Diotimos Library · Fairy Tales Collection · English Edition
The Water-Babies
A Critical Edition of the 1863 Novel
Swipe or use the arrow keys.
English Edition · Branch 111 of 111
Sources · Part 2
The Water-Babies
p. 111Science and context. Wikipedia, Great Hippocampus Question; Clark University Huxley File, Speech of Lord Dundreary; Wikipedia, Lord Dundreary; T. H. Huxley, Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature; Piers J. Hale, “Monkeys into Men and Men into Monkeys: Chance and Contingency in the Evolution of Man, Mind and Morals in Charles Kingsley’s Water Babies”, Journal of the History of Biology, 2013; The Victorian Web, The Water Babies and the Origins Debate; Ben Woollard, “Man of Science, Man of God”, JSTOR Daily, 2025; Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy: cures of melancholy; Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy: alteratives and cordials; Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy: correctors of sleep; Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy: cure of hypochondriacal melancholy; Wikipedia, Great Auk; Wikipedia, Eldey; Wiktionary, Mother Carey’s chicken; Word Histories, Mother Carey’s Chicken; Wikipedia, Mother Carey; Helen Rappaport, The True Story of Madame Rachel; Wikipedia, Sarah Rachel Russell; UK Parliament, Children and Chimneys; Hansard, Chimney Sweepers, House of Commons, 29 April 1864; Hansard, Chimney Sweepers Acts: Case of George Brewster, House of Lords, 16 February 1875; Cambridge PPF, George Brewster; Wikipedia, Chimney Sweepers Act 1875; Wikipedia, Newcastle Commission; Wikipedia, Franklin’s Lost Expedition; Wikipedia, Muscular Christianity; Wikipedia, Broadmoor Hospital; Princeton, Cotsen Children’s Library, The Water-Babies exhibition; Psi Encyclopedia, Table-Turning; Egham Museum, Health, Holloway and Hype; Library of Congress, The Water Babies (Jessie Willcox Smith); Wikipedia, Chimney Sweep.
Philosophy and religion. Plato, Phaedo, Timaeus, Republic, Protagoras and Phaedrus: Greek texts and Loeb translations, Perseus Digital Library; Plotinus, Enneads: Volkmann’s text, First Thousand Years of Greek; Apuleius, Metamorphoses: Perseus Digital Library; The Holy Bible, King James Version: Project Gutenberg; Wikipedia, Ode: Intimations of Immortality.
Socrates
Reading The Water-Babies · Sources · Sources · Part 2
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Charles Kingsley’s fairy tale follows Tom, a mistreated chimney-sweep, into a new life in river and sea. The complete story combines adventure, natural history, moral education, and Victorian satire. This annotated English edition includes the dedication, all eight chapters, the Moral, an introduction and reading guide, 348 explanatory notes, and the full commentary and textual apparatus.
Historical Text
The story first appeared in Macmillan’s Magazine in 1862–63 and as a Macmillan book in 1863. This edition follows Standard Ebooks’ transcription of the 1922 printing, with six readings restored from the first edition. The Note on the Text explains its spelling, punctuation, and corrections. Chapters, poems, songs, and indented catalogues retain their supplied arrangement; page numbers belong to the Diotimos reader.
About This Edition
Diotimos Editions prepared the introduction, reading guide, key words, character descriptions, notes, and commentary for this English edition. The explanatory notes accompany the passages they illuminate. Later sections include an Afterword, a chapter outline, critical reception, further reading, and textual and source notes. The complete supplied text is preserved, with reader branches ending at paragraph boundaries and the original chapter sequence intact.
Rights
Charles Kingsley’s historical text is in the public domain. The introduction, notes, and apparatus are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Standard Ebooks supplies the copy-text transcription under CC0, and the linked historical printings identify its witnesses. The six restored readings and other editorial decisions are documented in the Note on the Text and Textual Notes. This edition is published with the site owner’s authorization.