The first published version of The Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog is attributed to Sarah Catherine Martin (1768–1826) and associated with a cottage in Yealmpton, Devon,[1] close by where she was staying at Kitley House.

A review of her work that appeared in The Guardian of Education praised "this little book, the poetry of which is of ancient date ... We can recollect, at this distance of time, that in our infant days the Story of this renowned woman, though full of inconsistencies we confess, afforded us much entertainment.

A musical variant of the introductory verses was set by Samuel Arnold in his Juvenile Amusements (1797), except that it is not the dog but "the poor Children" who are the object of Mother Hubbard's charity.

She went to the undertaker’s For a coffin and shroud, When she came back Puss sat up and mewed Thereafter the cat continues to perform household chores and comic feats and the two exchange courtesies in the final stanza, much as do Mother Hubbard and her dog at the end of Miss Martin’s work.

But while Mother Hubbard’s dog goes on to perform similar feats to Dame Trot’s cat, such as smoking, playing a musical instrument and riding another animal, he also shows his superior cleverness by sometimes anticipating what his mistress has brought on her return.

[10] Such was the popular reputation of the work at that time that the satirist Peter Pindar made it a target in one of his pieces in which "The Poet condemns the present general Taste and foretells the Return of the Ages of Barbarism": Over the years pirated editions, new versions and imitations appeared from other presses, catering to the continuing demand.

[13] During the early years, the book illustrations had been based on those provided by the author, but the 1819 edition came with new designs ascribed to Allen Robert Branston and was further subtitled "In which is shewn the wonderful powers that good old lady possessed in the education of her favourite animal".

Paper tabs toward the bottom of the illustration could be pulled back and forth so as to make Mother Hubbard's hands move, or her dog nod its head, bow, feed the cat and spin wool.

[19] John Harris’ publications marked a shift from moralising works for children to catering for their imaginative entertainment, in which his Mother Hubbard series of books played a decisive part.

One American publisher included a complete set of serif type opposite the title page, featuring capitals, small letters, italics, ligatures and numbers, as an aid to further reading.

Indeed, illustrations of Mother Hubbard and her dog were adapted to many other ends, from adorning money boxes so as to encourage thrift[24] to a variation of the snap card game to develop memory.

[28] Later came two Dutch translations: In the 1850s, Kluchtige tafereelen van Grootje Goedsloof met haar aardig hondje Blaf (Comical scenes of Granny Goodleaf with her pretty doggy Woof).

[32] Gabriella Rouf returned to Robert Branston's designs to accompany her more recent Italian translation Le divertenti avventure di Nonna Renza e il suo cane (2014).

Mother Hubbard and Her Dog or Harlequin & Tales of the Nursery, by Thomas John Dibdin and Charles Farley, was put on in 1833 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.

[44] In 1837, John Hannah, then an undergraduate at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, published a spoof textual criticism of "Old Mother Hubbord", supposedly written in A.D. 3211 by a New Zealand academic who tries to relate the poem to the nearly forgotten 19th-century civilisation which produced it.

[57][58] In the Elizabethan era there had been a much earlier Mother Hubberd's Tale by Edmund Spenser published in 1591, but that was quite different from the nursery rhyme, being a satirical beast fable concerning an ape and a fox.

In one parliamentary debate, George Canning compared the vitality of the British constitution, then declared to be under threat, to the swift revival of Mother Hubbard's dog when she bought him a coffin.