Unknown 7 min read

A fairy grants a childless couple a son no bigger than a thumb, who tumbles into puddings and rides in King Arthur's court.

This 1800 Baltimore chapbook, embellished with coloured engravings, tells in verse the ancient English folk tale of the diminutive hero of Arthur's reign. A delightful artifact of early American children's publishing, preserving one of the oldest fairy tales in the language. Read it for the tiny, timeless adventures of Tom Thumb in a charming turn-of-the-century edition.

In its time

Published in 1800, during the 1800s, the gothic and the first scientific romances.

Reading it

7 min read (a short story, a single idea, delivered and gone).