'Nursery rhymes,' Walter de la Mare has remarked, 'have their own private and complete little beauty if looked at closely.' In this unique collection there are 800 of them—jingles, riddles, catches, tongue trippers, counting rhymes, baby games, toe games, alphabets, prayers, songs, and lullabies—with which generations of parents have delighted their children.
The rhymes are divided into nine sections. There are baby games and lullabies; alliterative, jiggety joggety rhymes; 'Little Songs'; 'People'; and 'A Little Learning.' An adult tone begins to appear in 'Awakening'; 'Wonders' is a section of fancies and frolics, or lunacy and logic; and the next group, riddles, maintains the poetic view of life. Lastly come the ballads and more mature songs.
More than 400 of the illustrations are reproductions of the charming woodcuts which first appeared in the earliest children's books and in peddler's chapbooks of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many of the woodcuts have not been reproduced since their original publication in Georgian times. Included are engravings by both Thomas and John Bewick, as well as the work of their leading pupils, Luke Clennell for example.
Supplementing the early reproductions are 150 illustrations by Joan Hassall, who is one of the best wood engravers since the Bewicks. Her work can be seen in the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and in many collections. She also received the honor of designing Queen Elizabeth's card of invitation to her Coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Iona and Peter Opie are leading authorities on eighteenth-century children's literature and chapbooks and have a fine collection of early children's books. Mr. and Mrs. Opie are also authors of The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes and of the recently published book The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren.
—from the dust jacket
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