Nursery‐rhyme characters

Post date: Jun 23, 2016 6:58:27 PM

It turns out that many of the people and other beings whose lives are first documented in nursery rhymes have relationships to one another that are undisclosed in the rhymes themselves and only later revealed in chapbooks, pantomimes and story papers. Although there are some people—like King Arthur, the Man in the Moon, Robin Hood, Doctor Faustus, Mother Hubbard, Mother Goose, Simple Simon and Robinson Crusoe—who are documented in other texts before they are ever mentioned in a nursery rhyme, the bulk of these individuals make their debuts in rhymes that are too short to convey much information about their lives and personalities, and so researchers must rely on later sources. The three blind mice are first documented in print in 1609, and Jack Sprat is first attested in two proverbs first published in 1639, one of which (“ Jack will eat no fat ”) tells of his wife, but most of the remainder of these personages make their textual debuts in the 18th century with a few (e. g., Miss Muffet, Bo Peep, Nimble Jack) emerging in the early years of the 19th.

The frontispiece of an undated edition of Mother Goose’s Melody, printed no earlier than 1803, depicts the subjects of two different nursery rhymes (“ Hey diddle diddle ” and “ The sow came in with the saddle ”) frolicking together in someone’s kitchen. And in 1809, among the luminaries in attendance at Goody Two Shoes’ birthday party are Mother Hubbard and Tom Tucker, not previously recorded as ever having met one another (History of Goody Two Shoes’ Birth‐day). These minor social episodes in the lives of the participants are inconsequential of themselves but are nevertheless notable as being early recorded examples of nursery‐rhyme figures knowing and interacting with one another. Thereafter, throughout the 19th century, numerous sources document that these personages not only know each other but populate the same local community, often said to be Cole’s kingdom or a fairyland in which Mother Goose is prominent, and that they are even frequently physically transformed by fairies into Commedia dell’arte characters at night but restored to their normal form by morning. As the original nursery rhymes give no hint whatsoever that these people know each other or, in most cases, that there are any supernatural aspects to their lives, the impression might arise that they lived relatively normal lives in the 18th century and then only in the 19th came to live near each other and to be subjected to these transformations, but the source material does not specify that this is the case.

Man in the Moon

See the separate page.

Three Blind Mice

• • “Three Blinde Mice,” 1609.

  • Harlequin Jack Sprat, the Three Blind Mice, and Great A, Little A, Bouncing B, the Cat’s in the Cupboard and She Can’t See, by the Brothers Grinn, [1866–70]. Master Nibbles, Narrowsqueak and Doublegloster.

  • Mother Goose’s Menagerie, by Carolyn Wells, illustrated by Peter Newell, 1901.

Mother Goose is a celebrated authoress, poetess and storyteller of apparently European origin who is associated with a large corpus of stories stretching back at least to the 17th century, and likely much further, that documents the lives of people and animals she actually knows and with many of whom she has a loving, motherly relationship. She is frequently portrayed as consorting with geese, sometimes riding a goose through the skies and, in some sources, even being a goose herself. More than a few sources indicate she has magic powers, some even portraying her as quite witchlike, though the extent of her powers and how she acquired them are not clear. Her counterpart in the world of Mother Wild Goose and Her Wild Beast Show is Mother Wild Goose, depicted as a goose at all times, and her counterpart, or “ sin twister, ” in Topsy Turvy Land is Gother Moose. Her counterpart in the world of Witches Tales is Mother Mongoose, explicitly described as a witch.

Despite her great fame and the tremendous number of documents that describe her, when and where Mother Goose was born cannot be said with even remote certainty. The earliest texts to mention her, spanning a number of decades of the 17th century, are all from France, but none of them actually states that she herself is French, something that should probably not be assumed, especially given her international renown. The subtitle of Mother Goose’s Quarto claims that some of her works were among the Herculaneum papyri, indicating her possible origin in Roman Italy at some point prior to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79.

• • Satyre XV, Les ſatyres du Sieur Régnier : Reveuës & augmentees de nouveau ; Dediees au roy, by Mathurin Régnier, 1613. “ Et ne m’eſmeus nõ plus quãd leur diſcours fouruoye, / Que d’un conte d’Vrgande & de ma mere l’Oye. ” (Internet Archive) (1614, Google Books) (1626, Google Books)

  • De la nature, vertu, et utilité des plantes, ch. 15, by Guy de la Broſſe, 1628. (BnF) (Internet Archive) (Google) (Google)

  • “ Satyre d’eſtat, ou Harangue faicte par le Maiſtre de Bureau d’Adreſſe, à Son Éminence le Cardinal de Richelieu …, ” by Mathieu de Morgues, [1635 or 1636], reprinted in multiple books. (Google) (Google) (Google) (Google)

  • Letter 5, line 114, by Jean Loret, 11 June 1650. Reprinted in La muze historique[,] ou Recueil des lettres en vers contenant les nouvelles du temps, écrites à Son Altesse Mademoizelle de Longueville, depuis duchesse de Nemours (1650–1665), new ed., vol. 1, 1857. “ Comme un conte de la mère Oye. ” (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Contes de ma mère l'Oye, by Charles Perrault, manuscript, 1695. (themorgan)

    • Expanded in print as Hiſtoires ou contes du temps paſſé : Avec des moralitez, 1697. (Google Books)

    • Hiſtories, or Tales of Paſt Times …, trans. Robert Samber, 1729. (Harvard)

  • Harlequin and Mother Goose ; or, The Golden Egg ! A Comic Pantomime, by Thomas Dibdin, (Dec.) 1806. (HathiTrust)

    • Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi, esp. vol. 1, ch. 12, “ 1806 to 1807, ” (Feb.) 1838. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Old Mother Goose and the Golden Egg (chapbook), ca. 1815. (TPL) ([1860,] Internet Archive)

    • “ Old Mother Goose ” (nursery rhyme), ca. 1830, derived from the chapbook. (ODNR 364, p. 316) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • “ Napoleon Agonistes : A Fragment of a Melo‐drame, ” The Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, Manufactures, Fashions, and Politics, [first series,] vol. 12, no. 67, July 1814. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Melincourt, ch. 39, “ Mainchance Villa, ” by Thomas Love Peacock, 1817. (Internet Archive)

  • The Discreet Princess ; or, The Three Glass Distaffs : A New and Doubly‐Moral Though Excessively Old Melodramatic Fairy Extravaganza ; in One Act ; Founded on the Story of “ L’adroite princesse, ” in “ Les contes de la Mere l’Oie, ” by Charles Perrault, by J. R. Planché, (Dec.) 1855. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust) (1879, Internet Archive)

  • “ Cotton Mather and Mother Goose, ” letter by Requiescat (pseud. of John Fleet Eliot), Boston Evening Transcript, 14 Jan. 1860. Reprinted in The Only True Mother Goose Melodies …, 187‒? ed. First appearance of the myth of Elizabeth Goose or Vergoose. (HathiTrust) (1905, Internet Archive)

  • An Explanatory and Pronouncing Dictionary of the Noted Names of Fiction ; Including Also Familiar Pseudonyms, Surnames Bestowed on Eminent Men, and Analogous Popular Appellations Often Referred to in Literature and Conversation, by William A. Wheeler, 1865. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Literary Notes, The Nation, vol. 2, no. 30, 25 Jan. 1866. (HathiTrust)

    • “ The Original Mother Goose, ” by William A. Wheeler, The Nation, vol. 2, no. 31, 8 Feb. 1866. (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Goose or Vergoose Family, ” Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, or Songs for the Nursery with Notes, Music, and an Account of the Goose or Vergoose Family, 1869. (HathiTrust)

  • Old Mother Goose, Routledge’s Threepenny Toy‐Books, [1872 or earlier]. (OCLC)

    • Reprinted as “ The History of Old Mother Goose and Her Son Jack, ” My First Picture Book, [1871?]. (PG) (ufl)

  • “ Mother Goose Entertainment (Combined from Mrs. Whitney and Others), ” Entertainments : Comprising Directions for Holiday Merry‐makings, New Programmes for Amateur Performances, and Many Novel Sunday‐School Exercises, by Lizzie W. Champney, 1879. Compiled from other sources. (Internet Archive)

  • “ The Genesis of a Boston Myth, ” by W. H. Whitmore, The [Boston] Commonwealth, 27 Dec. 1890. Reprinted in The Original Mother Goose’s Melody …, 1892 ed. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Mother Goose, ” St. Louis Post‐Dispatch and Boston Globe, 14 May 1893. (HathiTrust)

  • “ How Christmas Was Saved, or The Sorrows of Santa Claus (A Christmas Play), ” by Catharine Markham, illustrated by Albertine Randall Wheelan, St. Nicholas, vol. 36, no. 2, Dec. 1908. Also William Tell, Lo the Poor Indian, Robinson Crusoe, Friday, Captain Kidd, Robin Hood, Pocahontas. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ Is Santa Claus a Fraud ? A Christmas Play for School or Parlor, ” by Carolyn Wells, illustration by C. B. Dillon [Corinne Boyd Dillon], The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 27, no. 1, Dec. 1909. (HathiTrust)

Jack Sprat (or Jack Spratt) and his wife are, by most accounts, an English couple with an unusual yet efficient complementary relationship with regard to their eating patterns, Jack eating no fat and his wife eating no lean, and who are also known to have a number of different animals, notably a cat and a pig. The wife is originally said to have the name Jill, but multiple later sources instead name her Joan Sprat née Cole (or Coal), with one outlying 1878 text asserting her name is Peggy. Their counterparts in the world of Mother Wild Goose are Tom Cat and his wife, cats with rather different dietary restrictions.

1570, “ Thou ſtickeſt ſome what better to thy takling I ſee, / But what, no foꝛce ye are but Iack ſpꝛot [Jack Sprot] to mee. ” (A New and Pleaſaunt Enterlude Intituled The Mariage of Witte and Science).

• • “ Jack will eat no fat ” (proverb) (ODNR 264, p. 238), Parœmiologia anglo‐latina in uſum ſcholarum concinnata, or Proverbs, Engliſh and Latine, Methodically Diſposed According to the Common‐place Heads in Eraſmus His Adages : Very Use‐full and Delightfull for All Sorts of Men, on All Occasions : More Eſpecially Profitable for Scholars for the Attaining Elegancie, Sublimitie, and Varietie of the Beſt Expreſsions, compiled by John Clarke, 1639. First printing, as “ Jack will eat no fat, and Jill doth love no leane. / Yet betwixt them both they lick the diſhes cleane. ” Also the first printing of the expression “ Jack ſprat teacheth his grandame. ”

    • “ Archdeacon Pratt would eat no fatt, ” Παροιμιογραϕια : Proverbs, or, Old Sayed Savves & Adages, in Engliſh (or the Saxon Toung) Italian, French and Spaniſh Whereunto the Britiſh, for Their Great Antiquity, and Weight Are Added ; Which Proverbs Are Either Moral, Relating to Good Life ; Phyſical, Relating to Diet, and Health ; Topical, Relating to Particular Places ; Temporal, Relating to Seasons ; or or Ironical, Relating to Raillery, and Mirth, &c., by James Howell, 1659. Replaces Jack and Jill with Archdeacon Pratt and wife Ioan, but the name Joan is reused in derivative works.

    • “ Jack Sprat he loved no fat, ” A Collection of Engliſh Proverbs Digeſted into a Convenient Method for the Speedy Finding Any One upon Occaſion ; with Short Annotations ; Whereunto Are Added Local Proverbs with Their Explications, Old Proverbial Rhythmes, Leſs Known or Exotick Proverbial Sentences, and Scottiſh Proverbs, collected by John Ray, 1670. (HathiTrust)

    • Nancy Cock’s Song‐book, for All Little Miſſes and Maſters, [1744].

    • “ Jack Sprat / Could eat no Fat, ” with an illustration, Mother Gooſe’s Melody, [1772]. (1889 facsimile of ed. ca. 1785, Internet Archive) (1889 facsimile of ed. ca. 1785, HathiTrust) (1791, Internet Archive) (1791, HathiTrust) (1794, HathiTrust)

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland : or, The Nursery Parnassus, part 3, 1810. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • Nursery Songs, ca. 1812.

