Celebrating the legacy of Charlotte Mason: a Smidgen Press “centenary edition”

Here at Smidgen Press we’re building a diverse collection of reprinted books, both fiction and nonfiction. Our aim isn’t just to bring back old books; we want to offer you GOOD stories.

An educator in the late 1800s/early 1900s coined the term “living books,” the idea of using well-written fiction or narrative-style nonfiction for bringing learning to life instead of depending on dry, lecture-style textbooks.

That educator? Her name is Charlotte Mason.

The hundredth anniversary of Miss Mason’s passing (1923) may seem a strange thing to honor, but with the legacy of Charlotte Mason in the world of learning … perhaps not. There are several 2023 events in her memory and honor, and Smidgen Press will contribute, too, with a special edition of her final work, An Essay towards a Philosophy of Education.

Reaching toward Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason’s term of “living books” fits the vision of the books we want to bring to readers, so well in fact that in 2019 our founder, Jody Skinner, started exploring what Smidgen Press could reprint to honor Mason’s work. She wanted to avoid taking away from people who had already preserved Mason’s writings, especially the people responsible for bringing her works from England to the United States. (That story belongs to the Charlotte Mason Research Company.)

In 2020, Jody reached out to the University of Cumbria, since the history of their Ambleside, England, location goes back to the teacher training college Miss Mason founded. After several emails back and forth, someone connected Jody directly with The Armitt Museum and Library, where all Miss Mason’s records are archived. Another gem!

So by 2021 Jody had a number of contacts well acquainted with Mason’s life and legacy. That year also brought the team a new cover designer, Terri, who just so happened to be a homeschooling parent following Charlotte Mason’s method. (Smidgen Press is not a religious organization, nor will all our books have a religious thread … but this was a divine connection.)

But the Smidgen Press team was still searching for a Mason project. Finally in early 2022, we were able to chat with Deani Van Pelt, board chair for the Charlotte Mason Institute (CMI).

With that conversation, we finally settled on our Mason project: An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education.

But … why “Volume 6”?

This is the question most commonly asked by people who already know Miss Mason’s work: Why not start with Volume 1? Why #6?

The short version: This book wasn’t written as a series-ender.

The long version, agreed on by several different Mason researchers, is that Mason wrote her Philosophy of Education as its own standalone summary of her work and its results. Not until later editions was it marketed as a sixth volume in a series. You can read more in Dr. Van Pelt’s foreword, viewable with the Look Inside on retailers (or, of course, by purchasing the book).

Will you be reprinting the full series?

We’re thrilled that readers are interested in a full series reproduced to our strict standards (see more in our “Minimal Modification” section below).

The answer: we would like to reprint the whole series. And …

Here’s what we’re looking at before we say a complete “yes” and move forward.

• How is this release received by the Charlotte Mason community? Is it meaningful and helpful as well as nice-looking?
• Is there value added for today’s readers that would extend to five more volumes?
• Can we release five more books and still honor the companies who came before us to preserve Mason’s writings?

We’re not only concerned for sales, though that’s part of it since this project cost upwards of $6,000US to produce. We value connection and respect, and that’s key.

So to more fully answer this … we’ll be able to say more a few months down the road.

“Centenary” extras

Besides the main book text, we also include additional material written by Mason. Both these items are part of the Charlotte Mason Digital Collection and have notes from Mason directing them for publication with An Essay towards a Philosophy of Education.

1. From a booklet on loan from CMI, we have transcribed an Appendix with case studies for where Mason’s “Ambleside method” worked well, and regions where it was a greater challenge.
2. From the transcription team at Charlotte Mason Poetry (CMP), we have an additional bonus chapter, an in-depth comparison of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s thinking with that of John Milton.

Whether due to post-WWI conservationism or just publisher preference, these sections were omitted from the first printing. We will touch more on these items and some research from more recent decades in a blog post to follow, and both are addressed in the forewords to this edition by Deani Van Pelt (of CMI) and Art Middlekauff (of CMP).

A work like this, fulfilling an author’s original intentions a hundred years later, is both thrilling and humbling. It’s a vision come to pass, both Mason’s and ours.

To honor both literature purists and fellow punctuation nerds, here are items we adjusted in this edition.

• Our edition preserves Mason’s British English spellings and punctuation, though we have removed the extra spaces around punctuation which were still common in early 1900s publishing.
• Ellipses are standardized to majority rule following modern grammar guidelines: three-dot ellipses for mid-sentence omissions and four-dot ellipses for omissions following a complete sentence.
• Chapter numerals are now Arabic instead of Roman (save for part numbers: I, II, etc.)
• The original table of contents has not been replicated, and we have not included the original index. These may be downloaded as printable PDFs, which will be available soon. (Sign up at smidgenpress.com/newsletter to be notified when those are live.)
• All footnotes are original, and for items needing a 2023 comment, this is noted in brackets alongside the original.

Our approach to republications begins with “first, do no harm.” We welcome comments or questions at hello@smidgenpress.com.

A “Centenary Edition”: our humble nod to the legacy of Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason is that this summary work of hers emphasized education for ALL – not just children of well-to-do families or the “exceptional” learners. We are excited for modern educational professionals, homeschooling families, and all others interested to have this updated edition to honor her work which is still continuing worldwide.

Celebrate with us the delight (and the careful modernization!) of the legacy of Charlotte Mason.