THE SONG OF SIXPENCE
PICTURE BOOK
CONTAINING
SING A SONG OF SIXPENCE
PRINCESS BELLE ETOILE
ALPHABET OF OLD FRIENDS
WALTER
CRANE'S
PICTURE
BOOKS
LONDON & NEW YORK: JOHN LANE
THE SONG OF SIXPENCE
PICTURE BOOK
CONTAINING SING A
SONG OF SIXPENCE; PRINCESS
BELLE ETOILE; AN ALPHABET OF
OLD FRIENDS: WITH THE ORIGINAL
COLOURED DESIGNS BY
WALTER CRANE
INCLUDING A PREFACE AND
OTHER EMBELLISHMENTS
LONDON & NEW YORK JOHN LANE
THE BODLEY HEAD
PREFACE
Whether the Poet undertookto write and SING A SONGOF SIXPENCE for that popularprice is not stated in his simplerhyme, but, at all events, we learn that he startedwith "a pocket full," and proceeded to draw onhis imagination for all it was worth. Whatthat famous blackbird-pie really cost—except in black-birds—isnot disclosed, though the King seemedto show some anxiety about the state of his treasury,as he was discovered "in his counting house"imediately after the feast. But while the Queen,regardless of expense, regales herself on "bread andhoney" in "the parlour", and her Maid-of-honour, orperhaps of-all-work, is engaged at