Ministering Children: A Tale Dedicated to Childhood [with] Sequel to Ministering Children (2 volumes)

12mo, 408, (4) + 428 (10)pp. Two volumes, uniformly bound in publisher's decorative cloth with gilt spines. No date; publisher's ads dated March 1884 in both volumes, each with an engraved frontis and pictorial title page; 16 additional plates illustrate the first volume. Modern bookseller's ticket to rear pastedowns; rfep torn in two pieces and loosely inserted in the first volume; else Very Good with light soil and rubbing. Originally published in 1854 and 1867, respectively, this set was issued after Charlesworth's death in 1880 and includes a biographical account written by her brother.

A fictionalized narrative drawn from Charlesworth's experiences as the daughter of a clergyman who assister her father ministering to the poor from the age of 6. She first described her experience in the autobiographical The Female Visitor to the Poor (1846). Ministering Children first appeared in 1854, adapting her experience to target (and inspire) the juvenile market. It "sold over 170,000 copies during her lifetime and became one of the best known of the 'reward books' offered as Sunday school prizes and on similar occasions. It was translated into French, German, and Swedish, and various parts were published separately. (Oxford Guide to British Women Writers)