An alphabetic, accumulative, nonsense story designed to be a game of forfeits. The object is to read sections of the text, which contains some very long, made-up, tongue-twisting names, as fast as possible without making a mistake, either individually or as a group. Several of the absurdly long and difficult to pronounce names of the characters, including the one in the title, are based on Henry Carey's burlesque play The tragedy of Chrononhotonthologos (1734). Ralph Stennet, its creator. is better remembered for his Dame Wiggins of Lee, and her seven wonderful cats.

The opening years of the 19th century saw a move away from the sober and moral world of children's books in 18th century England and an outburst of cheerful, sometimes nonsensical books, commencing with The Butterfly's ball by William Roscoe. A number of books were published in imitation of this; books with no claim to educational value, but cheerful and fun. Several publishers of children's books ventured into this area, including Dean And Munday (later Dean & Son). They issued a number of picture books including The Life and History of A Apple-pie, later illustrated by Kate Greenaway, and some parlour game books including Aldiborontiphoskyhorniotikos.

Carpenter, Humphrey. The Oxford companion to children's literature, Oxford [Oxfordshire]; New York: Oxford University Press, 1984

Darton, F. J. Harvey. Children's books in England: five centuries of social life, Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1982 see: Chapter 12 'Interim again: The dawn of levity'

Opie, Iona. Nursery companion, Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, c1980