Lydia Louisa Anna Very (November 2, 1823 – September 10, 1901) was an American writer, educator, and illustrator known for authoring the earliest shape books in America.

Biography

She was born in

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

, the daughter of two first cousins, Lydia Very and Jones Very, a captain during the War of 1812. Her brother

Jones Jones or Joneses may refer to: People and fictional characters *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname * List of people with surname Jones, including fictional characters ** Justice Jones (disambiguation) ** Judge Jones (disambiguati ...

became a Transcendentalist poet and clergyman. She became a teacher at the age of 18 and spent most of her 34-year teaching career in the local public schools. As an artist, she worked in oil and clay. In 1863 she wrote and designed ''Red Riding Hood'', a verse version of the folk tale "

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

" that was die-cut into the outline shape of the little girl with the wolf crouching by her feet. Published by L. Prang & Co., it was the first book in the United States to be shaped like a person or an animal. Prang followed up with more shaped books (also known as 'Doll books') written by Very, including ''Goody Two Shoes'' and a verse version of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; 1660 – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, merchant and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its number of translati ...

's ''

Robinson Crusoe ''Robinson Crusoe'' ( ) is an English adventure novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. Written with a combination of Epistolary novel, epistolary, Confessional writing, confessional, and Didacticism, didactic forms, the ...

''. Very claimed the shaped-book design was hers and tried but failed to get a patent; her claim was disputed by Prang, which countered that it had originated the shaped books. In any case, the shaped books were quickly imitated by other publishers, and Very later wrote that she was paid very little for these books, which were quite successful. Very wrote a great deal of poetry, which she published in magazines and newspapers of the day as well as in two anthologies. She also translated poems from French and German. Her few novels include ''A Strange Recluse'' (1899). The Very family papers, including five volumes of Very's poetry and other materials, were published by the American Antiquarian Society in 2009.

Books

* ''Poems'' (1856) * ''Red Riding Hood'' (1863) * ''Robinson Crusoe'' (1864) * ''Goody Two Shoes'' (1865) * ''Poems and Prose Writings'' (1890) * ''Sayings and Doings Among Insects and Flowers'' (1897) * ''Sylph, Or the Organ-Grinder's Daughter'' (1898; with illustrations by Very) * ''A Strange Disclosure: A Tale of New England Life'' (1898) * ''A Strange Recluse'' (1899) * ''An Old-Fashioned Garden, and Walks and Musings Therein'' (1900)

References

External links

*
''Red Riding Hood''
at the Internet Archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Very, Lydia Louisa Anna 1823 births 1901 deaths 19th-century American women writers 19th-century American poets American children's writers Writers who illustrated their own writing American children's book illustrators American women children's book illustrators American educators American women educators 19th-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from Salem, Massachusetts Novelists from Massachusetts Wikipedia articles incorporating text from A Woman of the Century