~Amy Millicent Sowerby~

 Illustrations from the First edition of Childhood
by Millicent Sowerby, published by Chatto & Windus 1907.
This is Milicent Sowerby's 3rd illustrated book.

Millicent Sowerby was born in Northumberland,
England, in 1878-1967 the daughter of designer
and illustrator John G. Sowerby.
Her style was clearly influenced
by the famed Victorian illustrator Kate Greenaway,
usually depicting innocent children at play using
flat colors and strong outlines.

 

Millicent Sowerby werd geboren in Northumberland
in Engeland in 1878, en is overleden in 1967.
Ze was de dochter van de ontwerper
en illustrator John. G. Sowerby.
Haar stijl van tekenen werd sterk beïnvloed
door Kate Greenaway, en vaak koos ze kinderen
die zaten te spelen, om te tekenen in zachte kleuren!

  
Finding encouragement at home, Sowerby started
painting at an early age. She took some art classes
for several years but distance prevented her from
attending them for more than two days a week.
Mostly, she was self-taught, learning from
the work of other illustrators.
Thuis werd ze gestimuleerd om te schilderen
zodoende volgde ze lessen maar vanwege
de lange afstand
kon ze er maar 2x per week naar toe.
Hoofdzakelijk heeft ze zichzelf alles zelf aangeleerd!

In an attempt to help their family’s finances,
Sowerby and her sister Githa collaborated on
children’s books. Githa wrote the stories and
verses while Sowerby illustrated them for over
twenty years. Sowerby was also a prolific illustrator
of children’s picture post cards, depicting scenes from Shakespeare, and Kate Greenaway type girls.
Later, she designed thirty sets of cards for a
yearly series called ‘Postcards for the Little Ones’.

 
When Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland went out of
copyright in 1907, like other illustrators,
Sowerby was commissioned to illustrate it.
Millicent Sowerby werd uitkozen om
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland te illustreren!

Well into her eighties, Sowerby remained
a watercolorist and painted flowers.
Toen ze eenmaal 80jaar was geweest
schilderde ze nog steeds met waterverf
en schilderde meestal bloemen!

“It has always been the beautiful in childhood
that has attracted me. I love flowers and bright colours,
and I generally use these in the backgrounds
for my paintings of children.”

Enkele door haar geïllustreerde boeken:
A few books:
-Sowerby, Githa, The Wise Book, Dent, 1906.
-Carroll, Lewis, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 1908.
-Sowerby, Githa, Childhood, London, 1907,
-Sowerby, Githa, The Bumbletoes, 1907.
-Sowerby, Githa, The Merry Book, 1908.
-Sowerby, Githa, Yesterday’s Children, 1908.
-Sowerby, Githa, The Happy Book, 1909.
-Stevenson, Robert Louis, A Child’s Garden of Verses, 1909.
-Stevenson, Robert Louis, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, 1909.
-My Own Picture Book (with Anne Anderson),  1930.

~Hilda T.Miller~

The Island

I know an island in a lake,
Green upon waters grey,
It has a strange enchanted air;
I hear the fairies singing there

When I go by that way.
They guard their hidden dwelling-place
With bands of stalwart reeds,
But sometimes, by a happy chance,
I see them all come out and dance

Upon the water-weeds.
One night, one summer night, I know
Suddenly I shall wake,
And very softly hasten down
And out beyond the sleeping town

To find my fairy lake.
I shall not need to seek a boat,
It will be moored, I think,
Within a tiny pebbled bay
Where meadow-sweet and mallow sway

Close to the water’s brink.
The moon from shore to shadowy shore
Will make a shining trail,
And I shall sing their fairy song
As joyfully I float along -
I shall not need a sail.

~Book: 
The Rose Fyleman Fairy Book by Rose Fyleman (1923)

~Johanna Spyri~

 
Johanna Spyri is born on 12 June 1827
She died on 7 July 1901
and was an author of children's stories, and is
best known for Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser
in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden,
the setting she later would use in her novels.

In 1852, Johanna Heusser married Bernhard Spyri,
a lawyer. While living in the city of Zürich she began
to write about life in the country. Her first book titled
A Leaf on Vrony's Grave, was published in 1871 and
the following year further stories for both adults and
children appeared, among them the tale of Heidi that
became an instant and enduring success.
Heidi, the story of an orphan girl who lives with her
grandfather in the Alps, is not only famous for its
vivid portrayal of the landscape but also for its
understanding of how children see life and their feelings.

Her husband and her only child, a son named
Bernard, both died in 1884. Alone,
she devoted herself to charitable causes and
wrote over fifty more stories before her death in 1901.
She was interred in the family plot at the
Sihlfeld-A Cemetery in Zürich, Switzerland.
An icon in Switzerland, Johanna Spyri's portrait
was placed on a postage stamp in 1951 and
on a 20 CHF commemorative coin in 2001.

