h 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.
[Illustration: 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: 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 wh
|