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • Traditional Nursery Songs of England : with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, ed. Felix Summerly, 1843. (Internet Archive)

    • The Only True Mother Goose Melodies, Without Addition or Abridgement : Embracing, Also, a Reliable Life of the Goose Family, Never Before Published, with an uncredited illustration, ca. 1843. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • “ Jack Sprat had a cat ” or (possibly only erroneously) “ Jack Sprat had a calf ” (nursery rhyme), 1710s or earlier. (ODNR 265, p. 238)

    • The Life and Converſation of Richard Bentley, Delivered in His Own Words, for the Moſt Part from His Own Writings, 1712. Joan Coal. (HathiTrust)

    • The Delightful Adventures of Honeſt John Cole, That Merry Old Soul, Who from His Antipathy to Every Thing That Is White, Became Preſident of the Japanner’s Company, and Afterwards Chairman to the Chimney‐Sweeper’s Society ; and at Length Inſtituted Patron of the Merry Blacks of Waltham : His Intrigues with Several Black‐Ey’d Girls at Black Mary’s‐Hole, and Marriage to a Blackmore at Blackwell, and Becoming a Blackwell‐Hall Factor ; with Several Cole‐Black‐Jokes, Brown Jokes, and Jokes as Sweet as Honey ; Together with Diverting Songs, His Death and Burial, Which Was on Black‐Heath, Under a Black Thorn ; and His Epitaph, Wrote by a Colamanree Negro from Antegoa Nam’d Diego, in the Creolian Stile and Language, by a Tippling Philoſopher of the Royal Society [William Oldisworth], 1732.

    • The Tom Tit’s Song Book : Being a Collection of Old Songs, with Which Most Young Wits Have Been Delighted, ca. 1790.

    • An Essay on the Archaiology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, by John Bellenden Ker Gawler, 1834. (HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Chiefly from Oral Tradition, 4th ed., 1846 (Nov. 1845). (HathiTrust)

  • The Life of Jack Sprat, His Wife, and His Cat, [ca. 1820]. Joan Cole. (Internet Archive)

    • The Life of Jack Spratt, [ca. 1840]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The History of Jack Spratt, [1860]. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive)

  • Jack Sprat and His Cat, [ca. 1830].

  • “ Jack Sprat’s pig ” (nursery rhyme), 1840s or earlier. Derived from the chapbook (ca. 1820) and based on earlier rhymes. (ODNR 42, p. 73)

    • “ A Dirge ” (“ Little Betty Winckle ſhe had a Pig ”), Mother Goose’s Melody : or, Sonnets for the Cradle, [1772]. (ca. 1785, Internet Archive) (ca. 1785, HathiTrust) (1791, Internet Archive) (1791, HathiTrust) (1794, HathiTrust)

    • “ The Miraculous Guinea‐Pig ” and “ A Famous Song About Betty Pringle’s Pig, ” Gammer Gurton’s Garland : or, The Nursery Parnassus, part 2, 1783 or 1784. (1810, HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Chiefly from Oral Tradition, 1846. (HathiTrust)

    • Jack Spratt Other Rhymes, [between 1859 and 1862 ?]. (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin Jack Sprat, the Three Blind Mice, and Great A, Little A, Bouncing B, the Cat’s in the Cupboard and She Can’t See, by the Brothers Grinn, [1866–70]. Joan Cole. (Internet Archive)

  • “ Jack Sprat, ” Every One His Own Way, by Edith Wyatt, 1901. Milo Cox “ Butter ” Atkinson and Pearl Porter. Also Beauty and the Beast, Daffydowndilly. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/BGMG052.html

Simple Simon is, by most accounts, an English simpleton with a shrewish, abusive wife that repeatedly and harshly punishes him for his mishaps. He continues to do many foolish things for hundreds of years, including attempting to buy a pie without having any money and hunting a hare by riding an ass through the city streets. According to a 1910 text, he is a prince who sees beauty in Princess Heartsease despite her disfiguring affliction.

“ There is no doubt that Simple Simon has traveled from one country to another, and that even yet, … he is an internationally known blunderhead ” (“ Something About Simple Simon ”).

His wives are Margery (Simple Simon’s Misfortunes), Susan (“ Invitation ”) and Lizbeth (“ Vagabond ”).

• • “ Dead and Alive ” (broadside ballad), by Laurence Price, [ca. 1654]. (EBBA)

  • “ Simple Simon ” (dance, similar to the tune of “ Ar hyd y nos ”), The Dancing Maſter, 3rd ed., 1665 (per Opie). “ Simple Simon, or Huddle‐duddle ” from 4th ed. (oclc, oclc) (playforddances)

  • Simple Simon’s Misfortunes and His Wife Margery’s Cruelty Which Began the Very Next Morning After Their Marriage (prose chapbook), 18th century. What is apparently the earliest edition in OCLC is possibly from 1710. The Boyd Smith Mother Goose makes the unlikely claim the chapbook is Elizabethan. (NLS, 1803) (NLS, [1804–17])

    • Reprinted in Amusing Prose Chap‐Books Chiefly of Last Century, ed. Robert Hays Cunningham, 1889. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Simple Simon’s Misfortunes, and His Wife Margery’s Cruelty ; Who Poiſoned Him with a Bottle of Sack ” (ballad), Roxburghe collection, [1728–31?] (EBBA) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Invitation ” [by John Bancks,] The Gentleman’s Magazine : or, Monthly Intelligencer, vol. 4, no., May 1734. (HathiTrust) (Google Books)

    • Reprinted as “ Simple Simon : or, Who Was to Blame ?, ” Miſcellaneous Works, in Verſe and Proſe, of Mr. John Bancks : Conſiſting of Odes, Songs, &c. Sacred to Love, Friendship, and Devotion ; Tales and Fables, Humorous, Moral, and Satirical ; Epiſtles, Ethic, Amorous, and Familiar ; Epigrams, and Other Occaſional Poems ; Eſſays in Literature, Theology, and Criticiſm …, 1738. (HathiTrust)

  • The History of Simple Simon, 1764. (1800s?, Internet Archive) (between 1813 and 1838, Internet Archive) (ca. 1820, Internet Archive)

    • “ Simple Simon ” (nursery rhyme), Roud 19777, excerpted from the chapbook. (ODNR 476, p. 385) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • King Flame and Queen Pearly Drops ; or, Harlequin Simon Simple and the Pretty Mermaid at the Bottom of the Sea (pantomime), by Nelson Lee, 1865. (review, HathiTrust)

  • Chap‐Books of the Eighteenth Century, by John Ashton (b. 1834), 1882. Synopsizes the original chapbook with reproductions of some of its illustrations. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Boyhood Pranks ; or, The Little Flips in Trouble : Laughable Interlude or Minstrel Finale, by Frank Dumont (d. 1919), 1905. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Vagabond, ” The Glass Mender and Other Stories (in the US, The Blue Rose Fairy Book), by Maurice Baring (d. 1945), one uncredited illustration said online to be by Arthur Rackham (d. 1939), 1910. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ Simple Simon, ” New Mother Goose Stories, by Beryl Heflin Lightfoot, one illustration by Josephine Wheeler Weage, 1917. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Simple Simon Has His Day, ” by Sarah Addington, illustrated by Gertrude A. Kay, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 40, no. (4?), Apr. 1923. (HathiTrust, first page missing)

    • Reprinted as ch. 4 of Round the Year in Pudding Lane, 1924. (Internet Archive)

  • “ Something About Simple Simon, ” by Harry Bischoff Weiss, Bulletin of the New York Public Library, vol. 44, no. 6, June 1940. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2476.html

King Cole

See the separate page.

Jack Horner

See the separate page.

Mistress Mary

See the separate page.

Tom Tucker or Tommy Tucker is, by most accounts, an English boy who “ Sings for his supper ” in return for some bread. Though this could refer to his performing any kind of service, he is typically portrayed as literally singing, and a number of texts claim that he goes on to become a professional singer, including one from 1903 which states he uses the stage name Thomasino Tuckerino. One printing of the nursery rhyme names him Johnny Tucker. In the world of Mother Wild Goose, he is a burro who “ Brays for his supper. ”

(homeless beggar violinist with a dancing dog named Rags, taken in by Grandma and Grandpa Hall on their farm, carried a toy pig as Tom Piper in schoolroom acting exercise)

• • “ Little Tom Tucker ” or “ Little Tommy Tucker ” (nursery rhyme), Roud 19618, 1740s or earlier. (ODNR 519, p. 416)

    • Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, illustrated by George Bickham Jr., 1744.

    • Mother Goose’s Melody : or, Sonnets for the Cradle …, [1772]. (ca. 1785, Internet Archive) (ca. 1785, HathiTrust) (1791, Internet Archive) (1791, HathiTrust) (1794, HathiTrust)

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland : or, The Nursery Parnassus, part 2, 1784. (HathiTrust)

    • Nursery Rhymes, [between 1780 and 1790]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The Tom Tit’s Song Book : Being a Collection of Old Songs, with Which Most Young Wits Have Been Delighted, ca. 1790.

    • “ Little Tom Tucker, ” Second Volume of Christmas Box Containing the Following Bagatelles for Juvenile Amusement …, music by James Hook, 1798. (Google Books)

    • Songs for the Nursery Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, 1805. “ Little Johnny Tucker. ”

    • Vocal Harmony, or No Song, No Supper, ca. 1806.

    • Pretty Tales, 1808.

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 2nd ed., 1843. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Little Tom Tucker (chapbook), [ca. 1800]. (Internet Archive)

    • The History of Little Tom Tucker (chapbook), [ca. 1820]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Little Tom Tucker, ed. with different illustrations, [between 1821 and 1841]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ The Bibliomania, ” The Satirist, or Monthly Meteor, vol. 11, no. (1?), 1 Aug. 1812. (HathiTrust)

  • Friar Bacon’s Miracle ! (A Conceite to Make Merrie þe Large and þe Small Folk), by the World Renowned Thom Tucker, 1867.

  • “ Little Tommy Tucker, ” by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Watchman and Reflector.

    • Reprinted in The Masonic Trowel, vol. 6, no. 11, 15 Nov. 1867. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Men, Women, and Ghosts, (Apr.) 1869. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumpty, by George L. Fox, music by Anthony Reiff, Jr., 1868. (synopsis and reconstruction, NYPL)

  • Little Tommy Tucker, by Susan Coolidge (pseud. of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey), 1881. (HathiTrust)

  • Betty Gordon at Boarding School or The Treasure of Indian Chasm, by Alice B. Emerson (pseud. of Josephine Lawrence), 1921. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2519.html

Jacky Nory or Jack a Nory is an English lad, evidently an author, who is the cousin of Tommy Thumb, but about whom very little other information survives. Although repeatedly imagining himself as a heroic figure of the future, he is not recorded as actually having had any adventure. The nursery rhyme in which he first appears says so little about him that it has at times been adapted to other people (Mother Morey, Peg Amo‐re) with names that reasonably fit the rhyme and meter ; however, references to Jack a Manory, Jack‐a‐Minory, Jacky my Nory and even Jacopo Minore likely all refer to him, perhaps hinting at some Italian ancestry.

Jacky Nory makes his textual debut in 1745 in a nursery rhyme designed to say nothing about anything he has done, suggesting there may be nothing notable to tell : “ I’ll tell you a Story of Jacky Nory, / Will you have it Now or Anon ; / I’ll tell you another, of Jack and his Brother, / And now my Story’s done. ” All that can be known for certain is that Jacky has an unnamed brother. In 1746, Tommy Thumb states that he and his sister are cousins of Jacky Nory and, by implication, of Jacky’s brother (Tommy Thumb’s Meſſage Cards).

In the 1760s, The Top Book of All, for Little Maſters and Miſſes reveals that Jacky Nory is still a child, only recently having “ gotten into Breeches, ” likely the reason there are no stories to tell about him. He brags about rather fierce future heroic adventures he expects to have but, by way of a simple personal request, Tommy Thumb shows Jacky up as actually being quite timid in character (“ Jacky Nory Telling Tommy Thumb a Story ”). The title page asserts that Jacky is a contributing author to the book, but it is not clear which texts he has contributed.

In 1783 or 1784, Gammer Gurton’s Garland : or, The Nursery Parnassus is the first book to include a variant of the original nursery rhyme which states that Jack a Nory’s brother is also named Jack, certainly an unusual circumstance (“ Jack a Nory ”).

In the early 19th century, Jack Nory is still portrayed as a child new to breeches, trying to live out great adventures in his imagination (“ Little Jack Nory ”).

• • “ I’ll tell you a Story of Jacky Nory ” (ODNR 260, p. 233), Jacky Nory’s Story‐book for All little Maſters and Miſſes to be told to them by their Nurſes, till they can tell them themſelves ; containing 60 Cuts on Copper‐plates, (June) 1745. (advertisement, Internet Archive) (advertisement, Internet Archive) (advertisement, Internet Archive)

    • “ I’ll tell you a Story, of Jacky Nory, ” The Top Book of All, for Little Maſters and Miſſes : Containing the Choiceſt Stories, Prettieſt Poems and Moſt Diverting Riddles ; All Wrote by Nurſe Lovechild, Mother Gooſe, Jacky Nory, Tommy Thumb, and Other Eminent Authors. To Which Is Added, a New Play of the Wide Mouth Waddling Frog. And a Prize Poem, to Be Learnt by Heart, with a Shilling at the End for Every One That Shall Say It Prettily Without Book, and Not Miſs a Word. This Book Is Alſo Enriched with Curious Lively Pictures, Done by the Top Hands ; …, [ca. 1760].

