Fuller, S. & J. The History and Adventures of Little Henry, Exemplified in a Series of Figures. Written by Doctor Walcot.
London: Printed for S. & J. Fuller, Temple of Fancy, Rathbone Place, 1830. Eleventh Edition.
Printed by “Whiting, Beaufort House, Strand”
12mo (approximately 5 x 4 inches). Original printed wrappers with movable paper figures.
Condition: There is minor age spotting to the pages and light wear to the binding. The paper dolls and all parts are in fine condition.
This Eleventh Edition retains the full movable paper-figure format pioneered by S. & J. Fuller in 1830 and represents the last known Fuller-issued version of the work.
The present copy is complete with the original booklet, seven hand-colored copper-engraved die-cut figures, two interchangeable heads, and three original hats.
No slipcase present; the original mode of issue for this late Eleventh Edition has not been conclusively documented, and it is not known whether a slipcase was originally supplied
The figures are finely engraved, hand colored, and die cut for interactive use. The detachable heads are designed to slot into the costumes, allowing the reader to enact the narrative visually. Most significantly, this copy contains two interchangeable heads, a feature not recorded in institutional catalogue descriptions of any other Little Henry set. One head presents Henry in refined dress, often described as a “fancy” state, while the second depicts him in a distressed or ragged condition, corresponding directly to the moral descent and recovery central to the story. Both interchangeable heads fit the figure slots precisely, match the scale of the figures, and are engraved and hand colored in the same manner as the rest of the set. Each functions exactly as intended within the movable paper-figure format, integrating fully with the costumes and narrative sequence. Their precise mechanical fit, stylistic consistency, and functional use confirm that both heads are integral components of the original design of this edition. This dual-head configuration expands the known design complexity of the Little Henry paper-figure series. The three surviving hats are original to the set. Based on comparison with earlier Fuller paper-figure books, additional hats may originally have been issued, though the precise original count for the Eleventh Edition has never been definitively established.
Comparison with earlier Fuller editions reveals that the figures in this Eleventh Edition are noticeably larger than those of the 1810 Second Edition. The increased scale suggests that the plates were newly engraved rather than reused from earlier states. This enlargement reflects a redesign of the movable figure format in the later issue and supports the conclusion that the 1830 edition represents a substantive evolution of the Little Henry paper-figure series rather than a simple reprinting. In the Eleventh Edition, trousers extend cleanly to the ankle with straighter legs. Earlier figures often show cropped or slightly ballooned trousers typical of the 1808–1812 period. Jackets are cut with sharper waist shaping, more defined lapels, and cleaner vertical lines. The earlier costumes are looser and more Regency-soft in silhouette. Shoes and boots in the 1830 edition are more crisply engraved and proportioned, with clearer soles and heels, reflecting later engraving standards. Where earlier editions employ a single, relatively neutral head, the Eleventh Edition introduces two distinct interchangeable heads that explicitly embody the moral contrast at the heart of the narrative. One head presents Henry as a well kept, prosperous boy, with composed expression and orderly hair, while the other depicts him in a visibly distressed and impoverished state, with roughened features and a more careworn appearance.
Unlike earlier editions, the Eleventh Edition explicitly attributes the text as “Also written by Doctor Walcot.” Later nineteenth-century trade references identify this Dr. Walcot as John Wolcot (1738–1819), the satirical poet better known under the pseudonym Peter Pindar. This attribution appears in mid-nineteenth-century catalogues and periodical notices, indicating that by that time the book trade broadly accepted Wolcot’s authorship. However, no surviving manuscript, correspondence, or contemporary documentary evidence directly links Wolcot to the Fuller toy-book texts, and his major biographies do not document involvement with children’s literature. The attribution is therefore longstanding but unverified, and the true authorship of Little Henry remains unresolved.
