Walter Crane
(1845 - 1915)
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation.
Along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, his is considered 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 latter 19th century.
His work featured some of the more colourful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize 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 and other decorative arts.
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The Baby's Bouquet (1878)
Bibliography
A London Garland (1895)
A large collection of verse on the subject of London. Read for free online at HathiTrust.
Arthur Rackham
Et al
A Masque of Days (1901)
An anthropomorphized day come to a grand party for the new year. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Mr. Michael Mouse Unfolds His Tale (1956)
The story of a pet mouse.
Mrs. Mundi at Home: The Terrestrial Ball, R.S.V.P. (1875)
A series of allegorical engravings of the planets and nations of the earth.
The Noah’s Ark Alphabet (1872)
An alphabet of animals who entered the Ark. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Pothooks and Perseverance: or The ABC Serpent (1886)
A fantasy of penmanship. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Puss in Boots (1874)
The miller’s son sends his cat into the world to make him a fortune. The cover (above) is from a later reprinting. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Queen Summer: or The Tourney of the Lily and the Rose (1890)
A tour de force illustrated poem. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Renascence: A Book of Verse (1891)
A book of collected verse. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
A Romance of the Three R’s (1886)
An omnibus including Slateandpencilvania, Little Queen Anne, and Pothooks and Perseverence. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
The Sirens Three (1886)
A poem on socialist themes. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Slateandpencilvania: Being the Adventures of Dick on a Desert Island (1885)
An arithmetical Robinsonnade fantasy. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Steps to Reading (1898)
A collection of pictures and one syllable words for early readers. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Tell Me a Story (1875)
This first book by Mrs. Molesworth, writing as Ennis Graham, contains six short stories. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
The Three Bears (1873)
The story of the three bears and Silverlocks, told in verse. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879)
The account of a twelve days’ hiking expedition in the south of France. Read for free online at HathiTrust. Or at archive.org.
Triplets (1894)
An omnibus containing The Baby’s Opera, The Baby’s Bouquet and The Baby’s Own Æsop. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Walter Crane’s Absurd Alphabet, Baby’s Own Alphabet and Noah’s Ark Alphabet (1890)
A collection of alphabets. Read for free online at Toronto Public Library. NOTE: that link downloads a very large file.
Walter Crane’s Painting Book (1889)
Outlines, with the original colored plates on facing pages. Read for free online at the University of Florida.
Walter Crane's Picture Book Comprising The Baby's Opera, The Baby's Bouquet and the Baby's Own Aesop (1900)
A large format reprint of Triplets containing The Baby’s Opera, The Baby’s Bouquet and The Baby’s Own Æsop. It was limited to 750 copies.