Pretty Pocket-Book. This is a fascinating look at childhood development in the 1700s. No early children’s book is complete without the alphabet written multiple times in big and small letters with odd little rhymes to go with it. The book contains game themed rhymes with morals, and the version I read had rules for conduct in school, at home, at church, at the table, and in public. I don’t know how they kept all of them straight; some of them are so specific! Here are some that stood out to me:

Under the section Behaviour when Abroad (note this means behavior in public, not another country, as we use the term today)

Always give the Right Hand to your Superiours, when either you meet or walk with them; and mind also to give them the Wall, in meeting or walking with them; for that is the Upper Hand, though in walking your Superiour should then be at your Left Hand. But when three Persons walk together, the middle Place is the most honourable: And a Son may walk at his Father’s Right Hand, when his younger Brother walks at his Left. Yikes!

And how about this weird rule about school behavior:

Divulge not to any Person whatsoever, elsewhere, any Thing that hath passed in the School either spoken or done. Why not? That is very, very, weird, and might I say creepy.

Here’s another, even more specific rule about walking with your superiors:

Walking with thy Superiour in the House or Garden, give him the right, or Upper Hand, and Walk not even with him, Cheek by Jole; but a little behind him, yet not so distant as that it shall be troublesome to him to speak to thee, or hard for thee to hear.

Spit not in the Room, but in the Corner, and rub it with thy Foot, or rather go out and do it abroad. How about not spitting at all? I’ve never had any occasion to spit, whether it be in public or in my living room.

How about this curious one while at the table:

Lift not up thine Eyes, nor roll them about while thou art drinking. This happened so much that they felt the need to write a rule about that?

Those are just a few of the one hundred sixty three rules of children’s behavior that are listed, and those are not including the extra twenty rules that are right above this section.

I did actually love the proverbs section, which starts on page 90 if you’d like to refer to it. (1) Those are always pretty interesting. There are some classics such as ‘If a man deceive me once, ’tis his fault; if if twice, it is my own’, ‘Birds of a feather will flock together’, and one I hadn’t heard, which makes a lot of sense ‘Hunger is the best sauce.’

This is considered the first children’s book. You’ve come a long way, baby!

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