The English Struwwelpeter and the Birth of International Copyright

Following its publication in 1848, The English Struwwelpeter was to become a long-lived favourite among children's books in Britain, yet for half a century it was an exclusively German production. It is proposed that The English Struwwelpeter was the first outstanding beneficiary of the first major convention on international copyright, concluded between Britain and Prussia in 1846. The identity of the gifted translator was never revealed, but evidence is presented which converges on a new proposal, Alexander Platt. Understanding the book's history has previously been hampered by the mystifying ramifications of its more than fifty editions. For the first time all editions, some issued under two or three different imprints concurrently, are characterised and dated. The 11th edition is identified as having influenced the development of Slovenly Peter in America. The early British responses to the book's copyright protection are traced, as are the responses to its eventual expiry.