Do You Know The Muffin Man?

This week I read a Dutch historian’s Victorian Era blog. The goal of Geerte’s blog is to unravel the 19^th century and rediscover fun stories, inventions, and adventures that took place during the time. He admits the blog was created as much for enjoyment as education.  Geerte is the sole contributor to his blog but he does take submissions, and fun facts about the nineteenth century via e-mail.

The first post I was drawn to on the Victorian Era blog, “Our ice cream van was their muffin man,” uncovered one of the coolest street sellers in history. Henry Mayhew sold muffins on the streets. But that sentence does not do his work justice. Many men sold muffins on the streets during the 19^th century, but what made Mayhew was different because he baked his own muffins. A majority of the other men had deals with bakeries, but not Mayhew he worked for himself.   Prior to ice cream trucks, muffin men were the sweet treat providers. Everyone knows the nursery rhyme, “Do you know the muffin man?” and now we know it is no myth; the Muffin Man did exist. 

Geerte's blog can be found at this URL: http://19thcentury.wordpress.com/