Visiting a home with a three-year-old, I have discovered that I had a deprived childhood. At least, I don’t recall (and I think I would recall) seeing a genuine Mother Goose book as opposed to the cleaned-up modern versions. It turns out that Checkerboard Press published such a document in 1916, under the title The Real Mother Goose, which had its ninety-seventh printing in 1992 and is available on line through Project Gutenberg.
The variety is astounding, including some genuine riddles (i.e., rhymes that name something which the hearer is then supposed to guess).
It also has some old political humor; I have no idea what the three-year-olds make of it. For example, this little ditty must be from the late 17th Century.
A DIFFICULT RHYME
What is the rhyme for porringer?
The king he had a daughter fair,
And gave the Prince of Orange ‘er.
Footnote No, the history in the verse isn’t quite right. It wasn’t James II who gave his daughter Mary to William of Orange; that decision was made by his James’s brother Charles. And of course James wasn’t king when that happened.