Randolph Caldecott, Kate Greenaway and Walter Crane are often described as forming a triumvirate of great British illustrators of children’s picture books in the late Victorian period. At a recent Discover Special Collections program at the Osborne Collection of Early Children’s Books, the focus was on Walter Crane.
Born in 1845, Walter Crane was the son of Thomas Crane, an artist, lithographer and portrait painter. Crane first learned art from his father. At age 13, he was apprenticed to William James Linton, a wood engraver. When he was 18, Crane met Edmund Evans, an engraver and skilled colour printer. Crane and Evans would collaborate on many projects over the years.
The earliest work by Crane and Evans in the Osborne Collection is The True, Pathetic History of Poor Match written by Holme Lee in 1863.
Crane and Evans worked closely together on a series of toy books published by George Routledge and Sons between 1865 and 1876. “Toy book” was a term used to describe a type of picture book with six or eight colour pages bound in paper covers. Crane usually illustrated editions of fairy tales, pictorial alphabets and nursery rhymes. These toy books were said to have made Crane’s reputation.
In the above illustration from Puss in Boots, first published in 1873, in which Puss is begging for boots, his master is Crane’s self-portrait as a young man.
Crane demonstrates an eclectic mix of styles in this illustration from Beauty and the Beast, published in 1875. The Beast is attired in 17th-century costume and sitting on an early 19th-century Empire-style sofa. The wallpaper in the background resembles a William Morris-designed pattern.
Crane also worked with Evans on a set of small square pictures books which were also published by Routledge. The Baby’s Opera (1877) and its companion The Baby’s Bouquet (1878) both contained traditional nursery songs and rhymes, such as, “Little Jack Horner,” “Sing a Song of Six-Pence” and “Polly Put the Kettle On.” In addition to the text illustrations, Crane designed the covers, title-pages, end-papers and calligraphic text. His sister, Lucy, collected and arranged the tunes.
In his preface, Crane writes, “For this rhymed version of the fables I have to thank my early friend and master WJ Linton, who kindly placed the [manuscript] at my disposal.” Crane’s ability to draw realistic animals had been acquired during his apprenticeship: he would regularly visit the Zoological Gardens in London and sketch the exotic animals and birds.
Crane’s master influenced him not only in the realm of art but also in politics. Linton was a Chartist seeking political reform, such as, universal suffrage for men, secret ballots, the removal of property requirements for Members of Parliament and a salary for Members of Parliament. Crane’s association with William Morris reinforced his belief in socialism. Crane illustrated two socialist works written for children to make them aware of this social-political alternative: The Child’s Socialist Reader (1907) and Pages for Young Socialists (1913).
The Child’s Socialist Reader, edited by Alfred Augustus Watts, was published in 1907. This collection of poems, stories and essays includes a fairy tale entitled “The Happy Valley” in which a giant named “Monopoly” enters the valley with this two dwarves “Capital” and “Competition”. Monopoly advises the residents of Happy Valley to switch their economic activities from growing crops to mining gold and, thereby, acquire greater wealth. Monopoly offers to give the residents mining equipment in return for a share of the profit: he tells the people to fill an enormous sack with gold for his share and the rest shall belong to them. Monopoly plays a trick on the people by giving them a bag with holes — no sooner has the bag been filled the workers must start over again to fill the bag again and again without ever getting their share.
Walter Crane and his wife Mary Frances had three children: a daughter Beatrice, born February 1873, and two sons, Lionel, born May 1876, and Lancelot, born January 1880. Crane made a number of private pictorial journals for his children. Within the family these were known as the “Black Books” for the plain black notebooks which Crane used for this purpose. The Osborne Collection holds one of these manuscripts, Beatrice Crane, Her Book (The 2nd), finished June 1st, 1879 containing 46 water colours.
The Osborne Collection’s extensive holdings of Crane material includes two holograph letters, one of which is to Edmund Evans and several pieces of original art. Some of Crane’s many illustrations for children’s books can be viewed through Toronto Public Library’s Digital Archive.
