A PAINTED PLASTER GROUP OF GULLIVER IN THE LAND OF THE LILLIPUTIANS

A related model exhibited at the 1851 Great Exhibition, is in the Deutsches Spielzeugmuseum, Sonneberg. A letter from the director of the museum dated 1969 relates that it was commissioned by Adolf Fleischmann from two modellers Peter Hetzel and Konrad Sachsenweger. Fleischmann, a merchant of Sonneberg and a lover of English literature, in particular Jonathan Swift, wanted a model suitable for exhibitions, and the finished version of 1849 was sent to the Great Exhibition of 1851 and not returned to the owners in Germany until 1908 and later found its way to the Sonneberg Toy museum. The letter also refers to another in the museum collection.

This model is believed to have been copied from the Great Exhibition example, now in Sonneberg, for the Lilliputian warehouse of Swears and Wells, children's outfitters, of Regent Street, London . This is evidenced by the frontispiece from the abridged version of "Gullivers Travels" published by Swears & Wells Ltd. where an illustration is titled as 'Modelled for S & W and shown at the Great Exhibition 1851.'