Chapter 6

Mr. C. E. Brock, whose delightful compositions, somewhat in the "Hugh Thomson" manner, embellish several volumes of Messrs. Macmillan's Cranford series, has illustrated also "The Parachute," and "English Fairy and Folk Tales," by E. S. Hartland (1893), and also supplied two pictures to that most fascinating volume prized by all lovers of children, "W. V., Her Book," by W. Canton. Perhaps "Westward Ho!" should also be included in this list, for whatever its first intentions, it has long been annexed by bolder spirits in the nursery.

A. B. Frost, by his cosmopolitan fun, "understanded of all people," has probably aroused more hearty laughs by his inimitable books than even Caldecott himself. "Stuff and Nonsense," and "The Bull Calf," T. B. Aldrich's "Story of a Bad Boy," and many another volume of American origin, that is now familiar to every Briton with a sense of humour, are the most widely known. It is needless to praise the literally inimitable humour of the tragic series "Our Cat took Rat Poison." In Lewis Carroll's "Rhyme? and Reason?" (1883), Mr. Frost shared with Henry Holiday the task of illustrating a larger edition of the book first published under the title of "Phantasmagoria" (1869); he illustrated also "A Tangled Tale" (1886), by the same author, and this is perhaps the only volume of British origin of which he is sole artist. Mr. Henry Holiday was responsible for the classic pictures to "The Hunting of the Snark" by Lewis Carroll (1876).

Mr. R. Anning Bell does not appear to have illustrated many books for children. Of these, the two which introduced Mr. Dent's "Banbury Cross" series are no doubt the best known. In fact, to describe "Jack the Giant Killer" and the "Sleeping Beauty" in these pages would be an insult to "subscribers from the first." A story, "White Poppies," by May Kendall, which ran through _Sylvia's Journal_, is a little too grown-up to be included; nor can the "Heroines of the Poets," which appeared in the same place, be dragged in to augment the scanty list, any more than the "Midsummer Night's Dream" or "Keats's Poems." It is singular that the fancy of Mr. Anning Bell, which seems exactly calculated to attract a child and its parent at the same time, has not been more frequently requisitioned for this purpose. In the two "Banbury Cross" volumes there is evidence of real sympathy with the text, which is by no means as usual in pictures to fairy tales as it should be; and a delightfully harmonious sense of decoration rare in any book, and still more rare in those expressly designed for small people.

The amazing number of Mr. Gordon Browne's illustrations leaves a would-be iconographer appalled. So many thousand designs--and all so good--deserve a lengthened and exhaustive eulogy. But space absolutely forbids it, and as a large number cater for older children than most of the books here noticed, on that ground one may be forgiven the inadequate notice. If an illustrator deserved to attract the attention of collectors it is surely this one, and so fertile has he been that a complete set of all his work would take no little time to get together. Here are the titles of a few jotted at random: "Bonnie Prince Charlie," "For Freedom's Cause," "St. George for England," "Orange and Green," "With Clive in India," "With Wolfe in Canada," "True to the Old Flag," "By Sheer Pluck," "Held Fast for England," "For Name and Fame," "With Lee in Virginia," "Facing Death," "Devon Boys," "Nat the Naturalist," "Bunyip Land," "The Lion of St. Mark," "Under Drake's Flag," "The Golden Magnet," "The Log of the Flying Fish," "In the King's Name," "Margery Merton's Girlhood," "Down the Snow Stairs," "Stories of Old Renown," "Seven Wise Scholars," "Chirp and Chatter," "Gulliver's Travels," "Robinson Crusoe," "Hetty Gray," "A Golden Age," "Muir Fenwick's Failure," "Winnie's Secret" (all so far are published by Blackie and Son). "National Nursery Rhymes," "Fairy Tales from Grimm," "Sintram, and Undine," "Sweetheart Travellers," "Five, Ten and Fifteen," "Gilly Flower," "Prince Boohoo," "A Sister's Bye-hours," "Jim," and "A Flock of Four," are all published by Gardner, Darton & Co., and "Effie," by Griffith & Farran. When one realises that not a few of these books contain a hundred illustrations, and that the list is almost entirely from two publishers' catalogues, some idea of the fecundity of Mr. Gordon Browne's output is gained. But only a vague idea, as his "Shakespeare," with hundreds of drawings and a whole host of other books, cannot be even mentioned. It is sufficient to name but one--say the example from "Robinson Crusoe" (Blackie), reproduced on page 32--to realise Mr. Gordon Browne's vivid and picturesque interpretation of fact, or "Down the Snow Stairs" (Blackie), also illustrated, with a grotesque owl-like creature, to find that in pure fantasy his exuberant imagination is no less equal to the task. In "Chirp and Chatter" (Blackie), fifty-four illustrations of animals masquerading as human show delicious humour. At times his technique appears somewhat hasty, but, as a rule, the method he adopts is as good as the composition he depicts. He is in his own way the leader of juvenile illustration of the non-Duerer school.