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland : or, The Nursery Parnassus, 1783 or 1784. Brother’s name is also Jack. (1810, HathiTrust) (1810, Google Books) (1810, Internet Archive)

    • Mother Goose’s Quarto : or, Melodies Complete, ca. 1825. Mother Morey. (1833, Internet Archive)

    • Partially quoted in a book review, The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., no. 520, 6 Jan. 1827. Jacky my Nory. (HathiTrust) (Google Books) (Internet Archive)

    • Nursery Poems, from the Ancient and Modern Poets, [ca. 1840]. Peg Amo‐re. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. Brother’s name is also Jack. (HathiTrust) (Google Books) (Internet Archive)

    • Our Mutual Friend, no. 10, ch. 16, “ An Anniversary Occasion, ” by Charles Dickens, Feb. 1865. Jack a Manory. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google Books)

    • “ Nursery Rhymes, ” by R. H. [Rachel Harriette] Busk (d. 1907), Notes and Queries, ser. 7, vol. 10, no. 250, 11 Oct. 1890. Jacopo Minore. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google Books)

  • Advertiſement, Tommy Thumb’s Meſſage Cards, of the Greateſt Importance to Many Little Maſters and Miſſes of Quality : Tommy Thumb’s Routs and Drums, 1746.

  • “ Jacky Nory Telling Tommy Thumb a Story, ” The Top Book of All, for Little Maſters and Miſſes …, [ca. 1760].

  • “ Little Jack Nory, ” Mother Goose’s Melodies, 1833. Probably also in the first edition, ca. 1825. (Internet Archive)

  • A Tangled Tale, by Lewis Carroll (d. 1898), The Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, vol. 31, no. 183, Mar. 1881. Mere mention but notable for the spelling Jack‐a‐Minory. (HathiTrust) (Google Books) (Internet Archive)

Placeholder.

Jack and Jill

See the separate page.

Bo‐Peep

See the separate page.

Peter Pumpkin Eater or Peter Pumpkin is a British man with a curious relationship to his series of wives, evidently killing a wife by putting her in a wall and letting the mice eat her, and also putting a wife “ in a pumpkin shell, ” an act nearly universally portrayed benignly as placing her within some harmless enclosure made of a pumpkin or made to resemble a pumpkin, although he nevertheless has another wife before the rhyme is up.

After many years of not having been portrayed as a violent man, Peter’s temper again gets the best of him in 1896 when he smashes his wife’s bicycle to prevent her going out at night (“ In These Bicycle Days ”).

• • “ Peter Peter pumpkin eater ” (nursery rhyme), Roud 13497, 1790s or earlier. (ODNR 405, p. 346)

    • Infant Institutes, Part the First, or, A Nurserical Essay on the Poetry, Lyric and Allegorical of the Earlier Ages, by Baptist Noel Turner, 1797.

    • Mother Goose’s Quarto : or Melodies Complete, ca. 1825.

      • Mother Goose’s Melodies : The Only Pure Edition ; Containing All That Have Ever Come to Light of Her Memorable Writings, Together with Those Which Have Been Discovered Among the Mss. of Herculaneum, Likewise Every One Recently Found in the Same Stone Box Which Hold the Golden Plates of the Book of Mormon ; The Whole Compared, Revised, and Sanctioned, by One of the Annotators of the Goose Family …, [1833]. (Internet Archive)

    • “ Recollections of an Old Maid, ” by Betsey, The Lowell Offering : A Repository of Original Articles ; Written by Females Employed in the Mills, vol. 1, no. 4, Mar. 1841. (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, or Songs for the Nursery ; with Notes, Music, and an Account of the Goose or Vergoose Family …, 1869. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Our Sermon, No. 1, ” Editor’s Easy Talk, Graham’s Illustrated Magazine, vol. 53, no. 5, Nov. 1858. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Peter, my neeper, ” Aberdeen and Its Folk from the 20th to the 50th Year of the Present Century, by James Riddell, 1868. (HathiTrust)

  • “ Heeper, peeper, ” “ Eeper Peeper, ” “ Eaper Weaper ” etc. (nursery rhyme), 1892 or earlier. If he is the same man as Heeper Peeper, Eeper Peeper and Eaper Weaper, he kills another wife by shoving her up the chimney.

  • “ Counting‐out Rhymes, ” by John Hobson Matthews (d. 1914), South Wales Daily News, no. 6596, 1 Aug. 1893. Re Eeper Peeper. (Nat’l Lib. of Wales)

  • “ In These Bicycle Days ” (2 Oct. 1896 or earlier) (90) and “ Peter’s Wife ” (19 July 1896 or earlier) (149), Lyra Cyclus or the Bards and the Bicycle : Being a Collection of Merry and Melodious Metrical Conceits Anent the Wheel, ed. Edmond Redmond, 1897. (HathiTrust)

  • Peter Pumpkin in Wonderland, by Ida M. Huntington, illustrations by Mary Isabel Hunt, 1908. Also Santa Claus. (synopsis only, Blogger)

  • “ Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater, ” Little Plays for Little Players, by Harriette Wilbur, 1910.

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/GrD81896.html

Mary, or in two sources Lucy, is, by most accounts, an American girl whose pet lamb follows her to school one day in 1830 and thereby disrupts class. A few sources depict her lamb as being only a toy, but other sources conversely indicate she has multiple real animals, including a bird, a pig, a cat, a frog and a goat. A number of poems claim that Mary’s lamb is killed and eaten under various circumstances, but the lamb nevertheless continues to appear in later texts.

(cousin of Boy Blue, lives in the city, Fleecy from Blue’s farm)

• • “The Canary” (poem), The Daisy; or, Cautionary Stories, in Verse: Adapted to the Ideas of Children from Four to Eight Years Old; Illustrated with Thirty Engravings, [by Elizabeth Turner,] 1807. (Google Books) (1817, Internet Archive) (1810 or 18‒‒ or 1819, HathiTrust)

  • “Mary’s Lamb,” Poems for Our Children: Designed for Families, Sabbath Schools, and Infant Schools; Written to Inculcate Moral Truths and Virtuous Sentiments, by Sarah Josepha Hale, (May) 1830. (ODNR 341, p. 299) (Internet Archive)

    • Juvenile Miscellany, vol., no., Sept.–Oct. 1830.

    • “Mary’s Lamb,” Juvenile lyre: Or Hymns and Songs, Religious, Moral, and Cheerful, Set to Appropriate Music; for the Use of Primary and Common Schools, (Feb.) 1831. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “Mary’s Lamb,” The School Song Book: Adapted to the Scenes of the School Room; Written for American Children and Youth, (May) 1834. (HathiTrust)

    • “Lucy’s Lamb,” The Little Thinker Comprising Reading Lessons So Arranged as to Exhibit the Obvious Sense of Words …, by Salem Town, 1840. Different final stanza, and character’s name changed. (HathiTrust)

    • “Mary’s Little Lamb,” illustration [by Birket Foster], Songs for the Little Ones at Home, by Mary O. Ward, 1852. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • “Mary’s Lamb,” with an uncredited illustration, McGuffey’s New Second Eclectic Reader for Young Learners, by Wm. H. McGuffey, 1857. (1885, Internet Archive) (1886, HathiTrust)

  • “Lucy’s Lamb,” The Second Reader, Consisting of Easy and Progressive Lessons, rev. ed., by Salem Town, 1855. (HathiTrust)

  • “Different” (Dec. 1896 or earlier), “Mary” (Aug. 1896 or earlier), “Mary” (July 1895 or earlier) and “Mary’s Little Bike,” Lyra Cyclus or the Bards and the Bicycle: Being a Collection of Merry and Melodious Metrical Conceits Anent the Wheel, ed. Edmond Redmond, 1897. (Internet Archive) + 144, 148, 150.

  • Mary Had a Little Lamb: The True Story of the Real Mary and the Real Lamb, by Fannie M. Dickerson, illustrated by H. Alvin Owen, (Oct.) 1902. (HathiTrust)

  • Limerick Lyrics, compiled by Stanton Vaughn, 1904. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Ancient Poetry Revised and Modernized …, by J. Edward Boyd, 1905. (Internet Archive)

  • Mary’s Little Lamb, by Tom Masson, illustrated by James Montgomery Flagg, 1905. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Mary Had,” 1912. (Internet Archive)

  • “Mary had a little lamb,” The Siren, vol. 7, no. 1, Oct. 1919. (HathiTrust) (also Humpty Dumpty)

  • “Mary had a little lamb”, The Siren, vol. 7, no. 2, Nov. 1919. (HathiTrust) (also Three Men in a Tub)

  • “Mary had a little lamb,” The Siren, vol. 7, no. 3, Dec. 1919. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mary had a little lamb,” The Siren, vol. 7, no. 6, Mar. 1920. (HathiTrust) (also Man Wond’rous Wise)

  • “Mary had a little lamb” (22) and “Mary had a little lamb” (32), The Siren, vol. 7, no. 8, May 1920. (HathiTrust) (also Boy Blue, Three Frosh in the Tub, Jack Sprat)

  • “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” The Doo‐Funny Family: Humorous Entertainment, by Mary Modena Burns, 1920. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/R360.html

Peter Piper is an Englishman who picks a peck of pepper, later said to be a peck of pickled peppers, the whereabouts of which are unclear. Two different sources suggest Peter goes on to become a soldier, although their details differ substantially.

• • “Peter Piper” (tongue twister), Roud 19745, 1790s or earlier. (ODNR 406, p. 347)

    • Juvenile Amusements, music by Samuel Arnold, 1797.

    • Literary Leisure, or the Recreations of Solomon Saunter, Esq., by Solomon Saunter (pseud.), vol. 1, 1802. (Google Books)

    • The Girl’s Own Book, by L. Maria Child, 1833. (HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust)

  • Untitled, unattributed humorous essay, possibly by editor Oliver Oldschool (pseud. of Joseph Dennie), The Port Folio Enlarged, vol. 2, no. 21, 29 May 1802. (HathiTrust)

  • Peter Piper’s Practical Principles of Plain & Perfect Pronunciation, 1813.

    • 1911 edition that reproduces illustrations from ca. 1830–36. (HathiTrust)

    • Peter Piper’s Alphabet, illustrated by Marcia Brown, 1958. (HathiTrust)

  • Koningsmarke, the Long Finne, a Story of the New World, by James Kirke Paulding, 1823. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Peter Piper,” Grandmamma’s Tales, [between 1836 and 1863]. (HathiTrust)

  • “Pickle Peppers,” Mother Goose for Grown Folks: A Christmas Reading, by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, 1859. (Internet Archive)

  • “Directions for a Mother Goose Party,” by Geo. B. Bartlett, 1877. Reprinted in New Games for Parlor and Lawn with a Few Old Friends in a New Dress, 1882. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • The Dream Fox Story Book, by Mabel Osgood Wright (d. 1934), illustrated by Oliver Herford (d. 1935), 1900. Peter Fergus is nicknamed Peter Piper after the twister character. (HathiTrust)

  • Racketty‐Packetty House, as Told by Queen Crosspatch, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1906. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Boys of Mother Goose Land” (play), by Stanley Schell, Boy Impersonations, Werner’s Readings and Recitations, no. 52, 1913. (HathiTrust)

  • The Marriage of Jack and Jill: A Mother Goose Entertainment in Two Scenes, by Lilian Clisby Bridgham, 1913. (Internet Archive)

  • Peter Piper, [1913], was apparently first published in the UK and is not yet in the public domain outside the US as Australian author Doris Egerton Jones died in 1973. Likely an unrelated character anyway. (Internet Archive)

  • Peter Piper’s Troubles: A Farcical Comedy in Four Acts, by Jos. H. Slater, 1913. Again, apparently an unrelated character. (Internet Archive)

  • The Modern Mother Goose: A Play in Three Acts, by Helen Hamilton, 1916. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Story Book Ball” (song), by George Perry, music by Billie Montgomery, 1917. (Johns Hopkins U.)

  • Mother Goose Comes to Portland, by Frederic W. Freeman, 1918. (Internet Archive)

  • Pee‐Wee Harris on the Trail, by Percy Keese Fitzhugh, illustrated by H. S. Barbour, 1922. (HathiTrust)

  • The Real Personages of Mother Goose, by Katherine Elwes Thomas, 1930. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2406.html

Nimble Jack is a nimble English lad who jumps over a candlestick.

