Jack Horner and Song of Sixpence, Emily Barto, 1943, First Edition

Emily Barto was an American children's book illustrator. Her sketchbook is kept currently at the Smithsonian and her murals are viewable at Fordham Hospital in New York.

This book is incredibly rare.

Of Jack Horner and Song of Sixpence, she writes:

"About four hundred years ago in England, few people could read or write, and democracy, as we know it today, did not exist. One way that ordinary people had of expressing their opinions, or complaints, was in singing songs called lampoons. They were always humorous, and were sung for the same purpose that many of our modern cartoons are made
- to poke fun at political abuses. The words, put to the music of some old tune, were easy to learn, and these ditties had their effect upon the history of their time. Such is the power of song! Even today their words are remembered, although their first meaning has been forgotten in the mists of many years.
The nursery jingles of Jack Horner and Song of Sixpence were sung in the time of King Henry VIII.
The two rhymes about Little Jack Horner ridiculed a pompous and crafty man, Horner by name. He was sent by the Bishop of Glastonbury to deliver the deeds of many abbeys and manors to the King."

Wear to surface of front hinge and cover edges. Small separation at top of back exterior hinge. Corners bumped. Cover scuffed. Some tiny creases on page corners, small 23 written on top of one page in pen.