Novels:
A Leaf On Vrony's Grave (1871)
Heidi (1880)
Toni the Little Wood Carver (1920)
Vinzi: A Story of the Swiss Alps (1923)
Dora (1924)
Gritli's Children: A Story of Switzerland (1924)
Veronica (1924)
Jorli: The Story of a Swiss Boy (1926)
Maxa's Children (1926)
Uncle Titus in the Country (1926)
Eveli: The Little Singer (1926)

 

Johanna Spyri died on 7 July 1901 Zürich and is
interred in the family plot at the Sihlfeld-A Cemetery
in Zürich, Switzerland. In 2001 there was a
CHF commemorative coin minted in Spyri's honour.
The Heidi Foundation was established in 1999
"to promote and publicize the story of Heidi,
as conceived by the author, Johanna Spyri,
all over the world."

Johanna Spyri is geboren in Hirzel op 12 juni 1827
en overleden in Zürich op 7 juli 1901
Ze was een Zwitsers schrijfster. Ze schreef onder
andere het beroemde boek Heidi,
dat later ook verfilmd is.

Johanna Spyri was de vierde van zes kinderen
van arts Johann Jacob Heusser en dichteres
Meta Heusser-Schweizer. Ze groeide op in Hirzel,
een dorp in het kanton Zürich. In 1852 trouwde
ze met Johann Bernhard Spyri. Haar eerste verhaal
(Ein Blatt auf Vronys Grab) verscheen pas in 1871,
toen Spyri 44 was. In 1881 schreef ze
Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre, dat een groot
succes werd. Het jaar daarna kwam een vervolg uit,
Heidi kann brauchen was es gelernt hat.
Het boek wordt ook nu nog veel gelezen,
en is meerdere malen verfilmd.

 

Alle boeken en teksten van Johanna Spyri
werpen een kritische, nietsverhullende blik op
Zwitserland en op het leven van mensen tijdens
de vroege industrialisatie. Vooral het lot van kinderen
en jonge meisjes ging Spyri aan het hart. Haar teksten zijn daarom niet alleen interessant vanuit literair oogpunt,
maar ook vanuit de maatschappijgeschiedenis.

Van 1871 tot haar dood in 1901 bracht Spyri
31 boeken, 27 verhalenbundels en 4 brochures uit.

 

 Heidi, an orphan living in a cottage in the Alps
with her grandfather deals with many of the issues
children and adults can relate to. He is overprotective,
and she ends up spending much free time with
Peter in the meadows. When she moves to Frankfurt,
Germany to live with Klara, she has a difficult time
adjusting to the confinement of the city and
discipline of education. Much like Spyri experienced
in real life, Heidi becomes homesick for the freedom
and fresh air of the country. When she returns with Klara,
there is jealousy and conflict intermingled with the
individual pains of growing up. Heidi has sold millions
of copies, inspired many movies, cartoons,
television series, and is translated
to over forty languages.

2 Pictures from the movie ‘Heidi’
2 foto’s uit de film ‘Heidi’

~Anne Anderson~Illustrator

A prolific illustrator, Anne Anderson’s delicate
work exhibits a fluidity typical of the Art Nouveau movement.
Over One hundred books to her credit has insured
that most children in that era have enjoyed her work.

Anderson was a Scottish artist born in 1874,
then spent her childhood days in Argentina.
Her book illustrations began appearing at
the end of the Edwardian era.
She died in 1930?

In June 1912, she married a painter, Alan Wright
and they settled in Berkshire. Wright had a successful
career in illustration prior to 1898 when he illustrated
a story for Baron Corvo. The story and Corvo
were highly criticized in the press, and because of
his association with the story, Wright’s commissions
dried up until he married Anderson. They collaborated
on many books together—he would draw the animals
and birds and she would draw everything else. 
It has been said that it is difficult to distinguish his
work from hers. But mostly, he dedicated himself to
providing her with an environment conducive to her work.


 

In addition to her illustration, she was also an etcher,
watercolor painter and designer of greeting cards.     

Click here for more illustrations.
and also
on Artsy Craftsy.com

Illustrations here come from Old, Old, Fairy Tales,
Grimms Fairy Tales, The Wonder Book, Heidi
Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, Mother Goose
and The Mammoth Wonder Book.

~The Fairies of Spring!

The Windflower Fairy;
While human-folk slumber,
The fairies espy
Stars without number
Sprinkling the sky.
The Winter's long sleeping,
Like night-time is done;
But day-stars are leaping
To welcome the sun.
Star-like they sprinkle
The wildwood with light;
Countless they twinkle-
The Windflowers white!

 
The Daisy Fairy;
Come to me and play with me,
I'm the babies flower,
Make a necklace gay with me,
Spend the whole long day with me,
Till the sunset hour.
I must say Good-night, you know,
Till tomorrow's playtime;
Close my petals tight, you know,
Shut the red and white, you know,
Sleeping till the daytime.

