As collections of European folk songs and poems, books on Nursery Rhymes became popular during the golden age of children’s literature in the mid-nineteenth century but many of the rhymes themselves are much older. Full of working-class imagery and trades they are the perfect subject for this week’s #folklorethursday theme of #work.
From Little Song of long Ago, Illustrated by H. Willebeek Le Mair, 1912
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- Spinning
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- ‘Three mice went into a hole to spin’
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- ‘Lavender’s Blue’
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- Haymaking and ploughing
From Old King Cole’s Book of Nursery Rhymes, Illustrated by Byam Shaw, 1901.
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- ‘Barber, Barber Shave A Pig
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- The Barber and Wig-maker?
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- A rather glam shepherdess
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- ‘Little Bo-Peep’
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- ‘Four-and-Twenty Tailors’
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- The Tailor
From Mother Goose, Illustrated by Kate Greenaway, c 1880.
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- The Milk-maid from ‘Little Maid’
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- The Shepherd, ‘Little Boy Blue’
From Young England’s Nursery Rhymes, Illustrated by Constance Haslewood, c 1890.
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- The Baker in ‘Pat-a-cake’
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- The Miller in ‘The Jolly Miller’
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- The Kitchen Maid in ‘Polly Put the Kettle On’
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- The Pieman in ‘Simple Simon’
Natalie