Mr. Harry Furniss's coloured toy-books--"Romps"--are too well known to need description, and many another juvenile volume owes its attraction to his facile pencil. Of these, the two later "Lewis Caroll's"--"Sylvia and Bruno," and "Sylvia and Bruno, Concluded," are perhaps most important. As a curious narrative, "Travels in the Interior" (of a human body) must not be forgotten. It certainly called forth much ingenuity on the part of the artist. In "Romps," and in all his work for children, there is an irrepressible sense of movement and of exuberant vitality in his figures; but, all the same, they are more like Fred Walker's idyllic youngsters having romps than like real everyday children.

Mr. Linley Sambourne's most ingenious pen has been all too seldom employed on children's books. Indeed, one that comes first to memory, the "New Sandford and Merton" (1872), is hardly entitled to be classed among them, but the travesty of the somewhat pedantic narrative, interspersed with fairly amusing anecdotes, that Thomas Day published in 1783, is superb. No matter how familiar it may be, it is simply impossible to avoid laughing anew at the smug little Harry, the sanctimonious tutor, or the naughty Tommy, as Mr. Sambourne has realised them. The "Anecdotes of the Crocodile" and "The Presumptuous Dentist" are no less good. The way he has turned a prosaic hat-rack into an instrument of torture would alone mark Mr. Sambourne as a comic draughtsman of the highest type. Nothing he has done in political cartoons seems so likely to live as these burlesques. A little known book, "The Royal Umbrella" (1888), which contains the delightful "Cat Gardeners" here reproduced, and the very well-known edition of Charles Kingsley's "Water Babies" (1886), are two other volumes which well display his moods of less unrestrained humour. "The Real Robinson Crusoe" (1893) and Lord Brabourne's (Knatchbull-Hugessen's) "Friends and Foes of Fairyland" (1886), well-nigh exhaust the list of his efforts in this direction.

Prince of all foreign illustrators for babyland is M. Boutet de Monvel, whose works deserve an exhaustive monograph. Although comparatively few of his books are really well known in England, "Little Folks" contains a goodly number of his designs. La Fontaine's "Fables" (an English edition of which is published by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) is (so far as I have discovered) the only important volume reprinted with English text. Possibly his "Jeanne d'Arc" ought not to be named among children's books, yet the exquisite drawing of its children and the unique splendour the artist has imparted to simple colour-printing, endear it to little ones no less than adults. But it would be absurd to suppose that readers of THE STUDIO do not know this masterpiece of its class, a book no artistic household can possibly afford to be without. Earlier books by M. de Monvel, which show him in his most engaging mood (the mood in the illustration from "Little Folks" here reproduced), are "Vieilles Chansons et Rondes," by Ch. M. Widor, "La Civilite Puerile et Honnete," and "Chansons de France pour les Petits Francais." Despite their entirely different characterisation of the child, and a much stronger grasp of the principles of decorative composition, these delightful designs are more nearly akin to those of Miss Kate Greenaway than are any others published in Europe or America. Yet M. de Monvel is not only absolutely French in his types and costumes but in the movement and expression of his serious little people, who play with a certain demure gaiety that those who have watched French children in the Gardens of the Luxembourg or Tuileries, or a French seaside resort, know to be absolutely truthful. For the Gallic _bebe_ certainly seems less "rampageous" than the English urchin. A certain daintiness of movement and timidity in the boys especially adds a grace of its own to the games of French children which is not without its peculiar charm. This is singularly well caught in M. de Monvel's delicious drawings, where naively symmetrical arrangement and a most admirable simplicity of colour are combined. Indeed, of all non-English artists who address the little people, he alone has the inmost secret of combining realistic drawing with sumptuous effects in conventional decoration.