• • “Jack Be Nimble” (nursery rhyme), Roud 13902, 1810s or earlier. (ODNR 255, p. 226)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Chiefly from Oral Tradition, 1846. (HathiTrust)

    • Denslow’s Mother Goose: Being the Old Familiar Rhymes and Jingles of Mother Goose …, 1901. (Library of Congress)

  • “Summer at Grandpa’s,” by R. B. C., Child‐Garden of Story, Song, and Play, vol. 2, no. 9, Aug. 1894. (HathiTrust)

  • “Jack and the Candles: A New Game for Boys,” by J. Carter Beard, Frank Leslie’s Popular Monthly, vol. 45, no. 3, Mar. 1898. (HathiTrust)

  • Runaway Robinson, by Charles M. Snyder, 1901. (HathiTrust)

  • Jack Be Nimble: A Novel, by George Cuomo, 1963. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2255.html

Boy Blue or Boy Blew or Boy Bluet is, by most accounts, an English lad who falls asleep under a haystack while minding sheep and cows, resulting in their wandering rather far afield. One source claims he is one of the two Babes in the Wood, but it is contradicted by another wherein he meets the Babes in the Wood.

(Richard Snow, blue eyes and clothing, lives on a farm, celebrates Fourth of July, animals lost only in a dream, cousin of Mary Lamb, brother of Miss Muffet)

• • “Little Boy Blue” or “Little Boy Bluet” (nursery rhyme), Roud 19703, 1760s or earlier. (ODNR 74, p. 98)

    • The Famous Tommy Thumb’s Little Story‐Book: Containing His Life and Surpriſing Adventures; To Which Are Added, Tommy Thumb’s Fables, with Morals; And at the End, Pretty Stories, That May Be Either Sung or Told; Adorned with Many Curious Pictures, [ca. 1760].

    • Infant Inſtitutes, Part the Firſt, or, A Nurſerical Eſſay on the Poetry, Lyric and Allegorical of the Earlier Ages, by Baptiſt Noel Turner, 1797.

    • “Little Boy Blue Come Blow Me Thy Horn,” Second Volume of Christmas Box Containing the Following Bagatelles for Juvenile Amusement …, music by James Hook, 1798. (Google Books)

    • “Little Boy Blue, a Favorite Glee for Three Voices,” music by Harriett Abrams, [1799?]. (HathiTrust)

    • “Little Boy Blew: Nurſery Song for Two Voices,” music by Benjamin Carr, Musical Journal for the Piano Forte, vol. 1, (July) 1800. (HathiTrust)

    • Songs for the Nursery Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, [illustration by William Marshall Craig,] 1805. (1808, Internet Archive)

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus, part 3, 1810. (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies, 1833. (Internet Archive)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 2nd ed., 1843. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Traditional Nursery Songs of England: with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, ed. Felix Summerly, 1843. (Internet Archive)

  • The Hiſtory of a Little Boy Found Under a Haycock, 1780s.

    • Abridged ed. combined with The Royal Alphabet, 1792. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Ed., [ca. 1820?]. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive)

  • An Essay on the Archaiology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, by John Bellenden Ker Gawler, 1834. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Little Boy Blue, or Harlequin and the Magic Horn, by Nelson Lee, Standard Theatre, 1838. (review, HathiTrust)

  • Little Red Riding Hood and Little Boy Blue: A Grand Comical, Magical, Musical, and Terpsichorean Christmas Pantomime, by H. T. Arden, opening constructed by Henry Leslie, 1868. (HathiTrust) (Red Riding Hood, Simple Simon)

  • “The Story of Little Boy‐Blue,” by S. B. T., The Nursery: A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers, vol. 11, no. 65, 1872 (plus Mr. and Mrs. Blue). (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Boy Blue,” by Eugene Field, America: A Journal of To‐day, vol. 1, no. 1, 7 Apr. 1888. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Little Book of Western Verse, 1889. (Internet Archive)

    • Music by Ethelbert Nevin (op. 12, no. 4), 1891.

    • Music by Charles D. Hoard, 1895. (NYPL)

    • Music by Guy d’Hardelot (d. 1936), 1896. (HathiTrust)

  • My Little Boy Blue, by Rosa Nouchette Carey, 1895. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Boy Blue” (song), by Elizabeth Harman, music by Florence Buckingham Joyce, 1897. (HathiTrust)

  • Little Boy Blue (operetta), German libretto by Rudolf Schanzer (d. 1944) and Karl Lindau (d. 1934), music by Henri Berény (d. 1932), 1910.

    • English adaptation by A. E. Thomas (d. 1947) and Edward A. Paulton (d. 1939), words by Grant Stewart (d. 1929), 1911. “Boy Blue” is a barmaid named Daisy. (IMSLP) (program, Internet Archive)

  • “Big Boy Blue,” by Thomas Burke (d. 1945), illustrated by G. Patrick Nelson, Cosmopolitan, vol. 69, no. 5, Nov. 1920. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Whispering Windows: Tales of the Waterside (in the US, More Limehouse Nights), 1921. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2074.html

The Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker are three Englishmen who go to a fair to view three maids in a tub, but who, in later texts, are themselves said to be in the tub together. In the world of Mother Wild Goose, a smartly dressed camel is described in their rhyme instead.

“The candlestick‐maker was a little, thin, bent‐over man with a face like a fox. … He didn’t have a tooth in his head, poor man, so his smile was rather queer until you got used to it.”

“The butcher was, you see, a very genial person. His jokes were not always good jokes, to be sure. … The butcher was a big, broad‐chested fellow with great arms, fine yellow mustache, and an enormous white apron that covered him from chin to toe. And Mrs. Claus always said he had the best meat in the kingdom.”

• • “Hey! rub‐a‐dub, ho! rub‐a‐dub” or “Rub‐a‐dub‐dub” (nursery rhyme), Roud 3101 and/or 12983, 1790s or earlier. (ODNR 460, p. 376)

    • “Dub a Dub Dub,” Second Volume of Christmas Box Containing the Following Bagatelles for Juvenile Amusement …, music by James Hook, 1798. (Google Books)

    • Mother Goose’s Quarto: or Melodies Complete, ca. 1825.

    • Nurse Lovechild’s Ditties for the Nursery, ca. 1830. “The Brewer, the Baker, The Candle‐stick maker, ….”

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies, [1833]. (Internet Archive)

    • The Royal Infant Opera, Composed Expressly for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, & Inscribed to Every British Mother, music by Olivia Buckley, [1842?]. “The drummer, the baker, the candlestick maker ….” (HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust) (4th ed., 1846, HathiTrust)

    • The Cries of Banbury and London, and Celebrated Stories, ca. 1843. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Nursery Rhymes, Tales and Jingles, 1844.

    • The Book of Nursery Rhymes Complete: From the Creation of the World to the Present Time, 1846. (HathiTrust)

    • The Book of Nursery Rhymes, Tales, and Fables: A Gift for All Seasons, ed. Lawrence Lovechild, 1846. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Prophecy from the Potato,” Punch, or The London Charivari, vol. 10, no. 8?, 7 Mar. 1846. (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin Little Tom Tucker; or, The Fine Lady of Banbury Cross, and the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe: Grand Comic Pantomime, by the Brothers Grinn, [1864?]. (Internet Archive)

Miss Muffet or Miss Mopsey or Mary Ester is, by most accounts, an English girl who is frightened by a spider she encounters while sitting eating curds and whey. She is then frightened over the years by various other beings that come along, giving the impression she has a rather fearful temperament in general. In some sources, her name is rendered as Miss Muffett and Miss Moffet. Her counterpart in the world of Mother Wild Goose is Miss Turtle, a turtle that encounters a frog.

(Little Sister Snow, sister of Boy Blue, nickname from excitement over receiving a Christmas gift of a fur muff, no spiders or dairy products)

• • “Little Miss Muffet,” “Little Miss Muffett” or “Little Miss Moffet” (nursery rhyme), Roud 20605, 1800s or earlier. (ODNR 369, p. 323)

    • Songs for the Nursery, 1805.

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies, [1833]. (Internet Archive)

    • Traditional Nursery Songs of England: with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, ed. Felix Summerly, 1843. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Mary Ester sat upon a tester” (variant), 1810s or earlier.

    • Songs for the Nursery, 1812 ed.

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust)

    • The Book of Nursery Rhymes Complete: from the Creation of the World to the Present Time, 1846. (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Miss Mopsey” (variant), The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Miss Muffet” (rhyme), Tick, Tick, Tick and Other Rhymes, [188‒?]. (HathiTrust)

  • “Nursery Rhymes,” by R. H. [Rachel Harriette] Busk (d. 1907), Notes and Queries, ser. 7, vol. 10, no. 250, 11 Oct. 1890. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google Books)

  • “Little Miss Muffett and the Magic Web,” Little Miss Muffet and Other Good Stories, 1905. (Internet Archive) Also Jack Frost, p. 47.

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/BGMG141.html

Tom Piper

See the separate page.

Three little pigs (best moved to fairy‐tale page)

• • “The Outwitted Fox,” English Forests and Forest Trees, Historical, Legendary, and Descriptive, ch. 9, (May) 1853. (HathiTrust)

  • “How Three Little Pigs Had the Best of the Great, Wicked Ogre,” by Howard Pyle, Harper’s Young People: An Illustrated Weekly, vol. 7, no. 352, 27 July 1886. (Internet Archive)

The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

See the separate page.

Humpty Dumpty or Humpty‐Dumpty is, by most accounts, an individual who falls from atop a wall and thereby suffers substantial irreparable damage, although sources differ on the nature and extent of his injury. He is usually portrayed as either an anthropomorphic egg or as a human being with some superficially egglike characteristic such as a round belly, bald head or hunched back, although there are also other depictions (a boy, a pumpkin, an elephant, a moose). The various texts that describe him are in great disagreement over who he is exactly and how he came to have his fall. In some printings of the original rhyme, he is called Humpti Dumpti and Rowly Bowly, and when variants thereof in other languages are translated back into English, he is called Little Trille, Thille Lille and Lille Bulle. One early chapbook spells his name Humpty Dumty.

(Jack o’ Lantern made of a pumpkin, knocked from atop a stone wall by Mrs. Cow, the cow of Tommy Tucker’s/Tom Piper’s foster parents, Grandma and Grandpa Hall)

• • “Humpty Dumpty” (nursery rhyme), Roud 13026, 1790s or earlier. (ODNR 233, p. 213)

    • Juvenile Amusements, music by Samuel Arnold, 1797.

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus, 1810. (HathiTrust)

    • Nurse Lovechild’s Ditties for the Nursery, ca. 1830.

    • American Girl’s Book: or Occupation for Play Hours, by Eliza Leslie, 1831. As Rowly bowly. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust) (variant, 4th ed., 1846, HathiTrust)

    • Traditional Nursery Songs of England: with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, ed. Felix Summerly, 1843. (Internet Archive)

  • “Lille Trille,” “Lille Bylle,” “Lille Trölle” (Danish versions), “Lille Bulle” and “Thille Lille” (Swedish versions), 1820s or earlier.

    • Danſke Folkeſagn, by Just Mathias Thiele, 1820–23.

    • Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: A Sequel to The Nursery Rhymes of England, by James Orchard Halliwell, 1849. (HathiTrust)

    • Germanische Mythen, collected by Wilhelm Mannhardt, (Apr.) 1858. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumty a.k.a. The Real History of Humpty Dumpty, ca. 1840. (OCLC 270778633, 317579764) (Morgan citation) (OL24339017W)

  • Pictorial Humpty Dumpty (panoramic book), illustrated by Aliqui, 1842.

  • “Wirgele, Wargele,” “Annebadadeli,” “Hümpelken, Pümpelken” et al. (German versions), 1850s or earlier.

    • “Wirgele, Wargele,” Deutſche Kinder‐Reime und Kinder‐Spiele aus Schwaben, collected by Ernſt Meier, 1851. (HathiTrust)

    • “Annebadadeli,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde, vol. 1, by Johann Wilhelm Wolf, 1853. (HathiTrust)

    • “Hümpelken, pümpelken” and “Gigele Gagele,” Germanische Mythen, collected by Wilhelm Mannhardt, (Apr.) 1858. (HathiTrust)

    • “Etje papetje,” Am Ur‐Quell: Monatschrift für Volkkunde, vol. 5, by Friedrich S. Krauss (d. 1934), 1894. (HathiTrust)

    • “Trille, Trölle,” Deutſches Kinderlied und Kinderſpiel: Volksüberlieferungen aus allen Landen deutſcher Zunge, geſammelt, geordnet und mit Angabe der Quellen, erläuternden Anmerkungen und den zugehörigen Melodien, collected by Franz Magnus Böhme (d. 1898), 1897. (HathiTrust)

    • “Hobberti Bob,” “Pennsylvania German Riddles and Nursery Rhymes,” The Journal of American Folk‐Lore, vol. 19, no. 73, Apr.–June 1906. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumpty, Crook’d Back Dick & Jane Shore! or, Harlequin Pearl Prince and Grape Queen, by Mr. Melbourne, [1857?] (1856–57). (HathiTrust) (Mother Goose, Mother Shipton, Christmas)

  • “Boule Boule” (French version), 1860s or earlier.

