Kate Greenaway - part 2

Kate Greenaway (Catherine Greenaway) (1846-1901) was a children's book illustrator and writer. Her first book, Under the Window (1879), a collection of simple, perfectly idyllic verses concerning children who endlessly gathered posies, untouched by the Industrial Revolution, was a best-seller. The Kate Greenaway Medal, established in her honour in 1955, is awarded annually by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in the UK to an illustrator of children's books. New techniques of photolithography enabled her delicate watercolours to be reproduced. Through the 1880s and 90s, in popularity her only rivals in the field of children's book illustration were Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott, himself also the eponym of a highly-regarded prize medal.

Part 2 of a 13-part series on the works of Kate Greenaway.

For more biographical information and for earlier works, see part 1 also.

1879 Under the Window:

You see, merry Phillis, that dear little maid,

Three tabbies took out their cats to tea,

Margery Brown, on top of the hill,

Little wind, blow on the hill-top,

Indeed it is true, it is perfectly true,

School is over,

" Little Polly, will you go a-walking to-day?"

As I was walking up the street,

Five little sisters walking in a row;

In go-cart so tiny My sister I drew;

Some geese went out a-walking,

You are going out to tea to-day,

Tommy was a silly boy,

Higgledy, piggledy! see how they run!

Which is the way to Somewhere Town?

The boat sails away, like a bird on the wing,

Pipe thee high, and pipe thee low,

Polly's, Peg's, and Popperty's

Bowl away! bowl away!

" For what are you longing, you three little boys?

O Ring the bells! O ring the bells!

Then ring the bells! then ring the bells!

I saw a ship that sailed the sea,

Yes, that's the girl that struts about,

It was Tommy who said,

"Shall I sing? says the Lark,

Little Miss Patty and Master Paul

Yes, it is said of them -

Now, all of you, give heed unto

What is Tommy running for

A Butcher's boy met a baker's boy

The twelve Miss Pelicoes,

Little baby, if I threw

The finest, biggest fish, you see,

Prince Finnikin and his mamma

Heigh Ho! - time creeps but slow;

My house is red - a little house,

Three little girls were sitting on a rail,

Ring the bells - ring!

End piece

1880 Afternoon Tea:

Front cover

Frontispiece

Afternoon Tea

The Hedgehog