Many of us, through the generations since their original publication in 1916, automatically associate Wright’s drawings with the Mother Goose rhymes. For thousands of people, they are the quintessential images that come to mind whenever a Mother Goose Rhyme is recited.

As with many books, I was surprised to find that these images really were not available online in large, quality format. Thumbnails are available, as at Project Gutenberg which has digitized the entire text, but high resolution copies were available only for a fee, if even then. I am grateful to Project Gutenberg in that I was able to use their text to accompany the image i scanned and posted here.

Mother Goose, of course, is not the true author of these rhymes. Many have been around for half a millennium or more, and the authorship is considered “traditional.” A French author, Charles Perrault, compiled a group of these in the late 17th century. English translations followed and new material was added over the years. The term Mother Goose has some to mean tradition nursery rhymes, even those not technically associated with this historic collection.

For this book, I have included extra large versions of most images, which for most is about 2500 to 3000 pixels per longest side, up to about twice as big as the Large image which is the usual largest size available. I am also pleased that the site upgrade has motivated me to actually enter the rest of the text, which has been missing since I originally scanned and posted the images last winter.

Title: The Real Mother Goose
Author: (Historic)
Artist: Blanche Fisher Wright
Publisher: Rand McNally & Co.
Date Published: 1916

Title Page Will Link to the Image Collection.

See-saw, Margery Daw,
Sold her bed and lay upon straw.

“Pussy-cat, pussy-cat,
Where have you been?”
“I’ve been to London
To look at the Queen.”

“Pussy-cat, pussy-cat,
What did you there?”
“I frightened a little mouse
Under the chair.”

Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.

Then up Jack got and off did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.

The fair maid who, the first of May,
Goes to the fields at break of day,
And washes in dew from the hawthorn-tree,
Will ever after handsome be.

“Where are you going, my pretty maid?”
“I’m going a-milking, sir,” she said.
“May I go with you, my pretty maid?”
“You’re kindly welcome, sir,” she said.
“What is your father, my pretty maid?”
“My father’s a farmer, sir,” she said.
“What is your fortune, my pretty maid?”
“My face is my fortune, sir,” she said.
“Then I can’t marry you, my pretty maid.”
“Nobody asked you, sir,” she said.

Finally, many images area available for purchase on different products, including T-shirts, jackets, hats, ties, magnets, stickers, pins, keychains, mugs, cards, postcards, postage stamps, letterhead, envelopes, 3 ring binders, mousepads, posters, Christmas ornaments, tiles, coasters, business cards, iPhone and iPad Cases, and much more.  Click an image below to see the available items with a given image.