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John Newbery's An easy introduction to the English language (1745): audience, origin and the question of authorship
Author(s) -
Navest Karlijn,
Sairio Anni
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
transactions of the philological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.333
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-968X
pISSN - 0079-1636
DOI - 10.1111/1467-968x.12026
Subject(s) - georgian , grammar , encyclopedia , reading (process) , linguistics , history , literature , classics , art , philosophy
An Easy Introduction to the English Language (1745) is the grammar in the Circle of the Sciences series, a children's encyclopaedia published by John Newbery. The volumes in the Circle series were established reading material for boys and girls in Georgian England, and the grammar targeted a broad audience of children, young men and women and non‐native speakers. A comparison between James Greenwood's (1711) and (1737) popular works shows that the Circle grammar was largely plagiarised from Greenwood's grammars. The grammar is generally attributed to Newbery, but an advertisement in the London Gazette links the Circle series to author and playwright Eliza Haywood.