Charles Kingsley

In describing the underwater adventures of Tom, a chimney-sweeper''s boy who is transformed into a water-baby after he drowns, Charles Kingsley combined comic fantasy and moral fable to extraordinary effect. Tom''s encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby are both an exciting fairy tale and a crash course in evolutionary theory. They also reflect the quirky imagination of one of the great Victorian eccentrics. Tom''s adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley''s sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labour and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day.This edition reprints the original complete version of the story, and includes a lively introduction, detailed explanatory notes, and an appendix that reprints Kingsley''s first attempt to describe the mysterious creatures that live under the sea.

The Water-Babies (1863) is one of the strangest and most powerful children's books ever published. Written by an Anglican clergyman with an insatiable love of science, the story combines an uplifting moral about redemption with a crash course in evolutionary theory, and has an imaginative exuberance equalled only by Lewis Carroll. Young Tom is a chimney-sweeper's boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom's comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley's sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labour and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story's linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist's handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim's Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley's more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform. This new edition reprints the original complete text and illustrations, and includes a lively introduction and notes that reveal the full richness of this bizarre but compelling fairy tale.

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.THESE words often puzzle and pain really good people, because they seem to put the hardest duty first. It seems, at times, so much more easy to love ones neighbour than to love God. And strange as it may seem, that is partly true. St. John tells us soHe that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Therefore many good people, who really do love God, are unhappy at times because they feel that they do not love him enough. They say in their heartsI wish to do right, and I try to do it: but I am afraid I do not do it from love to God.

Publicada dos años antes que Alicia en el País de las Maravillas, Los niños del agua se ha confundido a menudo con un relato meramente infantil aunque, al igual que la novela de Lewis Carroll, supera con creces cualquier barrera de edad.Adaptada al cine por Walt Disney en 1935, narra la historia de Tom, un deshollinador de 10 años, explotado cruelmente por su amo Grimes, que cae por la chimenea de una casa de campo a donde ha sido llevado a trabajar. El accidente provoca un enorme revuelo y Tom huye hacia un estanque en el que, aparentemente, se ahoga. Pero no muere y se transforma en un niño del agua, que debera madurar con la ayuda de las hadas y las criaturas marinas hasta convertirse en un nuevo ser mas libre y responsable.Kingsley introduce en la novela todos los asuntos de la vida que le interesaban: Con una arquitectura soprendente, intenta entablar un dialogo con el lector en el que todo es posible gracias a la fantasia. Indaga en la naturaleza como reflejo de la realidad divina y aporta algunas ideas respecto a la degeneracion de las especies que tardarian mas de un cuarto de siglo en ser aceptadas.En 1889 se publico una edicion especial ilustrada por Linley Sambourne con dibujos tan fantasticos, inquietantes y sorprendentes como el texto. Todos ellos se han incluido, por primera vez en España, en este volumen.

Illustrator: Jessie Willcox Smith

After being chased from the home of an upper-class young girl called Ellie, chimney-sweep Tom falls asleep and tumbles into a river. There he is transformed into a 'water-baby' and his adventures truly begin. Beneath the surface, he enters a magical world full of strange and wonderful creatures, where he must prove his moral worth in order to earn what he truly desires. One of the most unusual children's books ever written, The Water-Babies, subtitled 'A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby', was originally intended as a satire in support of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and explores many of the issues at the forefront of biologists' minds at the time. First published as a complete novel in 1863, Charles Kingsley's classic tale also explores ideas about religion, the Victorian education system and the working conditions of children and the poor. With glorious black and white illustrations by W. Heath Robinson and an introduction by author and journalist Christina Hardyment. Designed to appeal to the book lover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Editor: Fanny Kingsley

Editor: F. Max Muller