Bo‐Peep

☞ Public‐domain character. Traditional. First appearance in print, Monthly Literary Recreations, vol. 1, no. 2, Aug. 1806.

Bo‐Peep or Bo Peep or Bopeep, or sometimes Boo Peep or Bow Peep, is, by most accounts, an inattentive English shepherdess who temporarily loses her sheep when they all wander away. She recovers the sheep shortly thereafter (although at least one source claims otherwise) and then goes on to have numerous adventures for over a century. A few sources portray Bo‐Peep as a young man—with the first giving him the name Johnny Bo‐peep—and even, according to a pantomime from 1831, a hero who rescues the damsel Blue‐bell from imprisonment. According to a 1902 text, she is the daughter of King Cole and thus a princess in Far Away Land, but a 1906 text instead claims she is an American girl named Alice who loses a pretend sheep in a party game.

In July 1828, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine quotes the first line of the nursery rhyme as “Johnny Bo‐peep has lost his sheep,” suggesting that this is Bo‐Peep’s full name, at least when portrayed as a boy, but he is never actually called this name in any subsequent text (“Evening”). The name, however, is used in the 1844 nursery rhyme “Margery Mutton‐pie and Johnny Bo‐peep,” but that this could be the same 1806 shepherd seems unlikely.

(Alice, the animal episode was only a party game on her birthday with a picture of a sheep)

See also https://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/OO2066.html

• • “Little Bo‐Peep” (nursery rhyme), Roud 6487, 1800s or earlier.

    • 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, part 4, collected by Joseph Ritson, 1810. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

    • The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Principally from Oral Tradition, collected by James Halliwell‐Phillipps, 1842. (HathiTrust) (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?]. (HathiTrust)

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

    • Little Bo‐Peep; and Other Tales, ed. Clara de Chatelain, [between 1845 and 1847]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • The History of Little Bo‐Peep, Who Lost Her Sheep, illustrated by John Absolon or Harrison Weir (same illustrations with different attribution), 1853. (HathiTrust) (HathiTrust)

    • Howe’s 100 Comic Songs, Including All of the Popular Standard Comic Songs, as Sung by Lingard, Morris Bros., Buckley’s, Christy’s, Sam Collins’, and by All of the Popular Minstrel Troupes; Words and Music, no. 2, compiled by Elias Howe, 1870. (Internet Archive)

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

    • Melodic First Reader, by Frederic H. Ripley and Thomas Tapper, Natural Music Course, 1906. (Internet Archive)

    • Parodies, Book 2: Nursery Rhymes Re‐set for Voice and Piano, music by Herbert Hughes, 1921. (Internet Archive)

  • “Critical Comments on the Bo‐Peepeid: An Epic‐Pastoral Poem in Three Parts,” by T., Monthly Literary Recreations, vol. 1, no. 2, Aug. 1806. (HathiTrust)

  • “Evening: An Ode,” by Q. (pseud. of John Wilson? or Thomas De Quincey?), Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 24, no. 141, July 1828. “Johnny Bo‐peep has lost his sheep.” (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “The Catastrophe,” Legends and Stories of Ireland, by Samuel Lover, 1831. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Harlequin and Little Bo‐Peep; or, The Old Woman, Who Lived in a Shoe (pantomime), Adelphi Theatre, London, 1831, possibly published in Dramatic Tales and Romances, [ca. 1843]. (review and synopsis, HathiTrust) (review, HathiTrust)

  • Little Bo‐Peep or, Harlequin and the Magic Key, music by John Marks Jolly, Surrey Theatre, (May) 1834. Fairy Queen Zorilda. (program, Internet Archive)

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

  • “Nursery Rhymes,” Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, vol. 37, no. 236, June 1835. (HathiTrust)

  • Description of political sketch by H. B. (pseudonym of John Doyle), no. 462, Nursery Rhymes no. 4, 27 Dec. 1836, in An Illustrative Key to the Political Sketches of H. B., by Thomas MacLean, 1841. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Margery Mutton‐pie, and Johnny Bopeep,” The Nursery Rhymes of England, Collected Chiefly from Oral Tradition, 3rd ed., ed. James Orchard Halliwell, 1844. (HathiTrust)

    • Old Nurse’s Book of Rhymes, Jingles and Ditties, ed. Charles H. Bennett, 1858. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • The History of Little Bo‐Peep the Shepherdess Shewing How She Lost Her Sheep and Couldnt Tell Where to Find Them, illustrated, Aunt Mavor’s Little Library, [1850s].

    • Reprinted with thirty‐six uncredited illustrations, possibly different than in the original, Popular Nursery Tales and Rhymes; with One Hundred and Sixty Illustrations: Old Nurse’s First Book; Little Old Woman; Little Bo Peep; Jack and the Giants; Old Dame and Her Pig, 1868. (ufl)

    • Reprinted in Big Book of Fairy Tales, 1892. (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Mother Goose’s Complete Melodies: A Collection of Rhymes, Tales, Jingles and Alphabets, 1892. (HathiTrust)

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

  • “Little Bo‐Peep and Her Foolish Sheep” (political cartoon), probably by John H. Goater, Strong’s Dime Caricatures, no. 2, 1861. (LC)

  • Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son, Pope Joan and Little Bo‐peep; or, Old Daddy Longlegs and the Pig That Went to Market and the Pig That Stayed at Home (pantomime), 1865. (review, HathiTrust)

  • Little Bo‐Peep, Routledge’s Threepenny Toy‐Books no. 10, [1872 or earlier]. A rewording of The History of Little Bo‐Peep the Shepherdess, above. (Internet Archive)

