[Martin, Sarah Catherine] THE COMIC ADVENTURES OF OLD MOTHER HUBBARD, AND HER DOG: ILLUSTRATED WITH FIFTEEN ELEGANT ENGRAVINGS ON COPPER-PLATE. London: for J. Harris, June 1, 1805. 4.75" x 3.75". 15 engraved plates and engraved dedication. With original front and rear wrappers bound in. Early 20th c. straight-grained green morocco in gilt, gilt dentelles, front board detached and rear hinge rubbed. Wrappers a bit soiled and toned, title with discreet repair of closed tear, some slight foxing in places though quite clean and Very Good. *************************************** First Edition. Both the title and front wrapper dated 1805. Extremely scarce work, with the present example being finely hand-colored. "Few nursery rhymes are more famous than this one about Old Mother Hubbard and her talented dog ... It seems probably ... that Miss Sarah Catherine Martin (1768-1826) in about 1804 took a traditional character, Mother Hubbard, and put her into verses -- which may or may not be copied from a slightly earlier poem about Old Dame Trot. The Comic Adventure of Old Mother Hubbard and Her Dog ... became an immediate best-seller in an era when most children's books were still in the somber clutch of the moral tale." (Gottlieb/Morgan Library, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration 155)