The day of reckoning is here… Luckily your future isn’t riding on it!

PICTURE NUMBER ONE

A is Aladdin the poor widow’s son; / With his Wonderful Lamp a fair princess he won./

B’s for Blue Beard, without pity the least;/ And also for Beauty, who saved the poor Beast.

C’s Cinderella, who fled from the ball,/ When the Prince found her pretty glass slipper so small.

D is Dick Whittington; Bow Bells rang out–/ “Thrice Lord Mayor of London,:” and ended his doubt.
 PICTURE NUMBER TWO

E’s for the Elves, little mischievous wights,/ That dance with the Fairies on fine moonlight nights.

F is the famous Forty Thieves: in a tree/ Ali Baba’s concealed, and their doings can see.

G’s Goody Two-Shoes, a kind little maid,/ Who gave poor dumb creatures protection and aid.

H House that Jack built. Or, take which best suits,/ Here is Hop o’ My Thumb with his Seven-League Boots.

PICTURE NUMBER THREE

I is the Ice-Maiden, haughty and cold,/ And J is for Jack, who slew Giants of Old.

K is King Arthur: with him will be found/ The twelve gallent Knights of the famed Table Round.

L is for Little Bo-Peep.  Sad mishap! She lost all her sheep while just taking a nap.

M, Mother Goose, you may easily spy,/ On the back of her Gander she mounts to the sky!

PICTURE NUMBER FOUR

N’s Number Nip, a wee Gnome full of tricks; / He made a man ride on a bundle of sticks!

O is for Old Mother Hubbard–see how/ “The Dame made a curtsey, the Dog made a bow!”

P’s Puss in Boots, with his bag full of game,/ Whose Master the Princess’s husband became.

Q Queen of Hearts is; the Knave stole her tarts,/ But the King caught him at it, and so the Knave smarts!

Our challenge was extracted from Routledge’s Coloured ABC Book, which would have been marketed as a “picture book.”    In  mid-nineteenth century children’s book publishing, this meant  a collection of four to six previously published toy books bound up in a fancy pictorial cloth binding.  It was a way for enterprising publishers to repackage content attractively.

Routledge’s Coloured A B C Book: Containing Alphabet of Fairy Tales. Farm-yard Alphabet. Alphabet of Flowers. Tom Thumb’s Alphabet. With twenty-four pages of illustrations by Kronheim and others. London: George Routledge and Sons, ca 1868. (Cotsen 9761)

Alphabet of Fairy Tales, the first toy book listed on the table of contents on the picture book’s title page, was the source of the puzzle pictures and the accompanying doggerel.  Unfortunately, the identify of the author and illustrator remain a secret, because all the Routledge toy books printed up by Kronheim never identified the personnel responsible for them.  Another puzzle for some eager researcher looking for a different kind of challenge.