Benjamin Tabart

Biography

Benjamin Tabart was a pioneer writer of children's literature in the 19th century United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and owner of his own publishing house in London. He is primarily known for the moralizing fairy tales published under the title "Benjamin Tabart's Juvenile Library" (1801-1820). His best known story was the original version of "Jack and the Beanstalk" (1804), though it was loosely based on "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" (1734) by an anonymous author. Tabart employed Mary Jane Clairmont as an editor. Clairmont was the second wife of philosopher William Godwin (1756 -1836), and the stepmother of novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851).