 
The Dandelion Fairy;
Here's the Dandelion's rhyme;
See my leaves with tooth-like edges;
Blow my clocks to tell the time;
See me flaunting by the hedges,
In the meadow, in the lane,
Gay and naughty in the garden;
Pull me up - I grow again,
Asking neither leave nor pardon.
Sillies, what are you about
With you spades and hoes of iron?
You can never drive me out -
Me, the dauntless Dandelion!

The Daffodil Fairy;
I'm everyone's darling;
the blackbird and starling
Are shouting about me from
blossoming boughs' For I, the Lent Lily,
the Daffy-down-dilly,
Have heard through
the country the call to arouse.
The orchards are ringing with
voices a-singing
The praise of my petticoat,
praise of my gown;
The children are playing, and hark!
They are saying
That Daffy-down-dilly is
come up to town!

 
The Song of the Crocus Fairies;
Crocus of yellow, new and gay;
Mauve and purple, in brave array;
Crocus white
Like a cup of light,-
Hundreds of them are smiling up,
Each with a flame in its shining cup,
By the touch of the warm and welcome
sun Opened suddenly, Spring's begun!
Dance then, fairies, for joy, and sing
The song of the coming again of Spring.

The Song of the Celandine Fairy;
Before the hawthorn leaves unfold,
Or buttercups put forth their gold,
By every sunny footpath shine
The stars of Lesser Celandine.
 
The Song of the Dog Violet Fairy;
The wren and robin hop around;
The Primrose-maids my neighbours be;
The sun has warmed the mossy grounds;
Where Spring has come, I too am found:
The Cuckoo's call has wakened me!

By Cicely Mary Barker

~Cicely Mary Barker~

 
Cicely Mary Barker was born in West Croydon, Surrey
on June 28, 1895 
She died on February 16 in 1973
She was the illustrator who created the famous
Flower Fairies, in the shape of ethereal smiling
children with butterfly wings.
As a child she was greatly influenced by the
works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom
she assiduously copied in her formative years.
Her principal influence, however, which she duly credited,
was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

She was only sixteen when she had her first work
accepted for publication as a set of postcards,
and from that time she devoted her career to painting.

Ze was pas 16jaar oud toen voor het eerst een set
met ansichtkaarten gepubliceerd werden,
en vanaf die tijd heeft ze zich helemaal ingezet
voor haar carrière.

Cicely Mary Barker always used real-life models
for her paintings. Most of the models came from
the kindergarten her sister Dorothy ran in the back
room of the house in which they lived. She also
painted the children and relatives. One of her models
was Gladys Tidy, the young girl who came to the
house every Saturday to do the household work.
Cicely Mary always asked the child model to hold
the flower, twig or blossom of a particular fairy,
for she wanted to be sure of the accuracy of her
depiction of the shape, texture and form of the plant.
Her only alteration was to the size, she enlarged the
flower to make it the same size as the child.
Cicely Mary's flowers are always botanically accurate.
If she could not find a flower close at hand,
she enlisted the help of staff at Kew Gardens,
who would often visit with specimens for her to paint.
Cicely Mary's Fairies are not ethereal fairies of the
supernatural, but portraits of real children, whose
characters match the characters of the flowers. 

Ze tekende altijd echte kinderen en
echte planten en bloemen.
Haar modellen kwamen vanuit de kinderopvang
die haar zuster leidde, achterin het huis waar ze woonden!
Een van haar modellen was Gladys Tidy,
Het jonge meisje kwam elke zaterdag 
het huishoudelijk werk doen. 
Cicely Mary's bloemen zijn altijd botanisch nauwkeurig,
als ze een bepaalde bloem niet kon vinden
riep ze de hulp in van het personeel in Kew Gardens
(soort tuincentrum)
Ze wilde zeker zijn van de juistheid van haar
afbeelding van de vorm, de textuur en vorm van de plant.

If you would like to know more about Cicely Mary Barker
Click here!

 Old Rhymes for All Times. 1928.

Cicely Mary Barker was geboren in Croydon op 28 juni 1895,
en is overleden in Worthing op 16 februari 1973
Ze was de illustratrice van de zeer bekende "Flower Fairies".
Van kindsaf was ze zeer geïnspireerd door Kate Greenaway.
Haar werkelijke inspiratie echter verkreeg ze
van de Prerafaëlieten.

Ze studeerde aan de Croydon School of Art en
ze is lid geweest van de Croydon Art Society.

Devoted to her mother, Cicely presented her with a first edition
of Flower Fairies of the Spring, with this respectfully loving poem:

To mother,
This tiny cup of
first fruit wine, 
I call it mine,
But it is yours.
And why - because
You are the vine,
And I am yours,
And this is mine.
Thus, tendril-like,
the words entwine,
The vine, the wine,
The 'mine', the 'yours',
Yet in one world they do combine,
- I and my vintage,
All are THINE.
With love from Cis, 1923