    • Glossaire étymologique montois ou Dictionnaire du Wallon de Mons et de la plus grande partie du Hainaut, by Joseph Désiré Sigart, 1866. (2nd ed., 1870, HathiTrust)

    • Rimes et jeux de l’enfance, by Eugène Rolland (d. 1909), (Apr.) 1883. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumpty, by George L. Fox, music by Anthony Reiff, Jr., (Mar.) 1868. (program, NYPL) (synopsis, NYPL) (Goody Two Shoes, Tommy Tucker)

    • Humpty Dumpty: A Playful Paraphrase, by Mark Vale, illustrated by Thomas Nast, (Mar.) 1868. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumpty, by H. T. Arden, Lyceum Theatre, 1868.

  • The (Eggs)traordinary Adventures of the Humpty Dumpty Family, by Gertrude Madge, [1903]. (UK work may not be in the public domain in its country of origin.)

  • The True Story of Humpty Dumpty: How He Was Rescued by Three Mortal Children in Make Believe Land, by Anna Alice Chapin, illustrated by Ethel Franklin Betts, (Oct.) 1905. (Internet Archive)

  • Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes, by Lina Eckenstein (d. 1931), 1906. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • “Humpty Dumpty” (poem), by Inez F. Foster, St. Nicholas, vol. 37, no. 1, Nov. 1909. (Internet Archive)

  • Humpty Dumpty: A Pantomime in a Prologue and One Act … Together with a Description of the Costumes—Cast of the Characters—Entrances and Exits—Relative Positions of the Performers on the Stage, and the Whole of the Stage Business, by John Denier, Sergel’s Acting Drama, no. 513, [1910?]. Based on the 1868 pantomime by Fox above. (HathiTrust) (NYPL) (pdf, NYPL)

  • The New Humpty‐Dumpty, by Daniel Chaucer (pseud. of Ford Madox Ford) (d. 1939), 1912. (HathiTrust)

  • “Hillerin Lillerin” (Finnish version), 1910s or earlier.

    • Vertailevia arvoitustutkimuksia: Tulta ja sauhua, harakkaa ja munaa merkitsevät arvoitukset, by Antti Aarne (d. 1925), 1917. (HathiTrust)

    • Translated into German, Vergleichende Rätselforschungen, by Antti Aarne (d. 1925), 1918. (HathiTrust)

  • Humpty Dumpty, by Ben Hecht, (Oct.) 1924. (HathiTrust)

  • The Circus Comes to School: A Plan Whereby the Circus Becomes Recreational and Educational, by Averil Tibbels, 1937. (HathiTrust)

Filmography — Greedy Humpty Dumpty, 1936.

• See also Nathan DeHoff, “It’s an Egg’s Life,” VoVatia, 5 Feb. 2015.

https://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/BGMG670.html

Mother Hubbard

See the separate page.

Curly Locks is an English girl who is noted by a suitor as deserving more in life than the menial tasks she is obliged to perform, and she is often portrayed, at least in illustrations, as later indeed abandoning these tasks in favor of a more luxurious lifestyle, even though the nursery rhyme in which she first appears does not explicitly say so. A text from 1885 asserts that her real name is Alice, but a text from 1896 instead states her real name is May. The 1875 book Nine Little Goslings seems to make the claim that Curly Locks is the American girl Joanna “Johnnie” Carr who is documented in the Katy Books beginning in 1872.

• • “Pussy cat, pussy cat, Wilt thou be mine ?” or “Curly Locks” (rhyme), Roud 19787, 1790s or earlier. (ODNR 122, p. 140)

    • Infant Institutes, Part the First; or, A Nurserical Essay on the Poetry, Lyric and Allegorical, of the Earlier Ages, &c., 1797.

    • The Newest Christmas Box, Containing a Variety of Bagatelles Arranged for One, Two or Three Voices and the Piano‐forte, for Juvenile Amusement, music by Reginald Spofforth, c. 1797.

    • Songs for the Nursery Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, 1805. “Bonny lass ! bonny lass ! ….” (1808, Internet Archive)

    • Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus, part 3, 1810. “Pussy cat, pussy cat ….” (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, 1842. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Traditional Nursery Songs of England: with Pictures by Eminent Modern Artists, ed. Felix Summerly, 1843. “Bonnie lass ! bonnie lass ! ….” (Internet Archive)

    • Nursery Rhymes, with the Tunes to Which They Are Still Sung in the Nurseries of England, collected by Edward F. Rimbault, 1846. (1861 or later, HathiTrust)

    • “Cumberland Courtship,” Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England, 5th ed., collected by James Orchard Halliwell, [1853?]. (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose; or, National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, music by James William Elliott, 1872. (HathiTrust)

    • “Curly Locks”/“This Little Piggy Went to Market” (medley), Parodies: Nursery Rhymes Re‐set for Voice & Piano, vol. 1, by Herbert Hughes (d. 1937), 1921. (HathiTrust)

  • Little Curly Locks, Curly Locks series, 1885. (Internet Archive)

  • “Curly Locks” (poem), by James Whitcomb Riley, The Indianapolis Journal, 2 Aug. 1885. Reprinted in Old‐Fashioned Roses, 1888. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Land of the Clucking Ox” (poem), by Agnes Lee, uncredited illustration, The Chap‐Book, vol. 5, no. 9, 15 Sept. 1896. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in The Round Rabbit, illustration by Rose Cecil Latham O’Neill, (Dec.) 1898. (Internet Archive)

  • Simple Simon: A Mother Goose Extravaganza, by Robert Ayres Barnet (d. 1933), music by Alfred Baldwin Sloane (d. 1925) and George L. Tracy (d. 1921), (Feb.?) 1897. (review, HathiTrust) (song list with melodies, GSA)

  • The April Baby’s Book of Tunes with the Story of How They Came to Be Written, by Elizabeth von Arnim (d. 1941), illustrated by Kate Greenaway (d. 1901), 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • Babes in Toyland (operetta), libretto by Glen MacDonough, music by Victor Herbert, 1903. (transcript) (later script)

  • Babes in Toyland (novelization), by Glenn MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin, illustrated by Ethel Franklin Betts, 1904. (HathiTrust)

  • “Curly Locks! Curly Locks!/Wilt thou be Mine?” (rhyme), The Bull Moose Mother Goose, by Sallie Macrum Cubbage, 1912. (HathiTrust)

  • “An Afternoon Call: Rote Song,” Second Year Music, by Hollis Dann, Hollis Dann Music Course, 1915. (HathiTrust)

  • The Modern Mother Goose: A Play in Three Acts, by Helen Hamilton, 1916. (Internet Archive)

  • “Curly Locks, Curly Locks, long life be thine” (rhyme), Mother Goose Comes to Portland, by Frederic W. Freeman, 1918. (Internet Archive)

  • The Real Personages of Mother Goose, by Katherine Elwes Thomas, 1930. (HathiTrust)

http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2122.html

Multiple

• • Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book, by Nurſe Lovechild (pseud., possibly of Mary Cooper), [illustrated by George Bickham Jr., (May) 1744]. Tom Thumb, Cock Robin. (most pages, BL)

  • Nancy Cock’s Song‐book, for All Little Miſſes and Maſters: To Be Sung to Them by Their Nurſes, ’Till They Can Sing Them Themſelves, by Nurſe Lovechild (pseud.), [(May) 1744]. (1795 ed.)

  • The Famous Tommy Thumb’s Little Story‐book, ca. 1760.

  • Mother Gooſe’s Melody: or, Sonnets for the Cradle …, [illustrated by Thomas Bewick, 1772 (estimates in the 1760s apparently having been erroneous)]. Woman Toſſed, Wiſe Men of Gotham. (1784, reprinted 1889, Internet Archive) (1784, reprinted 1889, HathiTrust) (1791, Ind. U.) (1791, reprinted 1904, Internet Archive) (1791, reprinted 1904, HathiTrust) (1794, reprinted 1945, HathiTrust) (1817 ed., some pages, BL)

  • Infant Inſtitutes, Part the Firſt, or, A Nurſerical Eſſay on the Poetry, Lyric and Allegorical of the Earlier Ages, by Baptiſt Noel Turner, 1797. Lady of Banbury Croſs, Betty Pringle’s pig, Boy Blue, Puſſy cat (Curly Locks), Tommy o’Linne (Johnny Green), Moon Cow, Little Huſband, Miſtreſs Mary, Woman Toſſed Up, Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Peter Pumpkin.

  • Songs for the Nursery Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, [illustrated by William Marshall Craig,] 1805. (1808?, Internet Archive)

  • Nursery Rhymes, [between 1780 and 1790, per the librarians, but must have been published no earlier than 1806 as it reprints “Learning to Go Alone” (“Come, my darling, come away”), first published that year]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • A History of Goody Two Shoes’ Birth‐day, in Verse, 1809. Tom Tucker. (Internet Archive)

  • Gammer Gurton’s Garland: or, The Nursery Parnassus; A Choice Collection of Pretty Songs and Verses, for the Amusement of All Little Good Children Who Can Neither Read nor Run, collected by Joseph Ritson, 1810. Humpty Dumpty, Taffy the Welshman. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Goose’s Quarto : or, Melodies Complete[;] Some of Which Have Recently Been Discovered Among the Manuscripts in Herculaneum, and of Course Have Never Before Appeared in Print[,] the Others Diligently Compared with the Emendations of the Most Approved Annotators, the True Readings Restored, and Corruptions Expunged …, [illustrated by Abel Bowen, Nathaniel Dearborn, Shubael D. Childs and others, including reprints of William Marshall Craig, between 1824 and 1833].

    • Mother Goose’s Melodies: The Only Pure Edition; Containing All That Have Ever Come to Light of Her Memorable Writings, Together with Those Which Have Been Discovered Among the Mss. of Herculaneum, Likewise Every One Recently Found in the Same Stone Box Which Hold the Golden Plates of the Book of Mormon; The Whole Compared, Revised, and Sanctioned, by One of the Annotators of the Goose Family …, 1833. Lion and Unicorn, Tom Thumb × 2, Jack Sprat, King Arthur. (Internet Archive)

  • Nurse Lovechild’s Ditties for the Nursery, [ca. 1830]. (TPL)

  • An Essay on the Archaiology of Popular English Phrases and Nursery Rhymes, by John Bellenden Ker Gawler, 1834. Jack Sprat, Thumb Husband, Tommy Tucker, Man Wondrous Wise, Taffy. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust, supplement)

    • Essay on the Archæology of Our Popular Phrases, Terms and Nursery Rhymes, 1840. Black Sheep, Curly Locks, Humpty Dumpty, Man in the Moon, Wise Men of Gotham, Woman Tossed Up. (HathiTrust, vol. 1) (HathiTrust, vol. 2) (HathiTrust, supplement)

  • “Nursery Rhymes,” Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 37, no. 236, June 1835. Lion and Unicorn, House‐Builder Jack, Man in the Moon, Wondrous Wise Man, Hop o’ My Thumb, Humpty Dumpty. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mother Goose’s Melodies” (humorous essay and book review), by “a Georgia reviewer,” Southern Literary Messenger, vol. 5, no. 9, Sept. 1839. (HathiTrust)

  • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, collected by James Halliwell‐Phillipps, 1842. King Arthur, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe, Lion and Unicorn, Doctor Faustus (or Foster), Tom Thumb?, Simple Simon, Pieman, Humpty Dumpty, Jesus. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • The Royal Infant Opera, Composed Expressly for His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, & Inscribed to Every British Mother, music by Olivia Buckley, [1842?]. Black Sheep, Thumb Husband, Boy Blue. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Goose for Grown Folks: A Christmas Reading, by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, 1859. Boy Blue, Miss Muffet, Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty. (Internet Archive)

  • The Grand Christmas Pantomime Entitled, The Queen of Hearts and the Wonderful Tarts; or, Harlequin Mother Goose and the Golden Eggs, (Dec.) 1863. Mother Goose, King and Queen of Hearts, other face cards. (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin Little Tom Tucker; or, The Fine Lady of Banbury Cross, and the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe: Grand Comic Pantomime, by the Brothers Grinn, [1864?]. Personifications of various holidays, Tom Tucker, Taffy. (Internet Archive)

  • The Illustrated Book of Nursery Rhymes and Songs with Music, ed. T. L. [Thomas Legerwood] Hately, illustrated by Keely Halswelle, 1865. (Google Books)

