Mary Howitt’s Picture & Verse Book 1845 Inscribed With Hovey Provenance

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Mary Howitt’s Picture & Verse Book
Commonly called Otto Speckter’s Fable Book
Translated from the original German, by Mary Howitt … Read more Mary Howitt’s Picture & Verse Book
Commonly called Otto Speckter’s Fable Book
Translated from the original German, by Mary Howitt Published by New York: D. Appleton & Co., 200 Broadway in 1845.
Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 148 Chesnut St. MDCCCXLV.
Copyright 1845 (MDCCCXLV translates to 1845)
J.F. Trow & Co., Printers, 33 Ann-street, N.Y.
Illustrated with one hundred engravings
Ink inscribed on the first page:
John Cook Hovey from his uncle J.D. January 1, 1846 (provenance see the family information at bottom of page)
207 pages
Measurements are 5.25” W x 1” D x 6.5” H.
The book is an illustrated collection of fables and moralistic poems for children. Published in the 19th century, 1845 to be exact, the book was Howitt's translation and adaptation of the German Otto Speckter's Fable Book, with illustrations from the original edition. 
The book functions as a moral guide, using rhyming fables and verses to teach children about virtues like honesty, kindness, and perseverance. 
Key aspects of the book include:
* A collection of illustrated fables: The poems are typically short, rhyming narratives, with each complemented by an engraving. The illustrations add a whimsical touch and help convey the story's moral lesson to young readers.
* Educational and entertaining tales: The verses are designed to entertain children while also providing clear moral instruction. Howitt's work falls into a tradition of 19th-century children's literature that used stories to convey important life lessons.
* Focus on cautionary tales: Many of the poems serve as cautionary tales. The most famous example is "The Spider and the Fly," which warns children about flattery and evil counsel.
* Emphasis on nature: In other works, Howitt's writing also emphasizes natural and rural life, a theme that often carries into her moral tales. 
John Cook Hovey’s uncle’s name was
Josiah Dana Hovey (AKA J.D.). He owned a grocery store called J. Dana Hovey on Massachusetts Avenue, Opposite Douglass Street, Cambridge, Mass.
John Cook Hovey’s father was named Phineas Brown Hovey and he was a horticulturist. Phineas with
another of his brothers, Charles Mason Hovey, edited and published the American Gardner's Magazine, in Boston, in 1835 and 1836.
The name of this periodical was then changed to the Magazine of Horticulture, and it was edited and published by Charles alone from 1837 to 1868 inclusive. Charles published Fruits of America, with colored plates, in two volumes, in New York, in 1854 containing some 100 chromolithographs by William Sharp the British-born lithographer and artist, with an extremely rare third volume which was partly published.
The most lavish ante-bellum work on the fruit trees of America, 'the first major work executed entirely in chromolithography' (Reese).
The two books set are valued today at approximately $7500.

The same publisher of Fruits of America, D. Appleton & Co. New York, also published Mary Howitt’s Picture & Verse Book. See attached photo. The two books were published within a couple of years of each other. The publisher Daniel Appleton was also from Massachusetts. He owned a general store that sold English books prior to publishing books. See less