Kate Greenaway : Victorian Children's Book Illustrator

"The grace and charm of her children and young girls were quickly recognized, and her treatment of quaint early nineteenth century costume, prim gardens, and the child-like spirit of her designs in an old-world atmosphere, though touched with conscious modern 'aestheticism,' captivated the public in a remarkable way."
~ Walter Crane

"One of the charms, as has been said, most striking in the character of 'K.G.' (as she was called by her most intimate friends and relatives) was her modesty. A quiet, bright little lady, whose fame has spread all over the world, and whose books were making her rich, and her publisher prosperous and content -- there she was, whom everybody wanted to know, yet who preferred to remain quite retired, living with her relatives in the delightful house Mr. Norman Shaw had designed for her -- happy when she was told how children loved her work, but unhappy when people who were not her intimate friends wanted to talk to her about it."
~ M.H. Spielmann and G.S. Layard

On Art

"One never uses the rules, one only feels them - and defies if one likes... But we should first know and love them."

On Business

"I have made it a rule for a long time, not to part with the copyright of my drawings, for I have been so copied, my drawings reproduced and sold for advertisements and done in ways I hate."

On Childhood

"I suppose my imaginary life made me one long continuous joy - filled everything with a strange wonder and beauty. Living in that childish wonder is a most beautiful feeling - I can so well remember it. There was always something more - behind and beyond everything - to me, the golden spectacles were very, very big."

Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism:
In Great Britain and Ireland

Kate Greenaway's work appeared in:

• Cassell's Magazine
• Century Magazine
• The Girl's Own Paper
• The Illustrated London News
• Harper's Young People
• The Ladies Home Journal
• Little Folks
• The People's Magazine
• Punch
• St. Nicholas

There may have been others. If you're aware of other magazines and newspapers to which Kate Greenaway contributed her illustrations (or her verse, for that matter), please leave a note in the Guestbook. It would be lovely to ensure this list is complete!

• Kingston, William, Infant Amusements, or How to Make a Nursery Happy, 1867.


• Aulnoy, Marie, Madame D'Aulnoy's Fairy Tales, 9 v., Gall and Inglis, 1871.


• Aunt Louisa's London Toy Books: Diamonds and Toads, Warne, 1871.


• Jeune, Margaret S., My School Days in Paris, London, Griffith and Farran, 1871.


• Knox, Kathleen, Fairy Gifts; or, A Wallet of Wonders, Griffith & Farran, 1874.


• Aunt Cae, The Children of the Parsonage, Griffith & Farran, 1874.


• Mulholland, Rosa, Puck and Blossom, Marcus Ward, 1874.


• Hill, Miranda, The Fairy Spinner, Marcus Ward, 1874.


• Jerrold, Alice, A Cruise in the Acorn, London, Marcus Ward, 1875.


• Clark, Mary Senior, Turnaside Cottage, London, Marcus Ward, 1875.


• Potter, Frederick Scarlett, Melcomb Manor: A Family Chronicle, London, Marcus Ward, 1875.


• Children's Songs, London, Marcus Ward, c. 1875.


• Knox, Kathleen, Seven Birthdays; or, The Children of Fortune, Griffith & Farran, 1875.


• Quiver of Love, a Collection of Valentines (with Walter Crane), Marcus Ward, 1876.


• LaBlanche, Fanny, Starlight Stories Told to Bright Eyes and Listening Ears, Griffith & Farran, 1877.


• Russell, Rutherford, Tom Seven Years Old, London, Marcus Ward, 1877.


• Hunt, Mrs. Bonavia, Poor Nelly, London, Cassell, Petter, Gilpin, 1878.


• Campbell, Lady Colin, Topo: A Tale About English Children in Italy, Marcus Ward, 1878.


• Yonge, Charlotte Mary, Heartsease; or The Brother's Wife, Macmillan, 1879.


• Yonge, Charlotte Mary, The Heir of Redclyffe, Macmillan, 1879.


• Pollock, Walter Herries, Amateur Theatricals, London, Macmillan, 1879.


• Toyland, Trot's Journey and Other Poems and Stories, New York, R. Worthington, c. 1879


• Weatherly, George, The "Little Folks" Painting Book, Cassell, Petter, Gilpin, 1879.


• Weatherly, George, The "Little Folks" Nature Painting Book, Cassell, Petter, Gilpin 1879.


• A Favorite Album of Fun and Fancy, London, Cassell, Petter, Gilpin, c. 1879.


• Haile, Ellen, Three Brown Boys and Other Happy Children, New York, Cassell & Co., c. 1879.


• Haile, Ellen, The Two Gray Girls and Their Opposite Neighbours, New York, Cassell & Co., c. 1879.


• Under the Window: Pictures and Rhymes for Children, London, George Routledge, 1879.


• Barker, Mrs. Sale, Kate Greenaway's Birthday Book, London, George Routledge, 1880.


• Freddie's Letter: Stories For Little People, London, Routledge, 1880.


• The Old Farm Gate, London, George Routledge, c. 1880.


• Lang, Andrew, The Library, London, Macmillan and Company, 1881.


