A Mosher fanatic named Bishop,
Made TBM cookies with Hyssop,
And then at the feast
Said, “I never use yeast:
These are the best I can dishup.”
A collector of Thomas Bird Mosher,
When Mosher is labeled a forger,
Becomes instantly irate;
TBM was a pirate,
And his piracy really quite Kosher.
PRB has an aversion to money,
But his disposition’s quite sunny.
From the outside it looks,
He spends all on books
With abandon. Now isn’t that funny?
Phil Bishop now owns two houses:
In the new one he often carouses.
When the bank calls his loan,
He will then bitch and moan
When Susann buys new slacks and blouses.
A bibliographical feller
Determined to become a bookseller.
When his show stall he tends,
He sells less than he spends.
But Susann don’t know — he won’t tell her.
Bibliography’s the ultimate bore,
It looks easy but is really a chore.
Keeping track of the facts —
Front covers and backs —
Only indices do I hate more.
A publisher known as Oak Knoll,
For copytexts hasn’t a soul;
When their flyer appears,
The author’s worst fears
Are confrimed by mystakes — bolus hole.
A surrogate midwife named Dick
Wrote an intro to Phil’s biblio thick.
When he saw the omission —
His name dropped by attrition —
Apoplexy made him quite sick.
From the title page his name was deleted,
And his usual composure defeated;
He raged, “What a trick:
Phil Bishop’s a prick!”
A phrase he twelve times repeated.
In the end, all met the requirement
Of bibliographic inspirement:
And Bishop of PA
On Mosher of MA
Sent Benton Hatch into retirement
Dick Fredeman
Abbotsford B.C.
Canada
16 June 1998