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.
J. C. Sowerby, a designer for stained glass, in "Afternoon Tea" (Warne, 1880), set a new fashion for "æsthetic" little quartos costing five or six shillings each. This was followed by "At Home" (1881), and "At Home Again" (1886, Marcus Ward), and later by "Young Maids and Old China." These, despite their popularity, display no particular invention. For the real fancy and "conceit" of the books you have to turn to their decorative borders by Thomas Crane. This artist, collaborating with Ellen Houghton, contributed two other volumes to the same series, "Abroad" (1882), and "London Town" (1883), both prime favourites of their day.
Lizzie Lawson, in many contributions for Little Folks and a volume in colours, "Old Proverbs" (Cassell), displayed much grace in depicting children's themes.
Nor among coloured books of the "eighties" must we overlook "Under the Mistletoe" (Griffith and Farran, 1886), and "When all is Young" (Christmas Roses, 1886); "Punch and Judy," by F. E. Weatherley, illustrated by Patty Townsend (1885); "The Parables of Our Lord," really dignified pictures compared with most of their class, by W. Morgan; "Puss in Boots," illustrated by S. Caldwell; "Pets and Playmates" (1888); "Three Fairy Princesses," illustrated by Paterson (1885); "Picture Books of the Fables of Æsop," another series of quaintly designed picture books, modelled on Struwwlpeter; "The Robbers' Cave," illustrated by A. M. Lockyer, and "Nursery Numbers" (1884), illustrated by an amateur named Bell, all these being published by Messrs. Marcus Ward and Co., who issued later, "Where Lilies Grow," a very popular volume, illustrated in the "over-pretty" style by Mrs. Stanley Berkeley. The attractive series of toy-books in colours, published in the form of a Japanese folding album, were probably designed by Percy Macquoid, and published by the same firm, who issued an oblong folio, "Herrick's Content," very pleasantly decorated by Mrs. Houghton. R. Andre was (and for all I know is still) a very prolific illustrator of children's coloured books. "The Cruise of the Walnut Shell" (Dean, 1881); "A Week Spent in a Glass Pond" (Gardner, Darton and Co.); "Grandmother's Thimble" (Warne, 1882); "Pictures and Stories" (Warne, 1882); "Up Stream" (Low, 1884); "A Lilliputian Opera" (Day, 1885); the Oakleaf Library (six shilling volumes, Warne); and Mrs. Ewing's Verse Books (six vols. S.P.C.K.) are some of the best known. T. Pym, far less well-equipped as a draughtsman, shows a certain childish naïveté in his (or was it her?) "Pictures from the Poets" (Gardner, Darton and Co.); "A, B, C" (Gardner, Darton and Co.); "Land of Little People" (Hildesheimer, 1886); "We are Seven" (1880); "Children Busy" (1881); "Snow Queen" (Gardner, Darton and Co.); "Child's Own Story Book" (Gardner, Darton and Co.).
Ida Waugh in "Holly Berries" (Griffith and Farran, 1881); "Wee Babies" (Griffith and Farran, 1882); "Baby Blossoms," "Tangles and Curls," and many other volumes mainly devoted to pictures of babies and their doings, pleased a very large audience both here and in the United States. "Dreams, Dances and Disappointments," and "The Maypole," both by Konstan and Castella, are gracefully decorated books issued by Messrs. De La Rue in 1882, who also published "The Fairies," illustrated by [H?] Allingham in 1881. Major Seccombe in "Comic Sketches from History" (Allen, 1884), and "Cinderella" (Warne, 1882), touched our theme; a large number of more or less comic books of military life and social satire hardly do so. Coloured books of which I have failed to discover copies for reference, are: A. Blanchard's "My Own Dolly" (Griffith and Farran, 1882); "Harlequin Eggs," by Civilly (Sonnenschein, 1884); "The Nodding Mandarin," by L. F. Day (Simpkin, 1883); "Cats-cradle," by C. Kendrick (Strahan, 1886); "The Kitten Pilgrims," by A. Ballantyne (Nisbet, 1887); "Ups and Downs" (1880), and "At his Mother's Knee" (1883), by M. J. Tilsey. "A Winter