The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New, Arranged and Explained

350 pp. A compilation of Mother Goose nursery rhymes containing over 1000 separate rhymes, primarily in their earliest forms, with most known variations included as well, along with notes regarding meanings, allusions, and jokes, with references to parodies, puzzles, tricks, games, etc. Also includes numerous illustrations by various artists who contributed to the original nursery rhymes, such as Randolph Caldecott (namesake of the Caldecott Medal), Kate Greenaway, Walter Crane, Arthur Rackham, and Maxfield Parrish. CONTENTS: All About Mother Goose; The Pretty Songs of Tommy Thumb; And a Melody of Twenty-Five Others; Simple Simon and Nancy Cock; Gammer Gurton's Garland; Tom Tit -- The Piper's Son -- and Some Christmas Boxes; Old Mother Hubbard and Other Songs for the Nursery; More Catches and Ditties and Jingles and Chimes; Some That Came Later That Might Have Come Before; Young Father Goose; Mother Goose's Almanack; Mother Goose's Charms, Auguries, and Nature Lore; Mother Goose's Lullabies an Game Songs; Mother Goose's Riddles and Tongue Twisters; Mother Goose's Wise Sayings; Nineteenth-Century Bouquet; Modern Old Mother Goose; Mother Goose Tomorrow; Bibliography; Index of First Lines.