While this is not a history book, it does record the first and last ever visit to London by the Wallypug from the mysterious land of Zum. He came for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.
We are not altogether sure what Queen Victoria thought of the Wallypug, as there is no record in the Royal Archive……?!?!? – but came he did.
Because the Wallypug is not a listed Head of State and the Land of Zum does not appear on any official lists at the Home Office, the Wallypug was unceremoniously left off the list of formal invitations. As a result he resided with the author, George Farrow, in the centre of London.
While in London he visits all the famous places like the Serpentine, where he fell into the lake when sailing a model boat, upsetting all the other boats. Then he was off to the Tower of London where he gets hopelessly lost. He almost gets arrested by the Metropolitan Police for impersonating a royal personage. Once rescued and returned home, the Police strongly advise that the Wallypug should be accompanied everywhere, as he simply causes too much mayhem when he goes out alone.

But don’t look for Zum in your atlases nor on Google maps, for you won’t find it!
But fear not! If, one day, you should want to visit the land of Zum:

Just go to bed and shut your eyes
And count one hundred, one by one;
Perhaps you’ll find to your surprise
That you’re in Zum when this is done.
Do this, when the moon is full,
And look for a tiny boat-shaped thing,
You may see Pierrot sitting there
And you may hear the little fellow sing.
If you do, just call him, and he’ll come
And carry you away to Zum.

Did a royal invitation eventually arrive? – well you’ll have to download and read this little book to find out for yourself!
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George Edward Farrow (1862 – 1919) born in Ipswich, England, and was a noted British children's book author of whose life little is known.
During his literary career Farrow wrote more than thirty books for children. He encouraged his young readers to write to him, answered their letters, and let their tastes and opinions guide his future works (rather like his American contemporary L. Frank Baum). Though he wrote adventure tales and poetry, Farrow was best known for his nonsense books written in the tradition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, especially his Wallypug series.
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