I’m looking for an old book of children’s poems. It was rather thick. My mom would read it to me when I was around seven years old back in the late fifties.
It was hard covered and if memory serves had a light colored cover. I don’t remember any illustration on the cover. Looking back, the book design reminds me of a series of Grimm’s Fairy Tales books we had in the house they had plain beige covers on them.
Anyway, I checked your list of books on your site and while one book of poems comes close in content, the cover is not the same and it is missing at least one of the poems, Jabberwocky.
Here are the poems I remember that it contained: Winken and Blinken and Nod (sketch showed 3 boys in a balloon, pic was on the right side of the page), The Owl and the Pussycat (one sketch showed the piggy with the ring in his nose in the wood – pic on the left side of the page), The Duel (The Gingham Cat and the Calico Dog – the stuffed animals were depicted and the clock), Wadsworth’s’ The Girl with the Curl (when she was bad she was horrid – this short poem was at the bottom of a page on the right), The Walrus and the Carpenter (depicted the little oysters following them with little legs to carry them. Also a pig with wings), e.e. cummings, a poem that started,” I’ve never seen a purple cow” and ended with. ” I’d rather see than be one” (which I’d thought was by e.e. cummings but it’s not), I think it had an e.e. cummings poem or two, and Jabberwocky.
I’m trying to remember other poems in the book. If I do, I’ll send you more identifying information. I loved this book. I loved reading it over and over. I’ve loved to read and read voraciously. My mom had a great sense of humor and always loved the Walrus and Carpenter especially when the little oysters turned blue (starting to realize they were to be eaten).
I wanted this for so long and tried searching the internet several times. I’m usually pretty good at finding information and have found several books of which all I could remember was the story, but I cannot find this way. Searching recently, I came upon your site! I hope you can figure it out and I don’t stump you!
Keeping my fingers crossed….
Could this be Burton Egbert Stevenson: The Home Book of Verse for Young Folks (1915)? Another possibility is Louey Chisholm: The Golden Staircase.
Is it The Bumper Book: A Harvest of Stories and Verses by Watty Piper?
I too read that over and over as a child. I remember loving the illustrations for “The Duel,” with the dog, cat, clock and Chinese plate. “Winken, Blinken, and Nod,” and “The Owl and the Pussycat” are there, as well as “Grandfather’s Penny,” which I also loved. The listing of the contents on Goodreads does not include “Jabberwocky,” “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” or any e.e. cummings though. I do remember an illustrated Walrus and Carpenter that was very funny, but maybe it was another book.
Loganberry does mention this book on a few other pages on the site, with different covers. (The 1969 one looks familiar to me.)
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2003934.The_Bumper_Book
http://www.loganberrybooks.com/books/authors/watty-piper.htm
http://www.loganberrybooks.com/books/authors/anthologies.htm
Hope this is it!!
Is it “The Illustrated Treasury of Children’s Literature” edited and with an introduction by Margaret E. Martignoni (Grossett & Dunlap)? It does not have the purple cow poem–but I remember most of the others…
Wow. I don’t know if this is the book that the OP is looking for, but it’s a book that I loved as a child, but that I had forgotten all about! I looked it up, and there it was – just like I remembered it! Thank you for this post!
“Oxford Book of Poetry for Children” compiled by Edward Blishen? Published 1963.