John Harris (publisher)

Mother Hubbard sold well and began a run of similar books such as Whimsical Incidents in 1805 followed a year later by an edition of John Gilpin with colour illustrations.

In 1807 he added a series he called Harris' Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction with stories that were meant to entertain children, unlike works written by authors such as Mrs.

His book of tongue twisters, published in 1820, was denigrated as "degrading trash" and the colourful illustrations he included in his publications were called by one reviewer "gaudy glare".

Containing stories from Charles Perrault, Madame d'Aulnoy and The Arabian Nights, it was published the same year Taylor translated the Brothers Grimm's compilation of tales, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (illustrated by George Cruikshank).

[2] The firm published instructional book as well, although titles such as Pug's Tour Through Europe; or, The Travell'd Monkey "written by Himself" (1824), with verse on the lower part of page and hand-coloured illustrations, though educational, was equally a satiric vision of "the typical gentleman's 'grand tour' of the Continent, a narrative that packages … British imperialism and cultural superiority together with satirical observations…" [3] In the 1820s the firm turned to hand-coloured woodcuts which achieved a more colourful look than the previously produced monochromatic copperplate illustrations.