Benjamin Tabart (1767–1833) was an English publisher and

bookseller Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen. History The foundi ...

of the Juvenile Library in

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, London. Many of the books in his list were written by himself. In an age of strictly moralizing

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

, he broke ground with his

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s and light-hearted nursery stories and

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

tales. His (1807) publication is the most influential version of the tale of

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

.Anon., ''The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk''
Tabart had for an editor Mary Jane Clairmont, the second wife of

William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and the first modern proponent of anarchism. Godwin is most famous fo ...

, and maintained close professional relations with the prolific publisher,

Sir Richard Phillips Sir Richard Phillips (13 December 1767 – 2 April 1840) was an English schoolteacher, author, publisher and vegetarianism activist. Life Phillips was born in London on 13 December 1767. Following some political difficulties in Leicester w ...

. The standard bibliography of Tabart's production is Marjorie Moon, ''Benjamin Tabart's Juvenile Library: A Bibliography of Books for Children Published, Written, Edited and Sold by Mr. Tabart, 1801–1820''. (Winchester: St Paul's Bibliographies) 1990.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tabart, Benjamin 1767 births 1833 deaths 18th-century English writers 19th-century English writers English children's writers Chapbook writers English publishers (people)