• Locker, Frederick, London Lyrics, London, Macmillan and Company, 1881.


• Mother Goose; or, The Old Nursery Rhymes, London, Routledge, 1881.


• Foster, Myles Burkett, A Day in a Child's Life, London, Routledge, 1882.


• Ranking, Montgomerie and Tully, Thomas K., Flowers and Fancies; Valentines Ancient and Modern, Marcus Ward, 1882.


• Weatherly, F. E., The Illustrated Children's Birthday Book (with others), London, W. Mack, 1882.


• Taylor, Ann and Jane, Little Ann and Other Poems, London, Routledge, 1883.


• Zimmern, Helen, Tales from the Edda, London, Sonnenschein, 1883.


• Language of Flowers, London, Routledge, 1884.


• A Painting Book By Kate Greenaway, London, George Routledge, 1884.


• Ellice, Robert, compiler, Songs for the Nursery: A Collection of Children's Poems, Old and New, W. Mack, 1884.


• Kate Greenaway's Christmas Carols, London: George Routledge, c. 1884.


• Kate Greenaway's Alphabet, London, Routledge, 1885.


• Kate Greenaway's Album, London, Routledge, c. 1885.


• Marigold Garden: Pictures and Rhymes, London, Routledge, 1885.


• Mavor, William, English Spelling Book, London, Routledge, 1885.


• Ruskin, John, editor, Dame Wiggins of Lee and Her Seven Wonderful Cats, London, George Allen, 1885.


• A Apple Pie: An Old-Fashioned Alphabet Book, London, Routledge, 1886.


• Harte, Bret, The Queen of the Pirate Isle, Chatto & Windus, 1886.


• Baby's Birthday Book, London, Marcus Ward, 1886.


• Allingham, William, Rhymes for the Young Folk, Cassell and Co., 1887.


• Queen Victoria's Jubilee Garland, London, George Routledge, 1887.


• Browning, Robert, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, London, Routledge, 1888.


• Around the House, New York, Worthington, 1888.


• Kate Greenaway's Book of Games, London, Routledge, 1889.


• Cresswell, Beatrice F. , The Royal Progress of King Pepito, London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1889.


• Arnim, Mary Annette, The April Baby's Book of Tunes, London and New York, Macmillan, 1900.


• Spielmann, Mabel H., Littledom Castle and Other Tales (with others), London, George Routledge, 1903.


• Dobson, Austin, De Libris Prose and Verse (with others), London, Macmillan, 1908, 1911.


• Almanack, London, Routledge,1883-1895.

References:

• Ortakales, Denise, "Women Children's Book Illustrators of the 19th and 20th centuries," http://www.ortakales.com/Illustrators/index.html (last updated 24 August 2002, website is not currently online)


• Thomson, Susan Ruth, Kate Greenaway: a catalogue of the Kate Greenaway Collection, Rare Book Room, Detroit Public Library, Detroit, published by Wayne State University Press for the Friends of the Detroit Public Library, 1977.

A Goblin Stealing Cabbages
Kate Greenaway
Buy This at Allposters.com

When engraver and colour printer Edmund Evans produced Greenaway's first book, Under the Window, a collection of verses for children, she was relatively unknown. The book was a commercial successful, firmly establishing Kate Greenaway's reputation as an author and illustrator of works for children.

Richard Maxwell, in The Victorian Illustrated Book, notes that Under the Window "recorded the play of country children in cottages, gardens, and fields: the window of the title poem opens onto a rural garden. Yet Greenaway's own visual sense was formed looking through London street windows, watching the crowds, and standing outside Islington shop windows, dreaming over toy villages and over picture books' brightly colored promise of other worlds."

The colour illustrations were produced "through a costly process that involved the photographing of her dainty water-colors on to wood blocks" by which means "Evans was able to present all of the charm of Greenaway's idyllic pastoral scenes and seemingly enchanted children," according to the L390 Touponce Lecture Notes, Indiana University - Purdue.

The first print run of 20,000 copies sold out almost immediately, and a second printing of 70,000 was soon ordered. In total, some 150,000 copies of the popular little book were sold. Under the Window was also published in French and German translations.

Published in London by George Routledge and Sons, Language of Flowers (1884) was engraved and printed by Edmund Evans.

The first section gives the flower name and its meaning in the Victorian "language of flowers," and is illustrated in colour by Kate Greenaway. The second section, not illustrated, reverses the order. Some editions also contain a selection of short flower-themed poems by Wordsworth, Shelley, etc. Only 19,500 copies of the book were printed in all the 10 variants.

Language of Flowers may be viewed online, courtesy of Illuminated Books, a digital library of illunimated and illustrated books, and of Project Gutenberg.

The first edition was published in 1885 by George Routledge and Sons, London & New York, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans. From 1901 on, Frederick Warne published many editions of Marigold Garden.

"You little girl,
You little boy,
With wondering eyes,
That kindly look,
In honour of
Two noble names
I send the offering
Of this book."

The green-covered edition of Marigold Garden shown here, available online courtesy of Project Gutenberg, is not dated. A slightly different ediiton (dated May 20, 1912) may be viewed online courtesy of Illuminated Books.