Anne Taylor (married Gilbert; Ann Taylor ; January 30, 1782 - December 20, 1866) and Jane Taylor (September 23, 1783 - April 13, 1824) are British children's writers and co-authors, poetesses, and sisters. Started writing in early childhood.
Born in London , were the daughters of the engraver Isaac Taylor (1759-1829). In 1786, the Taylor family moved to Lavenham , Suffolk , and ten years later to Colchester . Jane grew up an active child and already in early childhood began to compose poems and sketches. Their parents adhered to advanced views on education, so both girls under their guidance gained extensive knowledge. They wrote their poems in the short intervals between daily activities. Ann offered publishers Darton and Harvey her rhymed answer to one of the puzzles for Minor's Pocket Book in 1799, and Jane made her debut in the same edition with the poem The Beggar Boy. The publishers then turned to Isaac Taylor with a request to send more literary material for children from his family, resulting in Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804-1805, 2 volumes), authorship, as indicated, of "several young people"; The main authors of the verses for this publication are Jane and Ann. The book had great and long popularity, withstood many reprints and was translated into German, Dutch and Russian. A new phenomenon for literature was that Ann and Jane, who wrote for children, considered all events and customs from a children's point of view. Soon they had a lot of imitators, whose works, however, did not receive the same popularity. This book was followed by others: Rhymes for the Nursery (1806), Hymns for Infant Minds (1808, 2nd edition - 1810), the lesser-known Signor Topsy Turvy's Wonderful Magic Lantern, also known as “ The World Turned Upside Down "(1810), and" Original Hymns for Sunday School "(1812). In 1813, Ann married a Congregational priest, the Rev. Josiah Gilbert, and Jane went to live in Ilfraqum with her brother Isaac Jr. In 1816, she returned to Ongar ( Essex ), where the family settled for several years, and died there eight years later from breast cancer. Anne died in Nottingham , having outlived her younger sister by 42 years.
Both sisters continued to write together after they parted, but none of their later works reached their former popularity. Famous works of the late period of their work: "Contributions of QQ" (1824, 2 volumes), "Display, a Tale for Young People" (1815). Although, according to literary critics, the main author of most of their works was Jane, in such works as “I thank the goodness and the grace”, “Meddlesome Matty”, “The Notorious Glutton”, Ann is considered the main author. Their collected works were published in Great Britain in 1877 and 1903.
- This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .