A common version is given in The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes: Other sources give differing lyrics.

This version differed beyond the number twelve, with the lyrics: A version published five years later in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1810) was titled "Arithmetick" and had the following different lines: In 1842, James Orchard Halliwell recorded "Shut the door" at the close of the second line.

That with lithographs by Caroline R. Baillie (Edinburgh, 1857) had an oblong format[8] showing domestic 18th-century interiors.

[10] In America the rhyme was used to help young people learn to count and was also individually published.

Among these, the distinctive illustrations by Courtland Hoppin (1834-1876) devoted to each verse first appeared in editions published at the end of 1866.