The work of the Danish illustrator, Lorenz Froelich, is almost as familiar in English as in Continental nurseries, yet his name is often absent from the title-pages of books containing his drawings. Perhaps those attributed to him formally that are most likely to be known by British readers are in "When I was a Little Girl" and "Nine Years Old" (Macmillan), but, unless memory is treacherous, one remembers toy-books in colours (published by Messrs. Nelson and others), that were obviously from his designs. A little known French book, "Le Royaume des Gourmands," exhibits the artist in a more fanciful aspect, where he makes a far better show than in some of his ultra-pretty realistic studies. Other French volumes, "Histoire d'un Bouchee de Pain," "Lili a la Campagne," "La Journee de Mademoiselle Lili," and the "Alphabet de Mademoiselle Lili," may possibly be the original sources whence the blocks were borrowed and adapted to English text. But the veteran illustrator has done far too large a number of designs to be catalogued here. For grace and truth, and at times real mastery of his material, no notice of children's artists could abstain from placing him very high in their ranks.

Oscar Pletsch is another artist--presumably a German--whose work has been widely republished in England. In many respects it resembles that of Froelich, and is almost entirely devoted to the daily life of the inmates of the nursery, with their tiny festivals and brief tragedies. It would seem to appeal more to children than their elders, because the realistic transcript of their doings by his hand often lacks the touch of pathos, or of grown-up humour that finds favour with adults.

The mass of children's toy-books published by Messrs. Dean, Darton, Routledge, Warne, Marcus Ward, Isbister, Hildesheimer and many others cannot be considered exhaustively, if only from the fact that the names of the designers are frequently omitted. Probably Messrs. Kronheim & Co., and other colour-printers, often supplied pictures designed by their own staff. Mr. Edmund Evans, to whom is due a very large share of the success of the Crane, Caldecott, and Kate Greenaway (Routledge) books, more frequently reproduced the work of artists whose names were considered sufficiently important to be given upon the books themselves. A few others of Routledge's toy-books besides those mentioned are worth naming. Mr. H.S. Marks, R.A., designed two early numbers of their shilling series: "Nursery Rhymes" and "Nursery Songs;" and to J. D. Watson may be attributed the "Cinderella" in the same series. Other sixpenny and shilling illustrated books were by C. H. Bennett, C. W. Cope, A. W. Bayes, Julian Portch, Warwick Reynolds, F. Keyl, and Harrison Weir.

The "Greedy Jim," by Bennett, is only second to "Struwwlpeter" itself, in its lasting power to delight little ones. If out of print it deserves to be revived.

Although Mr. William de Morgan appears to have illustrated but a single volume, "On a Pincushion," by Mary de Morgan (Seeley, 1877), yet that is so interesting that it must be noticed. Its interest is double--first in the very "decorative" quality of its pictures, which are full of "colour" and look like woodcuts more than process blocks; and next in the process itself, which was the artist's own invention. So far as I gather from Mr. de Morgan's own explanation, the drawings were made on glass coated with some yielding substance, through which a knife or graver cut the "line." Then an electro was taken. This process, it is clear, is almost exactly parallel with that of wood-cutting--_i.e._, the "whites" are taken out, and the sweep of the tool can be guided by the worker in an absolutely untrammelled way. Those who love the qualities of a woodcut, and have not time to master the technique of wood-cutting or engraving, might do worse than experiment with Mr. de Morgan's process. A quantity of proofs of designs he executed--but never published--show that it has many possibilities worth developing.

