The Nursery Rhyme Book

by Andrew Lang

Nursery rhymes are the cornerstone of poetry and perhaps of wisdom itself, and the three hundred gems in this Andrew Lang collection are some of the best ever assembled. Rhymes about King Arthur, an old woman and her pig, Hector Protector, and more are grouped by Historical, Literal, Proverbs, Songs, Riddles, and other categories.

Genres: Classics, Poetry, Childrens, Folklore, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Tales of the Scottish writer and anthropologist Andrew Lang include The Blue Fairy Book (1889).

Andrew Gabriel Lang, a prolific Scotsman of letters, contributed poetry, novels, literary criticism, and collected now best folklore.

The Young Scholar and Journalist
Andrew Gabriel Lang, the son of the town clerk and the eldest of eight children, lived in Selkirk in the Scottish borderlands. The wild and beautiful landscape of childhood greatly affected the youth and inspired a lifelong love of the outdoors and a fascination with local folklore and history. Charles Edward Stuart and Robert I the Bruce surrounded him in the borders, a rich area in history. He later achieved his literary Short History of Scotland .

A gifted student and avid reader, Lang went to the prestigious Saint Andrews University, which now holds a lecture series in his honor every few years, and then to Balliol College, Oxford. He later published Oxford: Brief Historical and Descriptive Notes about the city in 1880.

Moving to London at the age of 31 years in 1875 as an already published poet, he started working as a journalist. His dry sense of humor, style, and huge array of interests made him a popular editor and columnist quickly for The Daily Post, Time magazine and Fortnightly Review. Whilst working in London, he met and married Leonora Blanche Alleyne Lang, his wife.

Interest in myths and folklore continued as he and Leonora traveled through France and Italy to hear local legends, from which came the most famous The Rainbow Fairy Books . In the late 19th century, interest in the native stories declined and very few persons recounting them for young readers. In fact, some educationalists attacked harmful magical stories in general to children. To challenge this notion, Lang first began collecting stories for the first of his colored volumes.

Lang gathered already recorded stories, while other folklorists collected stories directly from source. He used his time to collect a much greater breadth over the world from Jacob Grimm, his brother, Madame d'Aulnoy, and other less well sources.
Lang also worked as the editor, often credited as its sole creator for his work despite the essential support of his wife, who transcribed and organised the translation of the text, to the success.

He published to wide acclaim. The beautiful illustrations and magic captivated the minds of children and adults alike. The success first allowed Lang and Leonora to carry on their research and in 1890 to publish a much larger print run of The Red Fairy Book , which drew on even more sources. Between 1889 and 1910, they published twelve collections, which, each with a different colored binding, collected, edited and translated a total of 437 stories. Lang, credited with reviving interest in folklore, more importantly revolutionized the Victorian view and inspired generations of parents to begin reading them to children once more.

Last Works
Lang produced and at the same time continued a wide assortment of novels, literary criticism, articles, and poetry. As Anita Silvey, literary critic, however, noted, "The irony of Lang's life and work is that although he wrote for a profession... he is best recognized for the works he did not write," the folk stories that he collected.

He finished not the last Highways and Byways of the Border but died.

Reviews

[Juliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a child, I adored nursery rhymes; those little lines of gibberish and utter nonsense, conveying absolutely nothing of substance about the real world.

Reading them as an adult, I find myself constantly tripping over double entendres.

Or is there smut in nursery rhymes? Is my mind so degenerate and my thoughts so corrupt, that I see innuendoes where none exist? If so, I blame my friend, Filip, entirely.

Any book which provokes questions about sanity, I consider quite worthwhile. The Folio Society edition is absolutely stunning. You should probably get it.

[Christoph Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved reading nursery rhymes to my kids. They never get old. After reding dozens of collections to them over the years, I wanted to read more than the top 100 greatest hits and this book delivers with the more obscure deep tracks. Many of them are inferior, but the worst ones still have a poetry to them that surpasses 98% of all modern children's books.

Take a classic like Hickory Dickory Dock. It's amazing. It's like a koan. It makes no sense yet sometimes I feel like I understand it perfectly. Sadly, many kids being born now will only be exposed to a few of these, while they are instead allowed to watch endless hours of Youtube and TikTok. Makes me sad. This volume ends with perhaps the most sadly ominous nursery rhyme, and my personal favorite...

We're all in the dumps,
For diamonds are trumps;
The kittens are one to St. Paul's!
The babies are bit,
The moon's in a fit,
And the houses are built without walls.

[Anna P (whatIreallyRead) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming volume of children's poetry, heavily illustrated. I hadn't experienced it as a kid, so I wasn't sure what to expect - much of it was educational, nonsensical, and there were riddles and songs. I enjoyed it 😊

[Jessica Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

The oldies but goodies are all here, but

The formatting stinks. If it weren't for the capitalization of the first word in a rhyme, I would have been quite lost.

[Sem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the best nursery rhyme book but it has charming illustrations by Leslie Brooke.

[Anastasia Pavlides · Rating 4 out of 5]

1. No awards were received for this book.
2. PreK-can vary
3. Collection of nursery Rhymes
4. This book is great because it offers a variety of different nursery rhymes covering many topics.
5. I would use this book in my classroom and probably read at least one day during morning meeting.