This innovative collection of essays re-examines conventional ideas of the history of childhood, exploring the child's increasing prominence in eighteenth-century discourse and the establishment of the category of age as a marker of social distinction alongside race, class and gender. While scholars often approach childhood within the context of a single nation, this collection takes a comparative approach, examining the child in British, German and French contexts and demonstrating the mutual influences between the Continent and Great Britain in the conceptualization of childhood. Covering a wide range of subjects, from scientific and educational discourses on the child and controversies over the child's legal status and leisure activities, to the child as artist and consumer, the essays shed light on well-known novels like Tristram Shandy and Tom Jones, as well as on less-familiar texts such as periodicals, medical writings, trial reports and schoolbooks. Articles on visual culture show how eighteenth-century discourses on childhood are reflected in representations of the child by illustrators and portraitists. The international group of contributors, including Peter Borsay, Patricia Crown, Bernadette Fort, Brigitte Glaser, Klaus Peter Jochum, Dorothy Johnson and Peter Sabor, represent the disciplines of history, literature and art and reflect the collection's commitment to interdisciplinarity. The volume's unique range of topics makes it essential reading for students and scholars concerned with the history and representation of childhood in eighteenth-century culture.

About the Author
Anja MA1/4ller, UniversitAt Siegen, Germany

Reviews
'This engagingly accessible volume brings eighteenth-century children alive in their historical contexts. Its essays on infant feeding, psychology, law, medicine, painting, fashion, schoolbooks, and leisure reading make it the place to start for learning about British, French, and German childhoods in the eighteenth century.' Ruth B. Bottigheimer, Stony Brook University, USA 'These essays make a valuable contribution to our understanding of childhood in Europe in the long eighteenth century' Hugh Cunningham, author of Children and Childhood in Western Society since 1500, 2nd edn, 2005 '... contains as much intellectual depth as it does interdisciplinary breadth... Fashioning Childhood is an interesting and illuminating volume. I both enjoyed reading it and learned much from it. MA1/4ller's essay collection, which covers Anglo-European cultural topics and literary texts from a wide range of disciplines, makes many worthwhile contributions to the study of Western conceptions of the 'the child' and the cultural phenomenom of 'childhood'.' Eighteenth-Century Fiction 'Taken together the articles collected in this volume present a wealth of fascinating material about what can be called British eighteenth-century children's culture.' Anglia 'What we have are sixteen really stimulating essays on various different aspects of children's culture in Europe in the 'long' eighteenth-century... I commend it. It provides important contexts for the study of early children's books. Three of this year's Darton Award shortlist have come from Ashgate's rapidly expanding list, and MA1/4ller's volume is another very welcome addition to their 'Studies in childhood, 1700 To the Present' series.' Children's Books History Society 'This collection of seventeen essays edited by Anja MA1/4ller is a most welcome addition to the growing scholarship on the construction and experience of childhood in the eighteenth century... MA1/4ller and her contributors are to be commended for the



Book Information
ISBN 9781138263086
Author Anja Muller
Format Paperback
Page Count 260
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g