Each figure corresponds to episodes in the text, illustrating Henry’s changing fortunes. As in the earlier Fuller toy books, the reader changes Henry’s costume as his circumstances shift, physically performing the moral lesson embedded in the narrative. Costumes range from respectable attire to pauper’s rags, reinforcing the didactic arc through visual transformation. The story follows Henry after his abduction by gypsies, his experience of hardship and temptation, and his eventual restoration through honesty, perseverance, and moral conduct, culminating in his reunion with his parents. The continued use of the subtitle “Exemplified in a Series of Figures” on the 1830 title page confirms that this late edition remained conceived as a true movable figure book rather than a conventional illustrated pamphlet..
S. & J. Fuller began operating from the Temple of Fancy at 34 Rathbone Place in 1809 and are credited with issuing Little Fanny in 1810, widely regarded as the first published paper doll book. Little Henry followed immediately as a companion title, forming part of Fuller’s pioneering series of paper-figure and metamorphosis books that combined moral narrative with interactive play. Scholarly consensus has long held that Fuller’s paper-doll experiment was relatively short-lived, with peak production between 1810 and 1814. Writers such as Percy Muir and Peter Haining have characterized the venture as commercially ambitious but ultimately constrained by high production costs and diminishing novelty.
The existence of this Eleventh Edition dated 1830 substantially complicates that narrative. It demonstrates that Fuller continued issuing Little Henry at least two decades after the first edition and that the movable paper-figure format itself persisted far longer than previously assumed. This late survival indicates that the title remained sufficiently popular or culturally resonant to justify continued production well into the early Victorian period. The title page states: The History and Adventures of Little Henry, Exemplified in a Series of Figures, written by Doctor Walcot, issued as the Eleventh Edition. It was printed in London in 1830 for S. and J. Fuller, at the Temple of Fancy, Rathbone Place, where were also sold books of instruction in landscape, flowers, and figures, together with every requisite used in drawing.
The line “Whiting, Beaufort House, Strand” appearing adjacent to the title page identifies the printer rather than the publisher. It refers to Charles Whiting, a well-established London printer operating from Beaufort House on the Strand during the early nineteenth century. Whiting’s imprint confirms that this edition was produced by a professional commercial printer rather than as a cheaply printed chapbook or ephemeral street publication. The use of Whiting as printer is consistent with later Fuller issues and provides an important bibliographic marker for distinguishing later states and editions of Little Henry. Its presence supports the view that the work remained in active circulation and commercial demand well beyond its initial appearance
Institutional holdings of the Eleventh Edition are extremely limited. The Bodleian Library’s Opie Collection records an 1830 Eleventh Edition under the shelfmark Opie G 311, but catalogue descriptions indicate a text-only survival with no figures present. No complete figure-bearing copies are recorded in major American repositories, including the American Antiquarian Society, the Library of Congress, Princeton University Library, the New York Public Library, or the Cotsen Children’s Library. Early movable paper-figure books were inherently fragile, and complete survivals are rare. Later editions such as this Eleventh Edition are rarer still, as production numbers were likely smaller and survival rates correspondingly low.
The present example is, to current knowledge, the only documented copy retaining all seven figures, original hats, and both interchangeable heads. The survival of both heads is particularly significant and appears unrecorded in institutional descriptions, altering our understanding of the Eleventh Edition’s intended design and use.
This Eleventh Edition stands as one of the rarest survivals within the entire Fuller “series of figures” corpus and provides important evidence that the firm’s interactive toy-book production did not abruptly end after 1815, as has often been assumed.
Collector's Corner:
An 1842 notice in Metropolitan: A Monthly Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts attributes the text of Little Henry to Dr. Walcot, indicating that by the mid-nineteenth century the work was commonly associated with him in the book trade (Metropolitan, 1842, p. 334).
Fuller’s other doll books and related metamorphic works are listed on the final pages of this copy; Transcription:
ADMired AND AMUSING HISTORIES, ILLUSTRATED WITH FIGURES THAT DRESS AND UNDRESS; Adapted for the Amusement of Children.
