There was an old woman tossed up in a basket.
Nineteen times as high as the moon.
And where she was going I couldn’t but ask it.
For in her hand she carried a broom.


    “Old woman! old woman!! old woman!!” quoth I
    “Oh whither Oh wither Oh whither so high”
    “To sweep the cobwebs off the sky”
    And I’ll be with you again by and by.”

    We present to you the earliest pictorial record of a voyage into outer space. This first flight into the cosmos was not manned, but rather womanned. To be exact, it was old womanned. It was a routine maintenance basket flight to sweep up cobwebs in the sky, all powered by the force of 5 men and 1 blanket. A unique, imaginative illustration of a popular Mother Goose rhyme. Each panel shows what the “Old Woman” must have gone through on her journey into the sky. Annotated in a wonderfully fake “Olde Englishe”.


    Based on a lovely Mother Goose nursery rhyme, this panorama book first appeared in 1844. Today, sadly, the artist remains anonymous. The nom de plume of the book is “Aliquis” which is Latin for “anyone”. But not just anyone could have accomplished this marvel of imagination – something so peculiar and ridiculous, of such unique design and full of wonderful funny details. It was truly ahead of its time.Be sure to allow yourself 7 feet of viewing areas!

    Reproduced from a hand-colored original. Twelve 4×7½ inch panels totaling an opened length of 7 feet.

    Simply wonderful.

    $12.00






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