Walter Crane - part 6

Walter Crane (15 August 1845 – 14 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the later 19th century.

Crane's work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterise many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles, wallpapers and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international socialist movement.

For more in-depth biographical notes see part 1, and for earlier works see parts 1 - 5 also.

This is part 6 of a 19-part series on the works of Walter Crane.

c1874 The Absurd ABC

published by George Routledge & Sons:

ABCD

EFGH

IJKLMNOPQR

IJKLM

NOPQR

STUV

WXYZ

1875 Agatha's Husband 

published by MacMillan & Co., London:

Page 36. "She began leisurely to read."

Page 90. "Will you accept it, with my love?"

Page 148. Arrival at Kingcombe Holm.

Page 212. On horseback.

Page 280. The husband's farewell.

Page 394. Along the road.

1876 Chattering Jack's Picture Book 

published by George Routledge and Sons:

A later front cover

Chattering Jack title page

How she clapped her hands in glad surprise,

Adjectives tell the kind of Noun,

And Papa and Mama took them home the same day, 

Three little words you often see ...,

c1876 Adventures of Puffy 

published by George Routledge & Sons:

About a pretty dog I have to tell, -

But once the little thing fell off a chair,

And when the door was opened in there came Puffy,

This did not make him look so well, - more lame

A few days after this, - and oh! it shows

One day in winter, frosty and severe,

That he was drowned my readers must not think,

They took him home, and warmed and rubbed him well,

1879 The Blue Beard Picture Book:

And Anne looked once, and Anne looked twice...

And down she falls in death-like sleep

And in her wealth the lady took much happiness

Note: There are more images in the Bluebeard Picture Book, but they have already featured in earlier parts of this series.