Small on the outside, big on the inside, just like its owner.

You will see his family home, a big Huntley biscuit tin where he lives with his wife Katalina and their children Adelaida, Elvira and Adolfito; the letterbox children use to write to Pérez, and a partial, human-sized reproduction of his study.

Scenes recreate the story told by Coloma: the palace doctors pulling out Buby’s tooth; the moment he writes his letter to Ratón Pérez with the help of his mother, the queen; their meeting, and the moment Buby is turned into a mouse by, in Coloma’s words, “a wonderful marvel that no one, to this day, has been able to explain”.

You will find objects that belonged to Buby, such as his baby tooth, his horse Palomo and his collection of clowns and harlequins; the poetry of Gloria Fuertes, Jacinto Benavente and Benito Pérez Galdós, a tribute to a crown…

You can also learn about other traditions of collecting and studying baby teeth: characters with the same mission in other parts of the world, who belong to the same international network, such as the Tooth Fairy in English-speaking countries.

Shortly before the plaque, representatives of the Association of Friends of Children’s and Young People’s Books paid tribute to him with the smallest statue in the world: that of Ratón Pérez, which stands in the lobby of the building.

Our dear friend well deserved a House-Museum of his own. It stands at Calle del Arenal 8, in the centre of Madrid, where more than 110 years ago Coloma placed his home: in Carlos Prast’s pastry shop, inside a Huntley biscuit tin.

It is the heart of a wider project recognised by Madrid City Council with the commemorative plaque on its façade, the only one ever given to a fictional character: “Here lived…”.

The Prast confectionery, where Ratón Pérez lived, was “Purveyor to the Royal Household” from the time of Isabella II. Carlos Prast junior went on to become Mayor of Madrid and President of the Chamber of Commerce, and shared a love of tennis, and many matches, with Alfonso XIII.

Luis Coloma Roldán (Jerez de la Frontera, 9 January 1851 - Madrid, 10 June 1915), known as Father Coloma, was a Spanish writer, journalist and Jesuit. A former student of the Naval School, he studied law at the University of Seville and combined his role as spiritual adviser to the Crown with his seat at the Royal Spanish Academy. Among his works for children is “Ratón Pérez”.

At the end of the 19th century, the court asked him to write a story for the boy king Alfonso XIII, who had lost one of his baby teeth at the age of eight. The Jesuit came up with the story of “Ratón Pérez”, starring King Buby, which is what Queen Maria Christina called her son. Ever since, “the secret” of where the famous mouse lived, and still lives, has been out.

The handwritten text, bound in green leather, is kept in the strong room of the Royal Library at the Royal Palace of Madrid.

It was first published in 1902. The first stand-alone edition came out in 1911, once again addressed to Alfonso XIII, with a dedication to His Royal Highness the Prince of Asturias and illustrations by Pedrero. Its facsimile is on sale at the House-Museum and comes as two books: the story itself and a study of the work and its author.

It was adapted into English in 1915, had an American edition in 1950 and has been reprinted in Japan non-stop since 1953.

As the original is fairly complex reading, children’s adaptations have been made, and they can only be found at the Ratón Pérez House-Museum.