Mother Goose in Prose
![]() First edition (1897) | |
Author | L. Frank Baum |
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Illustrator | Maxfield Parrish |
Language | English |
Genre | Children's literature |
Publisher | Way & Williams (1897) George M. Hill (1901) Bobbs-Merrill (1905) |
Publication date | 1897 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Pages | 265 |
Mother Goose in Prose is a collection of twenty-two children's stories based on Mother Goose nursery rhymes. It was the first children's book written by L. Frank Baum, and the first book illustrated by Maxfield Parrish. It was originally published in 1897 by Way and Williams of Chicago, and re-released by the George M. Hill Company in 1901.[1]
Contents
The book opens with an introduction by Baum that traces the history of Mother Goose. It is followed by the original text of a nursery rhyme with a broader story to establish its literary context.
- Sing a Song o' Sixpence
- The Story of Little Boy Blue
- The Cat and the Fiddle
- Black Sheep
- Old King Cole
- Mistress Mary
- The Wond'rous Wise Man
- What Jack Horner Did
- The Man in the Moon
- The Jolly Miller
- The Little Man and His Little Gun
- Hickory, Dickory, Dock
- Little Bo-Peep
- The Story of Tommy Tucker
- Pussy-cat Mew
- How the Beggars Came to Town
- Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son
- Humpty Dumpty
- The Woman Who Lived in a Shoe
- Little Miss Muffet
- Three Wise Men of Gotham
- Little Bun Rabbit
The book's last selection features a girl named Dorothy who can talk to animals—an anticipation of the Oz books. When Baum later included this story in his Juvenile Speaker (1910) and The Snuggle Tales (1916–17), he changed the girl's name to Doris, to avoid confusing her with Dorothy Gale.[2]
Though handsomely produced, Mother Goose in Prose was priced relatively expensively for a children's book; it was "only moderately successful" commercially.[3] Publisher Way and Williams went bankrupt a year later. Baum took a different approach in a subsequent venture, composing original verses for his Father Goose: His Book in 1899.
Later editions
New editions of Mother Goose in Prose appeared from Bounty Books in 1951 and after (ISBN 0-517-51904-6), Dover Publications in 2002, and Kessinger Publishing in 2004, among others.
Adaptation
The Jim Henson Company made a TV series based on the book called Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories (1990).
References
- ^ Martin Gardner, "Mother Goose in Prose," The Baum Bugle, Vol. 41 No. 3 (Winter 1997), pp. 8-12.
- ^ Gardner, p. 10.
- ^ Katharine M. Rogers, L. Frank Baum, Creator of Oz: A Biography, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2002; p. 62.
External links
- Mother Goose in Prose at Project Gutenberg
Mother Goose in Prose public domain audiobook at LibriVox
- Mother Goose in Prose at Open Library
- v
- t
- e
- The Magical Monarch of Mo
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Dot and Tot of Merryland
- The Master Key
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
- The Enchanted Island of Yew
- The Marvelous Land of Oz
- Queen Zixi of Ix
- The Fate of a Crown
- The Woggle-Bug Book
- Annabel
- Aunt Jane's Nieces
- Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
- Daughters of Destiny
- Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea
- The Twinkle Tales
- John Dough and the Cherub
- Ozma of Oz
- Policeman Bluejay
- The Last Egyptian
- Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
- Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville
- Aunt Jane's Nieces at Work
- The Road to Oz
- Aunt Jane's Nieces in Society
- The Emerald City of Oz
- Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John
- The Daring Twins
- The Flying Girl
- The Sea Fairies
- Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation
- Phoebe Daring
- Sky Island
- Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz
- Aunt Jane's Nieces Out West
- Tik-Tok of Oz
- Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross
- The Scarecrow of Oz
- Mary Louise
- Rinkitink in Oz
- The Lost Princess of Oz
- The Tin Woodman of Oz
- The Magic of Oz
- Glinda of Oz
collections
collections
- By the Candelabra's Glare
- Father Goose: His Book
- The Maid of Arran
- The Wizard of Oz (1902)
- Prince Silverwings
- The Woggle-Bug
- The Tik-Tok Man of Oz
- The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
- The Magic Cloak of Oz
- His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz
- Violet's Dreams
- The Gray Nun of Belgium
and collaborators
- Maud Gage Baum (wife)
- Matilda Joslyn Gage (mother-in-law)
- Frank Joslyn Baum (son)
- Harry Neal Baum (son)
- Roger S. Baum (great-grandson)
- Jocelyn Burdick (niece)
- Paul Tietjens
- Edith Ogden Harrison
- Isidore Witmark
- Louis F. Gottschalk
- Nathaniel D. Mann
- Frederic Chapin
- Manuel Klein
- Arthur Pryor
- Byron Gay
- Emerson Hough
- William Wallace Denslow
- John R. Neill
- The Dreamer of Oz: The L. Frank Baum Story (1990 film)