LAUGHABLE DOMINOS, representing a series of grotesque Characters. In cases, price 3s. 6d.; and handsomely fitted up in boxes, 10s. 6d.
CINDERELLA; or, The Little Glass Slipper: illustrated with elegant figures that dress and undress. Written by Dr. Walcot. Coloured, price 5s.
FREDERICK; or, The Effects of Disobedience: exemplified in a series of characters that dress and undress. Coloured, price 5s.
PHOEBE, the Cottage Maid: in a series of rural characters that dress and undress. Written by Dr. Walcot. Coloured, price 5s.
HUBERT, the Cottage Youth: exemplified in a series of rural characters that dress and undress. Written by Dr. Walcot. Coloured, price 5s. Companion to Phoebe, the Cottage Maid.
ELLEN; or, The Naughty Girl Reclaimed: exemplified in a series of figures that dress and undress. Coloured, price 5s.
LAURETTA, the Little Savoyard: in a series of pleasing characters that dress and undress. Written by Dr. Walcot. Price 5s.
LUCINDA; or, The Costumes: exhibiting a series of dresses. Written by Dr. Walcot. Coloured, price 4s. 6d.
YOUNG ALBERT, the Roscius: exhibiting a series of characters from Shakspeare and other authors, which dress and undress. Third edition. Coloured, price 6s.
FRANK FEIGNWELL’S ATTEMPTS TO AMUSE HIS FRIENDS ON TWELFTH NIGHT: in characters that dress and undress. Fourth edition. Coloured, price 4s. 6d.
LITTLE FANNY: exemplified in a series of figures that dress and undress. Eighth edition. Coloured, price 4s.
A LECTURE ON HEADS, both Male and Female, for the amusement of all ages. Parts I. and II. Coloured, price 3s. 6d. each part.
METASTASIS; or, Transformation of Cards: representing the fifty-two cards, in a series of caricatures, very amusing. Coloured, price 10s. 6d.
THE PROTEAN FIGURE; or, Metamorphic Costumes: representing a series of twelve characters, and upwards of ninety different parts of dress, very amusing, and particularly recommended to the attention of master tailors. Coloured, price 21s.
Anout the author: Dr. John Wolcot (Peter Pindar)
Dr. John Wolcot (1738–1819), better known by his satirical pen name John Wolcot or “Peter Pindar,” was an English physician, poet, and one of the most widely read satirists of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain. Born in Devon and educated at Oxford, Wolcot initially trained for the medical profession and served for a time as a naval surgeon and later as a country physician. He abandoned medicine in the 1770s to pursue a literary career in London, where he achieved enormous popularity through satirical verse targeting political figures, artists, and social pretensions, most famously King George III. Writing under the persona “Peter Pindar,” Wolcot published prolifically, producing odes, mock-heroic poems, moral verse, and topical satire that circulated widely in pamphlet and book form. Although best remembered for adult satire, Wolcot’s reputation as a versatile moral and didactic poet led nineteenth-century publishers and booksellers to associate his name with improving juvenile literature. By the early nineteenth century, trade catalogues and periodical notices increasingly attributed the verse texts of popular moral toy books—among them The History and Adventures of Little Henry—to “Dr. Walcot.” While no surviving manuscript or contemporary documentary evidence directly confirms Wolcot’s authorship of these children’s works, the attribution appears repeatedly in later catalogues and advertisements, suggesting that the association was accepted within the nineteenth-century book trade
References
Darton, F. J. Harvey. Children’s Books in England: Five Centuries of Social Life. 3rd ed. Revised by Brian Alderson. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Used for contextual dating of early nineteenth-century juvenile publishing, paper doll books, and the Fuller firm’s period of activity.
Field, Hannah. “‘A Story, Exemplified in a Series of Figures’: Paper Doll versus Moral Tale in the Nineteenth Century.” Girlhood Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, 2012, pp. 37–56.
Provides scholarly analysis of early paper doll books, including Fuller’s moral narratives and their interactive format.
