[ (Ballantine) A Natural History of Quadrupeds for Children ]
In classic early-19th Century fashion, this book has a humdinger of a full title: A Natural History of Quadrupeds, for Children: combined with an attempt to engraft on the youthful mind, the principles of tenderness and compassion for the animal creation.
This illustrated book had two editions; the first, in 1813, attributed the authorship only to "The Author of 'The Decoy'". (Which was a book not about duck hunting but teaching grammar to little children.) The second edition, published in 1824, was attributed to "A Lady." That lady is believed to be E. Ballantine, a British author of a number of didactic, moralizing works for children.
In her introduction, Ballantine remarks that much of the information in her book came from A Natural History of Quadrupeds, a work on natural history by the noted English poet, playwright, and novelist Oliver Goldsmith. His book, first published in 1774, makes no mention of Newfoundlands at all in its chapter on dogs; Ballantine, as you see below, didn't have much to say about the breed either:
The Newfoundland is a large, noble creature, very sagacious, and most faithful in his attachment to his master. A dog something of this kind is employed in a country, named Kamtschatka, to draw sledges over the ice.
There is only a single generic "dog" illustration in this volume:
Text and image are taken from the first (1813) edition, published in London by Darton, Harvey, and Darton.
This book was favorably reviewed in The Monthly Review, an influential journal of literature and culture, in August of 1813. The reviewer reports that "Surely the editor of this little work is too fastidious in saying that 'scarcely one of the numerous books on Natural History is fit to be put into the hands of children.' We have seen several which we should have recommended without scruple; but we are happy in being able to add the present compilation to their number, since it may be offered to very yound readers with perfect safety. . . ." (438)