ILLUSTRATION FROM "NONSENSE" BY A. NOBODY
(GARDNER, DARTON AND CO.)
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.
ILLUSTRATION (REDUCED) FROM "THE CHILD'S PICTORIAL." BY MRS. R. HALLWARD (S.P.C.K.)
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.
ILLUSTRATION FROM "A, B, C" BY MRS. GASKIN (ELKIN MATHEWS)
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.
| "KING LOVE. A CHRISTMAS GREETING." BY H. GRANVILLE FELL |