  • “The Story of Little Boy‐Blue,” by S. B. T., The Nursery, vol. 11, no. 65, 1872. (HathiTrust)

  • 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. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • Little Bo‐Peep; or, Harlequin Jack and Jill, by J. and H. Paneton, songs by W. M. Akhurst, 1875. (Internet Archive)

  • Nine Little Goslings, ch. 3, “Little Bo‐Peep,” by Susan Coolidge (pseudonym of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey), one signed illustration, 1875. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

    • Reprinted in Little Bo‐Peep, with an additional illustration (the frontispiece), signed E.F, 1901. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Slices of Mother Goose, by Alice Parkman, illustrations by James Wells Champney, 1877. (Internet Archive)

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

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

  • “In the Meadow,” Afternoon Tea: Rhymes for Children, by John George Sowerby and Henry Hetherington Emmerson, 1881. (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. (HathiTrust) (also tableau)

  • “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]. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “A Lone Star Bo‐Peep,” A Lone Star Bo‐Peep and Other Tales of Texas Ranch Life, by Howard Seely, 1885. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep has lost her Sheep,” Tick, Tick, Tick and Other Rhymes, [188‒?]. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Mother Goose Carnival,” by Mrs. John D. Thayer, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 9, no. 2, Jan. 1892. (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Mother Goose in Prose, by L. Frank Baum, 1897. (Internet Archive)

  • “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. (Google Books) (BL) (Internet Archive, two pages illegible)

  • “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. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Christmas Chimes Cantata or Santa Claus’ Dilemma,” by Maude M. Jackson, Practical Programs for School and Home Entertainments …, 1899. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Lay of a Lost Heart,” More Rhymes, by Edith Leverett Dalton, 1899. (Internet Archive)

  • A Christmas Story of Fairy Land; or Young Blossoms’s [sic] Bargain with Little Bo‐Peep, by James Mason, [18‒‒?]. Author had other works published as early as 1876. (HathiTrust)

  • The True Story of Little Bo Peep, designed by Mrs. Grey, [middle to late 1800s].

  • “The Blatant Brutality of Little Bow Peep,” Mother Goose for Grown‐Ups, by Guy Wetmore Carryl, 1900. (See note about earlier publications.) (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Lullabies and Slumber Songs with a Few Other Child Verses, by Lincoln Hulley, 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • Mother Wild Goose and Her Wild Beast Show, by L. J. Bridgman, 1900. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Love‐in‐a‐Mist, by Post Wheeler, 1901. (Internet Archive)

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

  • In Happy Far‐Away Land, by Ruth Kimball Gardiner from tales told by Frances Palmer Kimball, 1902. (Internet Archive)

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

  • “A Message to Mother Goose,” by Ellen Manly, St. Nicholas, vol. 32, no. 2, Dec. 1904. (Internet Archive)

  • Boy Blue and His Friends, by Etta Austin Blaisdell and Mary Frances Blaisdell, 1906. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo Peep,” Brooks’s Readers: First Year, by Stratton D. Brooks, 1906. (HathiTrust) (Internet Archive)

  • Mrs. Goose: Her Book, by Maurice Switzer, 1906. (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Jingles and Rhymes for Nursery and Playroom, by Caroline Starr Morgan, 1907. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Wards of Liberty, by Myra Kelly, 1907. (Internet Archive)

  • “A Dream of Mother Goose,” by J. C. Marchant and S. J. Mayhew, “Scenes from Mother Goose,” by Harriette Wilbur, and “A Mother Goose Party,” by G. B. Bartlett, A Dream of Mother Goose and Other Entertainments, 1908. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Gingerbread Boy,” The Progressive Road to Reading, bk. 1, by Georgine Burchill, William L. Ettinger and Edgar Dubs Shimer, 1909. (HathiTrust, US access only) (Internet Archive, sans illustrations) (Google Books)

  • “Little Bopeep,” Mother Goose and What Happened Next, by Anna Marion Smith, illustration by Reginald Bathurst Birch, 1909. Likely a reprint. (Internet Archive) (HathiTrust)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep and Her Sheep,” Rimes and Stories, by Lura Mary Eyestone, 1910. Boy Blue’s efforts. (HathiTrust)

  • “Madame Bo‐Peep, of the Ranches,” Whirligigs, by O. Henry (pseudonym of William Sydney Porter), (Sept.) 1910. (HathiTrust)

  • “The Christmas Conspiracy: A Christmas Play for Boys and Girls,” by Elizabeth Woodbridge, St. Nicholas, vol. 39, no. 2, Dec. 1911. (Internet Archive)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep, she lost her sleep” (rhyme), The Bull Moose Mother Goose, by Sallie Macrum Cubbage, 1912. (HathiTrust)

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

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

  • Miss Muffet Lost and Found: A Mother Goose Play, by Katharine C. Baker, 1915. (HathiTrust)

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

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” The Gilding‐Star and Other Poems, by Stephen Chalmers, 1916. Possibly previously published in Saranac Lake News. (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, cover illustration by William Austin Starmer (d. 1955) or Frederick Waite Starmer (d. 1962), 1917. (Johns Hopkins U.)

  • “Little Bo‐Peep,” Songs of an Islander, by Donald McDonald (d. 1923), 1918. (HathiTrust, US access only)

  • The Luck of Santa Claus: A Play for Young People, by B. C. Porter, 1918. (Internet Archive)

  • The Doll Shop, by Helen Langhanke and Lois Cool Morstrom, (Nov.) 1920. (Internet Archive)

  • “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, The Ladies’ Home Journal, vol. 38, no. 12, Dec. 1921. (HathiTrust)

  • 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. (upenn)

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

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