The first literary version of the tale "Jack in the Beanstalk" appeared in England in the 1734 reprint of Round About our Coal-Fire:or Christmas Entertainments (1730). The tale added to this 1734 reprint was called "Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean". Jack Spriggins was written in the form of a skit.
The story did not appear in print in any other form for another seventy years. In 1807, it appeared in two different publications, entitled The History of Mother Twaddle and the Marvelous Achievements of Her Son Jack by B.A.T. While the second publication was called The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk, Printed from the Original Manuscript, Never Before Published by Benjamin Tabart.
This illustration came from: A Child's Book of Stories by Penrhyn W. Coussens, Jessie Willcox Smith, illustrator. New York: Duffield and Company, 1911.
Leave a Reply