nd 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.
[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION FROM "NURSERY RHYMES" BY PAUL WOODROFFE
(GEORGE ALLEN. 1897)]
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 c
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