  • Pat‐a‐Cake, Pat‐a‐Cake, Baker’s Man; or, Harlequin Bah! Bah! Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool? (pantomime), 1865. (review, HathiTrust)

  • The Fairy Egg, and What It Held; by Three Friends, illustrated by Lucy Gibbons, 1869. Reprints? Mother Goose, Bo Peep, Boy Blue, Woman Tossed, Maid Who Lost Her Nose (Scelerata), Man in the Moon, Thumb Husband. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Goose’s Melodies for Children, or Songs for the Nursery with Notes, Music, and an Account of the Goose or Vergoose Family, illustrated by Henry L. Stephens and Gaston Fay, 1869. (HathiTrust)

  • The Lost Legends of the Nursery Songs, by Mary Senior Clark, “illustrated from the author’s designs,” mostly by Horace Harral (from signatures), 1870. Peep Peep (called Bo‐Peep, Stella), Jack Frost, Jack and Jill, Boy Blue, Margery Daw, Black Sheep, Dapple‐Grey, Mrs. Hippoharpy (Woman of Banbury Cross), Rivula (Rockaby Baby), Woman in a Shoe etc. (Internet Archive)

    • Illustrated by Alice B. Woodward (d. 1951), 1921. Illustrations might not enter the public domain until 2022. (HathiTrust)

  • Χηνῳδια, or The Classical Mother Goose, trans. J. B. [Jacob Bigelow], 1871. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Goose Set to Music, music by Mr. [J. W.] Elliott, multiple credited illustrators, 1871. Black Sheep, Humpty Dumpty, Simple Simon, Pieman, Tommy Tucker, Georgie Porgie, Cock Robin. (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose; or, National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, 1872. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Mother Goose’s Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs, 18‒‒. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive)

  • “A Nursery Rhyme for Big Folks,” [by Mary Mapes Dodge,] Harper’s Bazar, vol. 4, no. 28, 15 July 1871. Father Time, Jack and Jill, Jack Horner, House‐builder Jack, Man Wondrous Wise. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Rhymes and Jingles, 1874. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Interpolated into “Mother Goose Entertainment,” 1879.

  • Jack in the Box; or, Harlequin Little Tom Tucker and the Three Wise Men of Gotham: Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime, by Edward Litt Laman Blanchard, 1873. Tom Tucker, Wise Men of Gotham, Faerie Queen, Jack in the Box, Peter Piper, Mr. and Mrs. Jack Sprat, Humpty Dumpty, Simple Simon, Boy Blue, Miss Muffet. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Illustrations of Mother Goose’s Melodies, illustrated by Alexander Anderson, 1873. (HathiTrust) (Rutgers)

  • “Mother Goose and Her Friends: A Medley,” The School Stage: A Collection of Juvenile Acting Plays, by W. H. Venable, (July) 1873. Mother Goose, Tom Tucker, Johnny Horner, Jack Sprat and wife, Boy Blue, Miss Muffet, Tom Piper, Jack and Jill. Also Silver Hair (Goldilocks) and bears (44), Cinderella (113), Snow White (218). (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Mrs. Partington’s Mother Goose’s Melodies Containing All the Original Rhymes of Mother Goose, Besides Many Others of a Similar Character: And Full Directions for Costumes and Acting Some of the Principal Pieces; with a Choice Selection of Music, Especially Adapted to the Rhymes, ed. Uncle Willis [Stephen Willis Tilton], 1874. Tableau directions (127) excerpted and interpolated into “Mother Goose Entertainment,” 1879. (1889, Internet Archive)

  • Moonfolk: A True Account of the Home of the Fairy Tales, by Jane G. Austin, illustrated by W. J. Linton, 1874. Man Wondrous Wise, Mother Broomster (Woman Tossed Up), Marquis of Carabas (Puss in Boots), Jack Who Built a House, Bobby Shaftoe, Sindbad, Pegasus, Robinson Crusoe, Friday, Red Riding‐Hood, Bad Wolf, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Princess Dorma (Sleeping Beauty), Rumplestiltkins (Rumpelstiltskin), Lancelot, King Arthur, Merlin, Hop‐o’‐My‐Thumb. (HathiTrust) (1882, Internet Archive)

  • “Nursery Rhymes,” by Edward F. Rimbault, Notes and Queries: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc., ser. 5, vol. 3, no. 75, 5 June 1875. (HathiTrust)

  • Nine Little Goslings, by Susan Coolidge, 1875. Curly Locks. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Extraordinary Nursery Rhymes and Tales: New Yet Old, Translated from the Original Jingle into Comic Verse, by One Who Was Once a Child Himself, 1876. (HathiTrust)

  • The Bodleys Telling Stories, ch. 6, “Mother Goose and Friends,” [by Horace Scudder,] illustrations by Lucy Gibbons Morse and others, 1877. (Internet Archive) (1879, HathiTrust)

  • “Directions for a Mother Goose Party,” by Geo. B. Bartlett, 1877. Reprinted in New Games for Parlor and Lawn with a Few Old Friends in a New Dress, 1882. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Kingdom of Mother Goose: A New Fairy Play,” The Kingdom of Mother Goose: A New Fairy Play, for Vestry and School Entertainments; with Appropriate and Easy Music for Young Voices; Also, Original Recitations, Music, Motion‐Songs, &c., for School Exhibitions, by G. N. [Georgiana N.] Bordman, 1877. Mother Goose, Tom Piper, Taffy, Jack Sprat and wife, Man Wondrous Wise, Jack and Jill, Wise Men of Gotham, Boy Blue, Contrary Mary. Also, Mother Hubbard (26), Santa Claus (37), Red Riding Hood (45), Cinderella (46), Jack Frost (47). (HathiTrust)

  • Slices of Mother Goose, by Alice Parkman, illustrations by James Wells Champney, 1877. Miss Muffet, Black Sheep, Man in the Moon, Tommy Tucker. (Internet Archive)

  • The Fairy of the Fountain: A Musical Play in Two Acts, by George M. Baker, 1878. Boy Blue, Prince Clever. (HathiTrust)

  • The Lawrence “Mother Goose”: A Delightful Evening’s Entertainment; with Explicit Instructions for Carrying Out a Successful Programme, by E. D. K. [Kendall], 1878. Miss Muffet, Bo‐Peep, Boy Blue, Jack Sprat, wife (Peggy), Queen, King and Knave of Hearts, Jack and Jill, Simple Simon, Dr. Foster, Cinderella, Mother Goose, Contrary Mary, Pieman, Woman Tossed, Peter Piper, Tommy Tucker, Bobby Shaftoe, Maid Who Lost Nose, Jacky Horner, Man in the Moon, Peter Pumpkin‐Eater, both wives, Wise Men of Gotham, ghost of Solomon Grundy, Mother Hubbard, Jack the Giant Killer, Sindbad, Red Riding Hood, Robinson Crusoe, Friday, Aladdin, Dame Trot, Mary and (toy) lamb, Beauty and Beast, Blue Beard, ghosts of wives, Woman Who Lived in Shoe, Tom Piper, Humpty Dumpty, Man Wondrous Wise. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Truth’s Melodies: Common Sense for Children; a Kindergarten, by Mrs. E. P. Miller [Nancy Minerva Miller], 1878. Mother Goose, Humpty‐Dumpty, Bo‐Peep, Jack Horner, Boy Blue, Zodiac figures, Moses. (Internet Archive) (enlarged, 1887, Internet Archive)

  • “Mother Goose’s May Party,” by Agnes Carr, illustration by Jessie Curtis, Harper’s Young People, vol. 1, no. 27, 4 May 1880. (HathiTrust + p. 134)

  • “Humpty Dumpty and the Magic Fire‐crackers,” by Agnes Carr, Harper’s Young People, vol. 1, no. 36, 6 July 1880. Humpty Dumpty, Mother Goose. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Marriage of Santa Claus” (poem), The Reading Club and Handy Speaker: Being Serious, Humorous, Pathetic, Patriotic, and Dramatic Selections in Prose and Poetry, for Readings and Recitations, no. 9, ed. George Melville Baker, 1881. Mother Goose, Boy Blue, Simple Simon, Pieman, Tommy Tucker, Reindeer. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive) (also tableau)

  • Humpty Dumpty; or, The Knave of Hearts and the Missing Tarts (pantomime), by George Thorne (d. 1922) and F. Grove Palmer (d. 1927), [1882].

  • “The Adventures of Mrs. Wishing‐to‐Be,” The Adventures of Mrs. Wishing‐to‐Be and Other Stories, by Alice Corkran (d. 1916), uncredited illustrations, [Oct. 1882]. Cinderella, Babes in the Wood, Beanstalk Jack/Jack the Giant‐Killer/Jack Who Built a House (Sprat too?), Goody Two Shoes, Red Riding Hood, Tom Thumb, Woman Tossed Up, Puss in Boots, Robinson Crusoe, Silver Hair (Goldilocks), Three Bears, Mother Goose, Wide Awake Beauty (Sleeping Beauty), Beauty and the Beast, Blue Beard, Willy Winkey (Winkie). (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • In No‐Man’s Land: A Wonder Story, by Elbridge S. Brooks, illustrations by F. Childe Hassam, serialized in Wide Awake, 1883–84. Jumping Joan, Sallie Waters, Crooked Man, Wise Men of Gotham, Georgy Porgy, Humpty Dumpty, Jumping Cow, Man in the Moon (illustration).

    • Ch. 1, vol. 18, no. 1, Dec. 1883. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 2, vol. 18, no. 2, Jan. 1884. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 3, vol. 18, no. 3, Feb. 1884. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 4, vol. 18, no. 4, Mar. 1884. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 5, vol. 18, no. 5, Apr. 1884. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 6, vol. 18, no. 6, May 1884. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 7, vol. 19, no. 1, June 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 8, vol. 19, no. 2, July 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 9, vol. 19, no. 3, Aug. 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 10, vol. 19, no. 4, Sept. 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 11, vol. 19, no. 5, Oct. 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Ch. 12, vol. 19, no. 6, Nov. 1884. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in book form, 1885. (Internet Archive)

  • Fairy’s Album with Rhymes of Fairyland, 1884. (Earlier books by O. M. Dunham are reliably in the public domain.) Bo‐Peep, Jack and Jill, Boy‐Blue, Simple Simon, Giant‐Killing Jack, Bean‐stalk Jack, Johnnie Horner, Cinderella, personifications of Peace and War. (Internet Archive)

  • “Father Gander” (poem), by G. T. Lanigan (George T. Lanigan posthumously?), Harper’s Young People, vol. 8, no. 372, 14 Dec. 1886. Beanstalk Jack, Bad Wolf, Boy Blue. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mistress Mary, Quite Contrary,” The Doll Dramas: The Dolls’ Drama and Other Plays, by Constance Milman (d. 1936), [1890]. Maid Who Lost Her Nose, Comet, Moon Cow, Bo‐peep, Man in the Moon, Saturn, constellation bear, Daffy‐down‐dilly. (HathiTrust)

  • Wanted—a King, by Maggie Browne (d. 1937), illustration by Harry Furniss (d. 1925), 1890. Jack Horner, Jack and Jill, Bo‐peep, Boy Blue, Man in the Moon, Miss Muffet, Mother Hubbard, Humpty Dumpty, Mary Contrary, Johnny Green, Richard Bird, Simple Simon. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Mother Goose Carnival,” by Mrs. John D. Thayer, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 9, no. 2, Jan. 1892. Boy Blue, Mother Goose, Spratt and wife, Miss Muffit (Muffet), Bobby Shafto, Wise Men of Gotham, Woman Sweeping the Sky, Nimble Jack, Tommy Tucker, Dr. Foster, Man Who Had a Little Gun, Willie Winkie, Simple Simon, Pieman, King Arthur, Taffy, Sleeping Beauty, Prince (Charming), Sinbad, Golden‐Locks, Jack (Spriggins), Robinson Crusoe, Friday, Beauty and the Beast, Mary and lamb, Liberty, George Washington. (HathiTrust)

  • Simple Simon: A Mother Goose Extravaganza, by Robert Ayres Barnet (d. 1933), music by Alfred Baldwin Sloane (d. 1925) and George L. Tracy (d. 1921), (8 Feb.) 1897. Simple Simon, Tom Tucker, Pieman, Witch O’Whither‐so‐high, Moirai. (review, HathiTrust) (song list with melodies, GSA)

  • “In These Bicycle Days,” Lyra Cyclus or the Bards and the Bicycle: Being a Collection of Merry and Melodious Metrical Conceits Anent the Wheel, ed. Edmond Redmond, 1897. Jack Spratt. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Goose in Prose, by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Maxfield Parrish, 1897. Boy Blue, Black Sheep, Tommy Tucker, Humpty Dumpty, Miss Muffet. (Internet Archive)

  • The Nursery Rhyme Book, ed. Andrew Lang, illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke (d. 1940), 1897. (Internet Archive) (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “A Smile Within a Tear,” A Smile Within a Tear and Other Fairy Stories, by Guendolen Ramsden (d. 1910), two illustrations by Bertha Newcombe (d. 1947), 1897. Mary and Lamb. (Google Books) (BL) (Internet Archive, two pages illegible)

  • “Where Some Old Nursery Friends Came From,” by Agnes Carr Sage, Harper’s Round Table, vol. 18, no. 923, 6 July 1897. (HathiTrust)

  • “Christmas Eve at Mother Hubbard’s (A Christmas Play for School or Parlor Entertainment),” by S. J. D., St. Nicholas, vol. 25, no. 3, Jan. 1898. Miss Muffet, Boy Blue, Simple Simon, Santa Claus. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • The Rhymes of Father Goosie Gander: A Companion and Sequel to Mother Goose Melodies, by Blanche Carpenter Huleatt and Belle Carpenter Sabin, illustrated by Blanche Carpenter Huleatt, 1898. Jack So Nimble, Uncle Sam, Tommy Tucker, Dr. Foster, Simple Simon, Boy Blue. (Internet Archive) (UF)

  • “Christmas Chimes Cantata or Santa Claus’ Dilemma,” by Maude M. Jackson, Practical Programs for School and Home Entertainments …, 1899. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) Mother Goose, Jack Horner, Cinderella, Boy Blue, Red Riding Hood, Beauty, Forlorn Maiden, Woman on White Horse (Banbury Cross), Nimble Jack, Scheherezade, Mistress Mary, Miss Moffett (Muffet).

