{"id":2080,"date":"2018-03-19T22:34:53","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T02:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/?p=2080"},"modified":"2018-05-30T22:19:57","modified_gmt":"2018-05-31T02:19:57","slug":"dotty-dimple-box-set-additions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/2018\/03\/19\/dotty-dimple-box-set-additions\/","title":{"rendered":"Dotty Dimple Box Set Additions"},"content":{"rendered":"

While we often think of paratext as textual additions to an existing text, Sophie May\u2019s Dotty Dimple Stories <\/em>is contained as a box set, and I contend that this box functions as an addition to the texts that it contains. Each story itself contains a plethora of paratext as well, some of which helps us better understand how these stories were enjoyed and how they were perceived as a whole set. Some of the paratext included in each story include a table of contents, running page numbers, running chapter titles, illustrations and many more. This blog post will outline and describe each paratext found in Sophie May\u2019s box set of Dotty Dimple Stories<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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While each book in Sophie May\u2019s Dotty Dimple Stories <\/em>box set is a different story, their formatting with regards to paratext remains consistent throughout the set. Featured on the first page of Dotty Dimple at Play<\/em> is an illustration in black and white. The more notable paratext, however, appears just below the illustration: a caption reading \u201cPrudy\u2019s Lecture \u2013 Page 133\u201d. This illustration appears on the first page of the book, however corresponds to a scene at nearly the end of the book. This gives the sense that the illustration is a teaser placed at the beginning in order to entice the reader to read the entire story.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

The following page is separated also features an illustration and is separated from the first illustration by a piece of wax paper. The illustration is a decorative title page, with \u201cDotty Dimple Stories\u201d <\/em>written at the top in large ornate writing. Sophie May is cited as the author, while the illustrator remains nameless; only the word \u201cillustrated\u201d is featured on the illustration. Below the scene of the illustration is an alternate title to the story: \u201cDotty at Play\u201d<\/em>. This hardly differs from the original title \u201cDotty Dimple at Play\u201d <\/em>but is relevant nonetheless. Finally the publishing house, Lee & Shephard Boston, is written at the bottom of the page in similarly ornate writing to the title at the top of the illustration. The following page features the exact same information as the illustrated title page before it with one small addition: underneath the words \u201cBy Sophie May\u201d reads \u201cauthor of \u2018Little Prudy Stories\u2019\u201d. After the title page there is a small block of text on the next page that reads \u201cEntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, By Lee and Shephard, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.\u201d The book\u2019s inclusion into the library of congress gives it authority as a work of literature that is not necessarily typical of children\u2019s books, and encourages the reader to think that it is a quality piece of writing. Directly following this information is a dedication page, made out \u201cTo the little \u2018blind-eyed children\u2019, in the asylum for the blind, at Indianapolis\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Directly following the dedication is a page that outlines Sophie May\u2019s Little Folks\u2019 Books<\/em>; a multitude of children\u2019s series including the Dotty Dimple <\/em>Series, as well as the Flaxie Frizzle<\/em> Stories, Little Prudy<\/em> Stories, and the Little Prudy Flyaway<\/em> Series. Each series features 6 texts, and judging from the title they are all children\u2019s books. The series share more similarities, as each set is illustrated and costs 75 cents per volume. Interestingly, the Little Prudy <\/em>stories are \u201chandsomely illustrated\u201d while each other text is listed as simply \u201cillustrated\u201d, yet costs the same 75 cents as any other volume.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Following this advertisement style page is a table of contents that lists all eleven chapters, from pages 7 to 166. This is a particularly peculiar paratext, as the text is clearly meant for children, yet is incredibly lengthy. After the first several pages of nothing but paratext, we turn to the first page of content, on which there is even more paratext, including the title once again, chapter number, and chapter title. The text is large, generously spaced, and the margins are wide, making this book very easy on the eyes to read. This further indicates that the intended audience was children. As we continue through the text, we see running chapter titles in the header on the right hand side of the book, running page numbers in the top outside corner of each page, and the title of the story in the header on the left hand side of the book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While we often think of paratext as textual additions to an existing text, Sophie May\u2019s Dotty Dimple Stories is contained as a box set, and I contend that this box functions as an addition to the texts that it contains. Each story itself contains a plethora of paratext as well, some of which helps us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8253,"featured_media":2082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[399549,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2086,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080\/revisions\/2086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/bookhistory2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}