The Water-Babies
by Charles Kingsley
The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby was first published in 1863. We feature the 1922 edition illustrated by Warwick Goble. Verses by William Wordsworth, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge close each chapter. Kingsley's preface:
I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined;
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.
To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think,
What man has made of man.
-Wordsworth
This book is featured in our collection of Books for Young Readers.
Return to the Charles Kingsley library.