Mother Goose for Grown Folks: A Christmas Reading.

iv, 144 pp. 8vo. Engraved frontispiece, engraved title page precedes printed title, engravings throughout text. A collection of Mother Goose nursery rhymes, humorously adapted to the verbosity an adult might have expected from verse in the nineteenth century. The original rhyme, or a portion of it, is offered at the beginning of each section, then followed by an adapted version. For example: "Hiccory, diccory, dock! / The mouse ran up the clock. / The clock struck one, and down she run: / Hiccory, diccory, dock!" is followed by, "She had her simple nest in a safe and cunning place, / Away down in the quiet of the deep, old-fashioned case. / A little crevice nibbled out led forth into the world, / And overhead, on busy wheels, the hours and minutes whirled." etc., etc., etc. A rather amusing idea, originally published in 1859 (the author's second book, following Book of Rhymes), with new editions in 1870 and 1882. Whitney was a successful author who wrote over 20 books for girls.