  • Father Goose: His Book, by L. Frank Baum, 1899. Jack Pumpkinhead?, Jack o’ the Bean, Jack the Giant Killer, George Washington. (HathiTrust)

  • The April Baby’s Book of Tunes with the Story of How They Came to Be Written, by Elizabeth von Arnim (d. 1941), illustrated by Kate Greenaway (d. 1901), 1900. Miss Muffet, Jesus. (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Goose for Grown‐Ups, by Guy Wetmore Carryl, illustrated by Peter Newell and Gustave Verbeek, 1900. (See note about earlier publications.) Miss Muffet, Simple Simon, Pieman, Boy Blue, Humpty Dumpty, Jack Sprat and Wife. (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Wild Goose and Her Wild Beast Show, by L. J. Bridgman, 1900. Mother Goose, Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker (camel), Tommy Tucker (burro), Black Sheep (cow), Thumb Husband (chick), Miss Muffet (turtle), Jack Sprat (cat), Man in the Moon, Mary Lamb, Man Wondrous Wise (owl), Humpty Dumpty (elephant). (Internet Archive)

  • As the Goose Flies, by Katharine Pyle, 1901. Mother Goose, Tom the Piper’s Son, Mammy’s Maid (Opie 316, p. 281, 1805), King Cole, Banbury Lady, Boy Blue, Little Piggies (Thumbie, Fatty, Middling, Ringling, Littlesie), Beanstalk Jack, giant’s wife (Woman Tossed?), Seven Dwarfs, Snow‐White (both, only anecdotally, one called Snowdrop), Bad Wolf, Huntsman, Genie of the Lamp, Fatima and Anne (Bluebeard), Princess Goldenhair or Goldilocks. (Internet Archive)

  • The Goosenbury Pilgrims: A Child’s Drama; Being the Adventures of the Mother Goose People on a Pilgrimage to St. Ives; Wherein Are Recounted Such Matters of Note as Their Taking Luncheon with the Three Bears; Their Falling in with Bluebeard and with Jack the Giant‐Killer; How They Were, in Some Sort, Present at a Party in the Moon; Wherein, Also, the Crooked Man Is Broken Straight, Nursed Back to Life by Ghosts at the Second Remove, and Relieved of His Final Crookedness by the Great Mogul; How the Animals Take a Vacation and Are Locked into It; How the Pilgrims Are Rescued by Robin the Bobbin from a Great and Uncommon Treeing, Are Entertained by the Genie at the Castle of the Sleeping Beauty; and, Finally, How They Arrive at St. Ives, and the Manner of Their Escape Therefrom, by Ellen Rolfe Veblen, 1901. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Goose’s Menagerie, by Carolyn Wells, illustrated by Peter Newell, 1901. Mother Hubbard’s dog, Mary’s lamb, Miss Muffett’s spider, Five Little Pigs, Big Bad Wolf, Cow That Jumped over the Moon, Four‐and‐Twenty Blackbirds, Three Blind Mice, Frog Who Would a‐Wooing Go, Three Bears, Pussy‐Cat Who Visited the Queen, Mouse That Ran up the Clock, Lion and Unicorn, Dog That Laughed. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google Books)

  • Old King Cole’s Book of Nursery Rhymes, illustrated by Byam Shaw, 1901. King Cole, Little Husband, Snail Tailors, Woman Who Rode a Broom, Five Pigs, Lion and Unicorn, Bo‐Peep, Goosey Gander, Rock‐a‐Bye Baby, Peter Piper, Wise Men of Gotham, Miss Muffet, Simple Simon, Blind Mice. (1980 facsimile ed., Internet Archive) (oclc) (gr) (lt)

  • Runaway Robinson, by Charles M. Snyder, illustrated by George R. Brill, 1901. Robinson Crusoe, Humpty Dumpty, Mother Goose, Boy Blue, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Sandman, Cock Robin, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, Simple Simon, Pieman, Queen of Hearts. (HathiTrust)

  • In Happy Far‐Away Land, by Ruth Kimball Gardiner from tales told by Frances Palmer Kimball, 1902. King and Queen of Hearts, Jack Sprat and wife, Simple Simon, Pieman, Nimble Jack, Tommy Tucker. (Internet Archive)

  • Moon Children, by Laura Dayton Fessenden, illustrated by Robert J. Campbell, 1902. Mother Goose, Nimble Jack, King Arthur and others. (synopsis, Google) (synopsis, WorldCat)

  • Yankee Mother Goose, by Benj. F. Cobb, illustrated by Ella S. Brison, 1902. Man in the Moon (illustration only), Man Wondrous Wise (Boy Wondrous Good), Woman Tossed Up, Miss Snow, Robinson Crusoe, Santa Claus, Boy Blue. (Internet Archive)

  • Miss Muffet’s Christmas Party, by Samuel McChord Crothers, illustrated by Olive M. Long, (Nov.) 1902. Miss Muffet, Mr. Spider, Cinderella and Prince, Tom Sawyer, Alice and Wonderlanders (March Hare, Cheshire Cat, Duchess etc.), Marsh King and daughter, Aladdin, man from Back of the North Wind, Lemuel Gulliver and Lilliputians, Sindbad, Baron Munchausen, Wise Men of Gotham, Hindbad, Shoemaker and elves, Hans in Luck, Giant Despair, Old Woman (but which?), Sandford and Merton, Humpty Dumpty, Rollo Halliday, Rosamond (Purple Jar), Haroun al Raschid, Mary and Bo‐Peep, Royal Mendicants, Esop (Æsop), Tortoise and Hare, Uncle Remus, Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera, Reid’s Boy Hunters, Wynken, Blynken and Nod, Field’s Rockaby Lady, Rumpelstiltzkin, Woman Who Lived on Victuals and Drink, Pied Piper, Red Riding‐Hood’s grandmother, Dancing Princesses, Man in the Moon (invitation and illustration only), Mother Goose. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Father Goose” (song), by W. Brian Hooker and Thomas G. Shepard, Yale Melodies: A Collection of the Latest Songs Used by the Yale University Glee Club, 1903. (HathiTrust)

  • Foxy Grandpa’s Mother Goose, by Bunny (pseud. of Carl E. Schultze), 1903.

  • Stories of Mother Goose Village, by Madge A. Bigham (d. 1957), illustrated by Ella S. Brison, (Jan.) 1903. “The story of Little Miss Muffet’s Valentine is included through the courtesy of the Kindergarten Magazine.” Mother Goose, Johnny Armstrong, Polly Flinders, Elizabeth Elspeth etc., Crooked Man, Tommy Grace, Dr. Foster, Tommy Tucker, Tommy Green, Tommy Tittlemouse, Tommy Trout, Lazy Tom, Tommy Snooks, Tom Piper, Tom Thumb, Tommy Tinker, Jack Horner, Simple Simon, Tee Wee, Jack‐a‐Dandy, Johnny Pringle, Humpty Dumpty, Sally Waters, Taffy, Curly Locks, Bobby Shaftoe, Miss Muffet, Woman under the Hill, Miller of Dee, Jack‐be‐Nimble, Nancy Etticote, Peter Piper, Margery Daw, Rowley Powley (Georgie), Dicky Long, Jack and Jill, Frost King, Peter Pumpkin, Cinderella, Wise Men of Gotham, Jumping Joan, Mary Contrary, Peg, Woman Who Sells Eggs, Bo‐Peep, Boy Blue, Woman in a Shoe, Mother Twitchett, King Sun, Woman Tossed, Queen Moon, Sleeping Princess, Jack Sprat, Mother Hubbard and Fido, Daffy‐down‐dilly, Queen of Hearts, Solomon Grundy. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • The Surprising Adventures of the Man in the Moon, Showing How, in Company with Santa Claus, Robinson Crusoe, Cinderella and Her Prince, Jack the Giant Killer, Little Red Riding Hood, Old Mother Hubbard, Jack Sprat and His Wife, Tommy Tucker and Some Others, He Made a Remarkable Tour over Land and Sea and Through the Air, by Ray M. Steward (pseudonym of Edward Stratemeyer), illustrated by L. J. Bridgman, 1903. Robinson Crusoe, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Jack the Giant Killer, Jack Sprat and wife, Tommy Tucker. (example) (Google Books sans preview)

  • Babes in Toyland (operetta), libretto by Glen MacDonough, music by Victor Herbert, (Oct.) 1903. Tom Piper, Contrary Mary, Bo‐Peep, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Tommy Tucker, Sallie Waters, Jack and Jill, Miss Muffet, Curly Locks, Red Riding‐Hood, Bobby Shaftoe, Simple Simon, Boy Blue. (transcript) (later script)

  • “Reunion at Mother Goose’s,” by Carolyn Wells, illustrations by J. J. Gould, The Saturday Evening Post, vol. 176, no. 23, 5 Dec. 1903. Mother Goose, Cinderella, Tommy Tucker (Thomasino Tuckerino). (HathiTrust)

  • “Tito’s Home‐made Picture‐Book,” by George Frederick Welsford, St. Nicholas, vol. 31, no. 7, May 1904. Humpty Dumpty, Mary’s Lamb, Black Sheep, Wolf Gray, Pieman, three pigs. (Internet Archive)

  • Babes in Toyland (novelization), by Glenn MacDonough and Anna Alice Chapin, 1904. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Message to Mother Goose,” by Ellen Manly, illustrated by George Varian, St. Nicholas, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec. 1904. Boy Blue, Knave of Hearts, Miss Muffet, Jack Sprat, Tommy Tucker, Mother Goose. (Internet Archive)

  • The True Story of Humpty Dumpty: How He Was Rescued by Three Mortal Children in Make Believe Land, by Anna Alice Chapin, illustrated by Ethel Franklin Betts, (Oct.) 1905. Mother Goose, Fairy Queen, Santa Claus. (Internet Archive)

  • Boy Blue and His Friends, by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell, illustrated by Maud Tousey, 1906. Boy Blue, Mary Lamb and Fleecy, Tommy Tucker, Five Pigs, Miss Muffet, Humpty Dumpty. (Internet Archive)

  • Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes, by Lina Eckenstein (d. 1931), 1906. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

  • Melodic First Reader, by Frederic H. Ripley and Thomas Tapper, Natural Music Course, 1906. Three Pigs, Black Sheep, Jesus, Lady Moon. (Internet Archive) (See also “A Pretty Thing,” Rhymes for the Nursery, 1837, on HathiTrust.)