The work of Reginald Hallward deserves to be discussed at greater length than is possible here. His most important book (printed finely in gold and colours by Edmund Evans), is "Flowers of Paradise," issued by Macmillan some years ago. The drawings for this beautiful quarto were shown at one of the early Arts and Crafts Exhibitions. Some designs, purely decorative, are interspersed among the figure subjects. "Quick March," a toy-book (Warne), is also full of the peculiar "quality" which distinguishes Mr. Hallward's work, and is less austere than certain later examples. The very notable magazine, _The Child's Pictorial_, illustrated almost entirely in colours, which the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published for ten years, contains work by this artist, and a great many illustrations by Mrs. Hallward, which alone would serve to impart value to a publication that has (as we have pointed out elsewhere) very many early examples by Charles Robinson, and capital work by W. J. Morgan. Mrs. Hallward's work is marked by strong Pre-Raphaelite feeling, although she does not, as a rule, select old-world themes, but depicts children of to-day. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hallward eschew the "pretty-pretty" type, and are bent on producing really "decorative" pages. So that to-day, when the ideal they so long championed has become popular, it is strange to find that their work is not better known.

The books illustrated by past or present students of the Birmingham School will be best noticed in a group, as, notwithstanding some distinct individuality shown by many of the artists, especially in their later works, the idea that links the group together is sufficiently similar to impart to all a certain resemblance. In other words, you can nearly always pick out a "Birmingham" illustration at a glance, even if it would be impossible to confuse the work of Mr. Gaskin with that of Miss Levetus.

Arthur Gaskin's illustrations to Andersen's "Stories and Fairy Tales" (George Allen) are beyond doubt the most important volumes in any way connected with the school. Mr. William Morris ranked them so highly that Mr. Gaskin was commissioned to design illustrations for some of the Kelmscott Press books, and Mr. Walter Crane has borne public witness to their excellence. This alone is sufficient to prove that they rise far above the average level. "Good King Wenceslas" (Cornish Bros.) is another of Mr. Gaskin's books--his best in many ways. He it is also who illustrated and decorated Mr. Baring-Gould's "A Book of Fairy Tales" (Methuen).

Mrs. Gaskin (Georgie Cave France) is also familiar to readers of THE STUDIO. Perhaps her "A, B, C." (published by Elkin Mathews), and "Horn Book Jingles" (The Leadenhall Press), a unique book in shape and style, contain the best of her work so far.

Miss Levetus has contributed many illustrations to books. Among the best are "Turkish Fairy Tales" (Lawrence and Bullen), and "Verse Fancies" (Chapman and Hall).

"Russian Fairy Tales" (Lawrence and Bullen) is distinguished by the designs of C. M. Gere, who has done comparatively little illustration; hence the book has more than usual interest, and takes a far higher artistic rank than its title might lead one to expect.

Miss Bradley has illustrated one of Messrs. Blackie's happiest volumes this year. "Just Forty Winks" (from which one picture is reproduced here), shows that the artist has steered clear of the "Alice in Wonderland" model, which the author can hardly be said to have avoided. Miss Bradley has also illustrated the prettily decorated book of poems, "Songs for Somebody," by Dollie Radford (Nutt). The two series of "Children's Singing Games" (Nutt) are among the most pleasant volumes the Birmingham school has produced. Both are decorated by Winifred Smith, who shows considerable humour as well as ingenuity.

Among volumes illustrated, each by the members of the Birmingham school, are "A Book of Pictured Carols" (George Allen), and Mr. Baring-Gould's "Nursery Rhymes" (Methuen). Both these volumes contain some of the most representative work of Birmingham, and the latter, with its rich borders and many pictures, is a book that consistently maintains a very fine ideal, rare at any time, and perhaps never before applied to a book for the nursery. Indeed were it needful to choose a single book to represent the school, this one would stand the test of selection.

