''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' is the oldest extant anthology of English
nursery rhyme
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
Fr ...
s, published in London in
1744
Events
January–March
* January 6 – The Royal Navy ship ''Bacchus'' engages the Spanish Navy privateer ''Begona'', and sinks it; 90 of the 120 Spanish sailors die, but 30 of the crew are rescued.
* January 24 – The ...
. It contains the oldest printed texts of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that eventually dropped out of the canon of rhymes for children.
History
''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book'' was published in London by
Mary Cooper in May, 1744. It was originally a sequel to a now-lost first volume published earlier that year.
The rhymes and illustrations were printed from copper plates, the text being stamped with punches into the plates, a technique borrowed from map and music printing. The book measures 3×1
inches and it is printed in alternate openings in red and black ink.
[
For many years, it was thought that there was only a single copy in existence, now in the ]British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
. However, another copy appeared in 2001, which was sold for £45,000 and is now in the collection of the Cotsen Children's Library. In 2013 a facsimile edition with an introduction by Andrea Immel and Brian Alderson was published by the Cotsen Occasional Press.
The two extant copies of ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' are the oldest printed collections of English nursery rhymes known to still exist. Although '' Tommy Thumb's Song Book'' is an older collection, no copies of its first printing have survived. The only other printed copies of nursery rhymes that predate the ''Pretty Song-Book'' are in the form of quotations and allusions, such as the half-dozen or so that appear in Henry Carey's 1725 satire on Ambrose Philips
Ambrose Philips (167418 June 1749) was an England, English poet and politician. He feuded with other poets of his time, resulting in Henry Carey (writer), Henry Carey bestowing the nickname "Namby-Pamby" upon him, which came to mean affected, wea ...
, '' Namby Pamby''.[H. Carpenter and M. Prichard, '']The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature
''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' is a reference work first published in 1984, with its most recent edition in 2015. The Oxford Companions is a book series providing general knowledge within a specific area, in this case, children ...
'' (Oxford University Press, 1984), pp. 533–4.
Contents
The book contains forty nursery rhymes, many of which are still popular, including;
* Baa Baa Black Sheep
* Girls and Boys Come Out To Play
* Hickory Dickory Dock
* Ladybird Ladybird
* Little Robin Redbreast
* Little Tommy Tucker
*London Bridge is Falling Down
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" (also known as "My Fair Lady" or "London Bridge") is a traditional English nursery rhyme and singing game, which is found in different versions all over the world. It deals with the dilapidation of London Bridg ...
* Mary Mary Quite Contrary
*Oranges and Lemons
"Oranges and Lemons" is a traditional English nursery rhyme, folksong, and singing game which refers to the bells of several churches, all within or close to the City of London. It is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index as No 13190. The earliest ...
* Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross
* Sing a Song of Sixpence
* There Was an Old Woman Who Lived Under a Hill
* Who Killed Cock Robin?
There are also a number of less familiar rhymes, some of which were probably unsuitable for later sensibilities, including:
: Piss a Bed,
: Piss a Bed,
: Barley Butt,
: Your Bum is so heavy,
: You can't get up.
:
Another one is:
:
: My Mill grinds
: Pepper, and Spice,
: Your Mill grinds
: Rats, and Mice.[William S. Baring-Gould and Ceil Baring-Gould, ''The Annotated Mother Goose'', pp. 24–43.]
References
External links
''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book''
at Wikisource
Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...
''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book''
at the British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
{{authoritycontrol
1744 poetry books
1740s children's books
1740s in London
18th-century British children's literature
Collections of nursery rhymes
British books
Sequel books