Field, Hannah. Deconstructing Dolls: Girlhoods and the Meanings of Play. Berghahn Books, 2021.
Referenced for interpretive context on paper figures, moral instruction, and embodied play in early children’s books.
Haining, Peter. Movable Books: An Illustrated History. New English Library, 1979.
Cited for commentary on the decline of paper doll and movable formats in Britain after the Regency period.
Halsey, Rosalie Vrylina. Forgotten Books of the American Nursery: A History of the Development of Books in the United States for Children. Boston: Charles E. Goodspeed, 1911.
Referenced for early American editions of Little Henry, Joshua Belcher’s 1812 piracy, and William Charles’s role in Philadelphia juvenile publishing. See especially p. 170.
Heal, Ambrose. London Tradesmen’s Cards of the Eighteenth Century. London: B. T. Batsford, 1925.
Referenced for S. & J. Fuller trade advertisements, including Heal 89.63, documenting the firm’s wide range of artistic and publishing activities.
McGrath, Leslie. This Magical Book: Movable Books for Children, 1771–2001. Toronto Public Library, 2002.
Used for contextual placement of Little Henry among the earliest movable and paper-figure books.
Metropolitan; A Monthly Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts. London, 1842.
Referenced for mid-nineteenth-century attribution of Little Henry to “Doctor Walcot,” demonstrating later trade acceptance of Wolcot’s authorship claim.
Muir, Percy H. English Children’s Books: 1600 to 1900. London: B. T. Batsford, 1954.
Cited for evaluation of S. & J. Fuller’s paper doll books as elegant but commercially limited productions.
Opie Collection of Children’s Literature, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford.
Referenced for holdings of early and late editions of Little Henry, including the Eleventh Edition dated 1830, often surviving without figures.
Reid-Walsh, Jacqueline. “Movable Morals: Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Flap Books and Paper Doll Books for Girls as Interactive ‘Conduct Books.’” In Girls, Texts, Cultures, edited by Clare Bradford and Mavis Reimer. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015, pp. 211–236.
Used for interpretive framework connecting paper doll books with moral and conduct literature.
Simon, Jacob. “S. & J. Fuller 1809–1854; Fuller & Co. 1855–1862; Joseph & Samuel B. Fuller 1856–1862.” National Portrait Gallery, London, September 2018.
Referenced for firm history, addresses, business structure, and chronology of the Temple of Fancy.
Whiting, Charles. Printer’s imprint “Whiting, Beaufort House, Strand.”
Referenced as printer identification appearing in later states and associated publications, used for distinguishing edition states and professional production quality.
William Charles and Mary Graham Charles business records, as discussed in
Akin, Eliza Cox, and Mary Graham Charles. “Female Printmakers and Printsellers in the Early American Republic.” In Competing in the Market: Acumen in Business and Law, Part III. Cambridge University Press, 2024.
Referenced for William Charles’s engraving activity, Mary Charles’s continuation of the business, and the transfer of plates to Morgan & Yeager.
Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia). December 18, 1823.
Referenced for the announcement of Morgan & Yeager’s acquisition of Mary Charles’s engraved stock and juvenile publishing plates.
Morgan & Yeager. The History and Adventures of Little Henry, a Companion to Little Fanny. Philadelphia, 1825.
Referenced for later American reprints derived from William Charles’s copperplates and the transition away from movable formats.
Fuller, S. & J. The History and Adventures of Little Henry, Exemplified in a Series of Figures. London: Printed for S. & J. Fuller, Temple of Fancy, Rathbone Place, 1810.
Primary source. The foundational movable paper-figure book establishing the Little Henry narrative and format.
“John Wolcot,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, last edited 2025, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wolcot
Fuller, S. & J. The History and Adventures of Little Henry, Exemplified in a Series of Figures. Eleventh Edition. London, 1830.
Primary source. Later edition explicitly attributed to Doctor Walcot, demonstrating continued publication and persistence of the movable format into the nineteenth century.