  • Mrs. Goose: Her Book, by Maurice Switzer, 1906. Boy Blue, Knave of Hearts, Jack Spratt, Butcher etc., Miss Muffet, Mary Lamb, Humpty Dumpty, Simple Simon, Pieman, Ice King. (HathiTrust)

  • A Book of Plays for Little Actors, by Emma L. Johnston and Madalene E. Barnum, illustrated by Sarah Noble Ives, 1907. Santa Claus, Mary and lamb, teacher Miss Jones, George Washington, unnamed fairies, Sleeping Beauty (Princess Rose). (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, by J. C. Marchant, S. J. Mayhew et al., 1908. Mother Goose, Miss Muffet, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Simple Simon, Pieman, Humpty Dumpty, Queen of Hearts, Tom Tucker, Boy Blue, Robinson Crusoe, Dame Trot, Jack Sprat, Knave of Hearts, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Jack the Giant Killer, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Sinbad, Mary Lamb, Bluebeard. (HathiTrust)

  • Mother Goose and What Happened Next, by Anna Marion Smith, illustrations by Reginald Bathurst Birch, 1909. Likely all reprints. Santa Claus, Black Sheep, Jack Sprat, Humpty Dumpty, Woman in Basket (Blanket), Wise Men of Gotham, Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pumpkin Eater, Nimble Jack, Boy Blue, Man with Little Gun, Miss Muffet, Fat Man of Bombay, Queen of Hearts, Thumb Husband, Man Wondrous Wise, Lion and Unicorn, King Arthur, Duke of York (King of France), Mary and Lamb, Willie Winkie, Simple Simon, Man in the Moon, Tom Tucker, Dr. Faustus, Cock Robin, Four‐and‐Twenty Tailors, Nothing‐at‐All, Taffy Welshman, Georgie Porgie. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • The Progressive Road to Reading, book 1, by Georgine Burchill, William L. Ettinger and Edgar Dubs Shimer, 1909. Three Pigs, Bad Wolf, Gingerbread Man, Three Bears, Goldilocks (Old Woman). (HathiTrust, US access only) (Internet Archive, sans illustrations)

  • Rimes and Stories, by Lura Mary Eyestone, illustrated by Emma Bell, 1910. Lady Moon, God, John Brown, Humpty Dumpty, Black Sheep, Boy Blue, Nimble Jack, Bad Wolf, Willie Winkie, Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker, Miss Muffet, Gingerbread Man. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Suitable Successor (A Christmas Dialogue),” Entertainments for All the Year, by Clara J. Denton, 1910. Mother Goose, Boy Blue, Miss Muffett, Tom Piper, Simple Simon, Bachelor, Queen of Hearts, Woman in Shoe, Taffy, Santa Claus. (Internet Archive) (1920, HathiTrust) (1920, Google) Also other works in book.

  • Young King Cole (play), by Clementia (pseudonym of Mary E. Feehan), (Nov.) 1911. Jack the Giant‐Killer, Boy Blue, Wise Men of Gotham, Tom the Piper’s Son, Jack Frost, Humpty Dumpty, Sand‐Man, Simple Simon, Man‐in‐the‐Moon, Man Wondrous Wise. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “The Christmas Conspiracy: A Christmas Play for Boys and Girls,” by Elizabeth Woodbridge, illustrated by Albertine R. Wheelan, St. Nicholas, vol. 39, no. 2, Dec. 1911, 163. Miss Muffet, Boy Blue, Simple Simon, Mother Goose. (Internet Archive)

  • The Bull Moose Mother Goose, by Sallie Macrum Cubbage, illustrated by Chauncey F. Cagney, 1912. Thumb Husband, Mary Lamb, Miss Marrs (Muffet), Simple Simon, Flyman (Pieman), Jack Sprat, Tommy Tucker, Humpty Bull Moose (Dumpty), Boy Blue, Teddy (Black Sheep), Peter Morphine (Pumpkin) Eater. (HathiTrust)

  • A Christmas Party for Santa Claus, by Ida M. Huntington, 1912. (Internet Archive)

  • “Boys of Mother Goose Land” (play), by Stanley Schell, Boy Impersonations, Werner’s Readings and Recitations, no. 52, 1913. Tweedle‐Dum and Tweedle‐Dee, Man with Gun, Fat Man from Bombay, Robinson Crusoe, Wise Men of Gotham, Man in Our Town (Wise), Humpty Dumpty, Simple Simon, Tommy Tucker, Man in the Moon, Taffy, Boy Blue. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google)

  • The Marriage of Jack and Jill: A Mother Goose Entertainment in Two Scenes, by Lilian Clisby Bridgham, 1913. Jack Sprat and Wife, Peter Pumpkineater and Wife, Miss Muffet, Mary Lamb, Boy Blue, Simple Simon, Mother Goose, Queen of Hearts, Humpty Dumpty. (Internet Archive)

  • A Primer, by Hannah T. McManus and John H. Haaren, illustrated by Florence Storer, The Natural Method Readers, 1914. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • Miss Muffet Lost and Found: A Mother Goose Play, by Katharine C. Baker, 1915. Mother Goose, Simple Simon, Miss Muffet, Tommy Tucker, Tweedledum, Tweedledee, Boy Blue. (HathiTrust)

  • “Mistress Mary Gives a Garden Party,” Fairy Plays for Children, by Mabel R. Goodlander, uncredited photographs, 1915. Mother Goose, Jack and Jill, Simon and Pieman, Pussy‐cat, Miss Muffet, Boy Blue, Bo‐peep. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust) (Google) (Also, Honest Woodcutter, Fairy Queen, Elves and Shoemaker, Snow White (both), Rose Red, Prince, Midas, Mercury, Dwarf Tom, Sleeping Beauty and Wicked Fairy.)

  • The New Woman in Mother Goose Land: A Play for Children, by Edyth M. Wormwood, 1915. Peter Pumpkin Eater and wife (Amy Blanche), Willie Winkie, Simple Simon. (Internet Archive)

  • Second Year Music, by Hollis Dann, Hollis Dann Music Course, 1915. Little New Year, Easter Hare, God, Boy Blue, Tommy Tucker. (HathiTrust)

  • “Black Sheep, White Sheep,” A Few Verses, by M. Florence Warren, 1916. Black Sheep. (Internet Archive)

  • The Modern Mother Goose: A Play in Three Acts, by Helen Hamilton, 1916. Miss Muffet, Mother Goose, Black Sheep, Goldilocks, Simple Simon, Willie Winkie, Nimble Jack, Tommy Tucker, Peter Pumpkin Eater’s wife, Giant, Knave, Queen and King of Hearts, Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker, Boy Blue. (Internet Archive)

  • A Topsy‐Turvy Christmas, by Elizabeth F. Guptill, 1916. Mother Goose (Gother Moose), Jack Horner (Hackey Jorner), Bo Peep (Po Beeb), Santa Claus (Clanty Sauce), brownies (greenies). (Internet Archive)

  • Holidays in Mother Goose Land, by Mary M. Higgins, illustration by Nell Hatt, 1917. Boy Blue, Queen of Hearts, likely Bo Peep.

  • “The Story Book Ball” (song), by George Perry, music by Billie Montgomery, cover illustration by William Austin Starmer (d. 1955) or Frederick Waite Starmer (d. 1962), 1917. Mother Goose, Simple Simon, Missie Muffet, Georgie Porgie, Peter Pumpkin Eater and wife, Humpty Dumpty, Nimble Jack, Tommy Tucker, Boy Blue, Knave, King and Queen of Hearts. (Johns Hopkins U.)

  • “The Genesis of Some Nursery Lore,” by H. Merian Allen, The Sewanee Review, vol. 25, no. 3, July 1917. (HathiTrust)

  • The Luck of Santa Claus: A Play for Young People, by B. C. Porter, 1918. Mother Goose, Miss Muffet, Baker, Humpty Dumpty. (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Goose Comes to Portland, by Frederic W. Freeman, 1918. Willie Winkie, Mother Goose, Lion and Unicorn, Simple Simon, Tommy Tucker, Jack Spratt, Humpty Dumpty, Shaven Parson, Miller of Dee, Banbury Lady, Boy Blue, Miss Muffet, Man in the Moon. (Internet Archive)

  • Songs from Mother Goose for Voice and Piano, music by Sidney Homer (op. 36), illustrated by Maginel Wright Enright, 1919. Miss Muffet, Boy Blue, Queen, Knave and King of Hearts, Willie Winkle, Simple Simon, Pieman, Humpty Dumpty, Black Sheep. (Internet Archive)

  • The Doll Shop, by Helen Langhanke and Lois Cool Morstrom, (Nov.) 1920. Fairy Queen, Mother Goose, Queen and Knave of Hearts, Miss Muffet, Curly Locks, Jack‐Be‐Nimble, Boy Blue, numerous named fairies. (Internet Archive)

  • The Metropolitan Mother Goose, by Elizabeth C. Watson, illustrated by Emma Clark, 1920. Man Wondrous Wise, Jack Sprat, Black Sheep, Tommy Tucker, Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker, Willie Winkie. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Sweet Girl Graduate: A Commencement Day Play,” by Carolyn Wells, illustrations by Clara Elsene Peck, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 38, no. 5, May 1921. King Solomon, Sphinx, Confucius, Wise Men of Gotham, Muses, Father Time, Cupid. (HathiTrust)

  • Peter Rabbit in Mother Goose Land, by Alma Hudson, 1921.

  • “There Was a Boy Who Lived on Pudding Lane: A True Account, If Only You Believe It, of the Life and Ways of Santa, Eldest Son of Mr. and Mrs. Claus,” by Sarah Addington, illustrated by Gertrude A. Kay, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 38, no. 12, Dec. 1921. Butcher, Baker/Pieman (Father Claus, teacher of the Queen of Hearts) and Candlestick Maker (uncle of N. J.), Mother Goose (maternal grandmother), {Nellie Claus, sons Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,} Nimble Jack (nephew of C. M.), Town Crier (possibly Willie Winkie), Pied Piper, Jack Spratt and wife, Miss Muffet, Tommy Tucker, Mrs. (Bessie) Claus. (HathiTrust)

  • The Cat and Fiddle Book, 1922, is not in the public domain in the UK, its country of origin, because Florence Elsa Bell Richmond died in 1971.

• The Children Who Followed the Piper, by Padraic Colum (d. 1972), illustrated by Dugald Stewart Walker (d. 1937), 1922. Appears to have been first published in the US. Pied Piper, Mercury, Jupiter, Willie Winkie, Jack Sprat, Tom Tucker, Simple Simon, Janus, Faunus, Mars, Baucis and Philemon, Silvanus. (Internet Archive)

  • A Party in Mother Goose Land : A One‐Act Play for Primary Children, by Effa E. Preston, 1922. Boy Blue, Hänsel and Gretel, Robinson Crusoe, Jack the Giant Killer, Goldilocks and Bears, Aladdin, Woodcutter, Blue Beard, Cinderella, Prince Charming, Snow White and dwarfs, Robin Hood, Hiawatha, Captain Kidd, Alice, White Rabbit, King and Queen of Hearts. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Ring o’ Roses : A Nursery Rhyme Picture Book, illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke, [1922]. Appears to be Brooke’s Nursery Rhyme Picture Book, This Little Pig Went to Market and Little Bo‐Peep combined into one volume, in that order. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “ Sing a Song of Sleepy Head : A Play for Grownups and Children, ” Sing a Song of Sleepy Head : Being Readable Rhymes for Curious Children, by James W. Foley, 1922. Margery Daw, Miss Muffet, Boy Blue, Tom Tucker, Baby Bunting, Cinderella, Captain Kidd, Bluebeard, Topsy. (HathiTrust)

  • The Strike Mother Goose Settled, by Evelyn Hoxie, 1922. Boy Blue, Miss Muffet, Jack Spratt and wife, Woman Tossed, Mother Goose. (Internet Archive)

  • Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard : Adventures of the Rabbit Gentleman with the Mother Goose Characters, by Howard R. Garis, illustrated by Edward Bloomfield and Lansing Campbell, 1922. Uncle Wiggily Longears, Mother Goose (merged with the Woman Tossed), Three Pigs (Grunter, Squeaker, Twisty‐Tail), Big Bad Wolf, Boy Blue, Tommie Tucker, Simple Simon, Miss Muffet, Black Sheep. (upenn)

  • “ Mrs. Dumpty’s Dilemma, ” by Sarah Addington, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 39, no. 9, Sept. 1922. Baker/Pieman, Humpty Dumpty, Town Crier, Candlestick Maker, Mother Goose. (HathiTrust)

  • “A Picnic Party,” Bunny‐Be‐Glad and the Fifty Fairy Legends, by Caroline Silver June, illustrated by Haidee Zack Walsh, 1924. Mother Goose, Woman in Shoe, Ten O’Clock Scholar, Jack of Hearts, Bo‐Peep, Simple Simon, Jack Horner, Peter Piper, Betty Blue, Lucy Locket. (1939, HathiTrust)

  • The Real Personages of Mother Goose, by Katherine Elwes Thomas, 1930. Mother Goose, Humpty Dumpty, Nimble Jack, Punch and Judy, Black Sheep, Boy Blue, Tom Tucker, Thumb Husband, Miss Muffet, Dr. Faustus, Man in the Moon, Simple Simon, Pieman, Jack Spratt, Queen, Knave and King of Hearts, Lion and Unicorn, Willie Winkie, King Arthur. (HathiTrust)