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
- Spinning
- ‘Three mice went into a hole to spin’
- ‘Lavender’s Blue’
- Haymaking and ploughing
From Old King Cole’s Book of Nursery Rhymes, Illustrated by Byam Shaw, 1901.
- ‘Barber, Barber Shave A Pig
- The Barber and Wig-maker?
- A rather glam shepherdess
- ‘Little Bo-Peep’
- ‘Four-and-Twenty Tailors’
- The Tailor
From Mother Goose, Illustrated by Kate Greenaway, c 1880.
- The Milk-maid from ‘Little Maid’
- The Shepherd, ‘Little Boy Blue’
From Young England’s Nursery Rhymes, Illustrated by Constance Haslewood, c 1890.
- The Baker in ‘Pat-a-cake’
- The Miller in ‘The Jolly Miller’
- The Kitchen Maid in ‘Polly Put the Kettle On’
- The Pieman in ‘Simple Simon’
Natalie