''Tommy Thumb's Song Book'' is the earliest known collection of British

nursery rhymes 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. Fro ...

, printed in 1744. No original copy has survived, but its content has been recovered from later reprints. It contained many rhymes that are still well known.

Publication

The book was advertised in the ''

London Evening Post The ''London Evening Post'' was a pro- Jacobite Tory English language daily newspaper published in London, then the capital city of the Kingdom of Great Britain, from 1727 until 1797.Cranfield, G.A. (1963). "The ''London Evening Post'', 1727–17 ...

'' for 17–22 March 1744, with the full title: ''Tommy Thumb's Song Book for all little Masters and Misses; to be sung to them by their Nurses 'till they can sing themselves. By Nurse Lovechild. To which is added, a Letter from a Lady on Nursing''; it was published by Mary Cooper of London.H. Carpenter and M. Prichard, ''The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature'' (Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 534. No copy has survived, but a book of exactly the same title was published in 1788 by Isaiah Thomas of

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

, who normally reprinted English books in the form he found them. A few weeks after the first publication, Cooper produced another work, ''

Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book ''Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song-Book'' is the oldest extant anthology of English nursery rhymes, published in London in 1744. It contains the oldest printed texts of many well-known and popular rhymes, as well as several that eventually dropped out o ...

'', of which copies are extant.

The 1788 edition begins with a letter to Nurse Lovechild, thanking her for bringing up the author's children and for the 'laudable design' of compiling a collection of songs 'fit for the capacities of infants ... by which they are often lull'd to Rest, when cross, and in great pain.' It also asks her not to frighten the children by singing too loud or by telling the names of various

Bogies A bogie ( ) (or truck in North American English) comprises two or more wheelsets (two wheels on an axle), in a frame, attached under a vehicle by a pivot. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport. A bogie may remain normally ...

, nor to injure them by swinging them by the arms.''Tommy Thumb's song-book: for all little masters and misses: to be sung to them by their nurses till they can sing them themselves'' (Glasgow: J. Lumsden & Son, 1815) https://archive.org/details/tommythumbssongb00loveiala, retrieved 07/04/09. It then moves to a section of illustrations of animals, with the representative sounds they make, which instructions for the reader to show the child the pictures and to make the sounds: 'by which means the child, in a short time, will be able to do the same.' The final section is a series of nursery rhymes with the titles: *The Features * Baby on the Tree Top * Patty Cake *Penny a day * London Bells *

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

*Tom Thumb and Nurse *Robin and Bobbin

Notes

External links

''Tommy Thumb's Song Book For All Little Masters and Misses'' (1815 reprint at Archive.org)
{{authority control 1744 poetry books 1740s children's books 1740s in London 18th-century British children's literature British books Collections of nursery rhymes British nursery rhymes British children's books

Publication

Contents

Notes

External links