Nursery Rhymes – Paula Rego 1994 | Folio Society

Nursery Rhymes by Paula Rego, published by The Folio Society, is a visually arresting and subversive reinterpretation of classic childhood verses through the lens of Rego’s darkly imaginative artistry. This edition pairs traditional rhymes like “Hey Diddle Diddle” and “Rock-a-Bye Baby” with Rego’s signature lithographs—uncanny, psychologically charged tableaux that blend folkloric whimsy with unsettling undercurrents of tension and ambiguity.

Rego’s figures, often rendered in stark contrasts of shadow and light, evoke the latent strangeness of nursery rhymes: a cow jumping over the moon becomes a surreal ballet, while Humpty Dumpty’s fall feels ominously visceral. The Folio Society’s production— featuring high-quality paper, a cloth-bound cover, and Rego’s full-color plates—elevates the book into a collector’s item, straddling the line between children’s literature and adult art.

A haunting celebration of the macabre lurking within the familiar, this edition is a must for admirers of Rego’s feminist, folk-infused Gothic style.