[Martin, Sarah Catherine]

The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog. London: J. Harris, 1 June 1805. 16mo (4 3/4 x 3 7/8 in.; 120 x 98 mm). Engraved throughout printed on one side only, 15 engraved text illustrations (including title) all hand colored; an occasional tiny spot. Publisher's printed tan wrappers dated 1805; shaved at top touching woodcut border, backstrip torn, small hole in upper and lower covers, corners bumped. First edition. Opie, Three Centuries 508 — Idem. Second Edition. London: J. Harris, 1 May 1806. 16mo (5 x 4 in.; 126 x 102 mm). Engraved throughout printed on one side only, 15 engraved text illustrations (including title) all hand colored; some spotting. Publisher's printed tan wrappers dated 1806; soiled, backstrip mended. Ms. exlibris of Constance Newman, 1917, on front flyleaf. Alderson / Moon 22 — A Continuation of The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard, and Her Dog by S. C. M. London: J. Harris, 1 January 1806. 16mo (4 7/8 x 3 3/4 in.; 124 x 95 mm). Engraved throughout printed on one side only, 15 engraved text illustrations (including title); some spotting. Publisher's tan printed wrappers dated 1806; shaved at top touching woodcut border, backstrip mended, scraped. Ms. exlibris of Constance Newman, 1917 on front flyleaf.  First edition. See Opie 510. — A Sequel to The Comic Adventures ... by another Hand. London: J. Harris, 1 March 1806. 16mo (4 7/8 x 4 in.; 124 x 102 mm). Engraved throughout, printed on one side only, 12 engraved text illustrations (including frontispiece) all hand colored; some spotting and soiling. Publisher's printed wrappers dated 1806; backstrip renewed, soiled. "Given to Grand Mamma by Lady Stanley 1806" and exlibris of Constance Newman, 1917 on front flyleaf. All in a modern half-calf slipcase. First edition. See Opie 511.

Pierpont Morgan, Early Children's Books no. 155; Opie, Three Centuries 508-511 (who does not know of A Sequel dated 1806); Lilly Library, Ball Collection, For Your Amusement and Instruction (1987), no. 151

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An astonishing survival, a set of the Harris Mother Hubbard books in their original wrappers.

"Few nursery rhymes are more famous than this one about Old Mother Hubbard and her talented dog. ... It seems probable, however, that Miss Sarah Catherine Martin (1768-1826) in about 1804 took a traditional character ... and put her in these verses ... it became an immediate best-seller in an era when most children's books were still in the somber clutch of the moral tale" (Morgan).

This issue of the first edition has the chair without the picture in the "Hosier's" plate and the initials on the coffin are "SCM 1806".