In Messrs. Dent's "Banbury Cross" series, the Misses Violet and Evelyn Holden illustrated "The House that Jack Built"; Sidney Heath was responsible for "Aladdin," and Mrs. H. T. Adams decorated "Tom Thumb, &c."

Mr. Laurence Housman is more than an illustrator of fairy tales; he is himself a rare creator of such fancies, and has, moreover, an almost unique power of conveying his ideas in the medium. His "Farm in Fairyland" and "A House of Joy" (both published by Kegan Paul and Co.) have often been referred to in THE STUDIO. Yet, at the risk of reiterating what nobody of taste doubts, one must place his work in this direction head and shoulders above the crowd--even the crowd of excellent illustrators--because its amazing fantasy and caprice are supported by cunning technique that makes the whole work a "picture," not merely a decoration or an interpretation of the text. As a spinner of entirely bewitching stories, that hold a child spell-bound, and can be read and re-read by adults, he is a near rival of Andersen himself.

H. Granville Fell, better known perhaps from his decorations to "The Book of Job," and certain decorated pages in the _English Illustrated Magazine_, illustrated three of Messrs. Dent's "Banbury Cross" series--"Cinderella, &c.," "Ali Baba," and "Tom Hickathrift." His work in these is full of pleasant fancy and charming types.

A very sumptuous setting of the old fairy tale, "Beauty and the Beast," in this case entitled "Zelinda and the Monster" (Dent, 1895), with ten photogravures after paintings by the Countess of Lovelace, must not be forgotten, as its text may bring it into our present category.

Miss Rosie Pitman, in "Maurice and the Red Jar" (Macmillan), shows much elaborate effort and a distinct fantasy in design. "Undine" (Macmillan, 1897) is a still more successful achievement.

Richard Heighway is one of the "Banbury Cross" illustrators in "Blue Beard," &c. (Dent), and has also pictured AEsop's "Fables," with 300 designs (in Macmillan's Cranford series).

Mr. J. F. Sullivan--who must not be confused with his namesake--is one who has rarely illustrated works for little children, but in the famous "British Workman" series in _Fun_, in dozens of Tom Hood's "Comic Annuals," and elsewhere, has provoked as many hearty laughs from the nursery as from the drawing-room. In "The Flame Flower" (Dent) we find a side-splitting volume, illustrated with 100 drawings by the author. For this only Mr. J. F. Sullivan has plunged readers deep in debt, and when one recalls the amazing number of his delicious absurdities in the periodical literature of at least twenty years past, it seems astounding to find that the name of so entirely well-equipped a draughtsman is yet not the household word it should be.

E. J. Sullivan, with eighty illustrations to the Cranford edition of "Tom Brown's Schooldays," comes for once within our present limit.

J. D. Batten is responsible for the illustration of so many important collections of fairy tales that it is vexing not to be able to reproduce a selection of his drawings, to show the fertility of his invention and his consistent improvement in technique. The series, "Fairy Tales of the British Empire," collected and edited by Mr. Jacobs, already include five volumes--English, More English, Celtic, More Celtic, and Indian, all liberally illustrated by J. D. Batten, as are "The Book of Wonder Voyages," by J. Jacobs (Nutt), and "Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights," edited by E. Dixon, and a second series, both published by Messrs. J. M. Dent and Co. "A Masque of Dead Florentines" (Dent) can hardly be brought into our subject.

Louis Davis has illustrated far too few children's books. His Fitzroy pictures show how delightfully he can appeal to little people, and in "Good Night Verses," by Dollie Radford (Nutt), we have forty pages of his designs that are peculiarly dainty in their quality, and tender in their poetic interpretation of child-life.

"Wymps" (Lane, 1896), with illustrations by Mrs. Percy Dearmer, has a quaint straightforwardness, of a sort that exactly wins a critic of the nursery.