The book is very large in size (dimensions). It is a children’s poetry collection that a friend of mine received as a gift and read when we were kids in the late 70’s and early 80’s, although at least a few of the poems were actually written long before. All of the poems were pretty creepy, and there were ink drawn(?) illustrations.

One poem in the collection was ‘Die Geschichte vom Daumenlutscher’ (The Story of the Thumb-Sucker) by Heinrich Hoffmann, although I don’t know if one of those exact titles were used in this collection. The title ‘Snip Snip’ may have been used. Apparently that poem has gone by a few similar sounding titles through the years? It was about a man in a top hat who showed up with scissors coming for a boy who sucked his thumb. Another poem in the collection was Antigonish (I Met a Man Who Wasn’t There) by Hughes Mearns, and again, I don’t know which title was actually used in this collection. A line from that poem was something like “As I was walking up the stair I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish I wish he’d go away.” The last poem I remember from the collection was about a father who gave his daughter a bath in gasoline because she was mean. (Yikes!)

I would love to find this book and buy it for my friend. Good luck!