[ Osborne / The World of Waters ]
Mrs. David (Fanny) Osborne is a cypher — I can find no information on her other than the fact this travelogue for younger readers was her only book. It may be presumed she was English as the brief preface to this work (in which she acknowledges she wrote this book for young readers because of her own experience of motherhood) is signed "Fanny Osborne / London." (She also had quite the belief in the staying power of younger readers: this book is over 300 pages in length. :) World of Waters was published in 1850 (London : Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans).
This armchair exploration of the oceans of the world is presented as a series of dialogues involving several adults and children. The book's only mention of Newfoundland dogs comes in Chapter Five, in which one of the children, Charles, remarks on the breed:
"Newfoundland is famous for dogs; but I find the most numerous there are not like those we call Newfoundland dogs, which are large handsome animals, for they are comparatively rare. The most abundant are creatures with lank bodies, thin legs and tail, and a thin tapering snout.
For other works that comment on the declining prevalence of Newfoundlands both in Newfoundland and in the dog world in general, see "The Disappearing Newf" here at The Cultured Newf.