Nosegay" (Sonnenschein, 1881); "Pretty Peggy," by Emmet (Low, 1881); "Children's Kettledrum," by M. A. C. (Dean, 1881); "Three Wise Old Couples," by Hopkins (Cassell, 1881); "Puss in Boots," by E. K. Johnson (Warne); "Sugar and Spice and all that's Nice" (Strahan, 1881); "Fly away, Fairies," by Clarkson (Griffith and Farran, 1882); "The Tiny Lawn Tennis Club" (Dean, 1882); "Little Ben Bate," by M. Browne (Simpkin, 1882); "Nursery Night," by E. Dewane (Dean, 1882); "New Pinafore Pictures" (Dean, 1882); "Rumpelstiltskin" (De la Rue, 1882); "Baby's Debut," by J. Smith (De la Rue, 1883); "Buckets and Spades" (Dean, 1883); "Childhood" (Warne, 1883); "Dame Trot" (Chapman and Hall, 1883); "In and Out," by Ismay Thorne (Sonnenschein, 1884); "Under Mother's Wing," by Mrs. Clifford (Gardner, Darton, 1883); "Quacks" (Ward and Lock, 1883); "Little Chicks" (Griffith and Farran, 1883); "Talking Toys," "The Talking Clock," H. M. Bennett; "Four Feet by Two," by Helena Maguire; "Merry Hearts," "Cosy Corners," and "A Christmas Fairy," by Gordon Browne (all published by Nisbet).
Among many books elaborately printed by Messrs. Hildesheimer, are two illustrated by M. E. Edwards and J. C. Staples, "Told in the Twilight" (1883); and "Song of the Bells" (1884); and one by M. E. Edwards only, "Two Children"; others by Jane M. Dealy, "Sixes and Sevens" (1882), and "Little Miss Marigold" (1884); "Nursery Land," by H. J. Maguire (1888), and "Sunbeams," by E. K. Johnson and Ewart Wilson (1887).
F. D. Bedford, who illustrated and decorated "The Battle of the Frogs and Mice" (Methuen), has produced this year one of the most satisfactory books with coloured illustrations. In "Nursery Rhymes" (Methuen), the pictures, block-printed in colour by Edmund Evans, are worthy to be placed beside the best books he has produced.
Of all lady illustrators—the phrase is cumbrous, but we have no other—Miss A. B. Woodward stands apart, not only by the vigour of her work, but by its amazing humour, a quality which is certainly infrequent in the work of her sister-artists. The books she has illustrated are not very many, but all show this quality. "Banbury Cross," in Messrs. Dent's Series is among the first. In "To Tell the King the Sky is Falling" (Blackie, 1896) there is a store of delicious examples, and in "The Brownies" (Dent, 1896), the vigour of the handling is very noticeable. In "Eric, Prince of Lorlonia" (Macmillan, 1896), we have further proof that these characteristics are not mere accidents, but the result of carefully studied intention, which is also apparent in the clever designs for the covers of Messrs. Blackie's Catalogue, 1896-97. This year, in "Red Apple and Silver Bells," Miss Woodward shows marked advance. The book, with its delicious rhymes by Hamish Hendry, is one to treasure, as is also her "Adventures in Toy Land," designs marked by the diablerie of which she, alone of lady artists, seems to have the secret. In this the wooden, inane expression of the toys contrasts delightfully with the animate figures.
Mr. Charles Robinson is one of the youngest recruits to the army of illustrators, and yet his few years' record is both lengthy and kept at a singularly high level. In the first of his designs which attracted attention we find the half-grotesque, half-real child that he has made his own—fat, merry little people, that are bubbling over with the joy of mere existence. "Macmillan's Literary Primers" is the rather ponderous title of these booklets which cost but a few pence each, and are worth many a half-dozen high-priced nursery books. Stevenson's "Child's Garden of Verse," his first important book, won a new reputation by reason of its pictures. Then came "Æsop's Fables," in Dent's "Banbury Cross" Series. The next year saw Mr. Gabriel Setoun's book of poems, "Child World," Mrs. Meynell's "The Children," Mr. H. D. Lowry's "Make Believe," and two decorated pages in "The Parade" (Henry and Co.). The present Christmas will see several books from his hand.