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E. Boyd Smith
(1860 - 1943)
Born in St. John, New Brunswick, and raised in Boston, Elmer Boyd Smith spent several years studying art in France before finally settling in Wilton, Connecticut. While living abroad, Smith absorbed a wide swath of influences ranging from the muted, mystery-laden palette and epic vision of French muralist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes to the dashing graphic shorthand of poster artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.
He based My Village (1896), the first of the more than seventy books he illustrated for adults and children, on his summer sojourns in the village of Valombre, near Paris. Like so many artists of his generation, Smith, being acutely aware of living in a time of breathtaking technological and social change, dedicated himself in part to documenting aspects of the everyday world—sail power, the family farm—that he knew to be on the verge of disappearing forever.
Smith’s first two children’s picture books, The Story of Noah’s Ark (1905) and The Story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith (1906) immediately established him, alongside Howard Pyle and Jessie Willcox Smith, as one of America’s leading illustrators for the young. He was well suited to the calling, thanks not only to his formidable skill as a draughtsman but also because of his genial storytelling manner and knack for conveying useful knowledge in a fresh, unforced, and delightful way.
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Bibliography
The Flock (1906)
A study of the sheep rancher in California at the turn of the twentieth century. The cover is from the reprint edition. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Mary Austin
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Ford (1917)
A novel of California touching on water rights. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Mary Austin
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Fox Third Reader (1919)
An elementary school reader with the stories set out as plays or dialogues. Read for free online at HathiTrust.
Author(s):
Florence Cornelia Fox
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Frere Jacques (1902)
A tale of infidelity, crime and honor in the French manner.
The cover is from a very limited edition as it contains the originals of the illustrations used in the regular, although limited, editions.
Author(s):
Charles Paul de Kock
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Et al
Fun in the Radio World (1923)
A humorous look at the newest technology of 1923. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Hiawatha Primer (1898)
An elementary school reader. Read online at Hathitrust.
Author(s):
Florence Holbrook
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
In the Days of Giants: A Book of Norse Tales (1902)
Sixteen Norse tales from the Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Abbie Farwell Brown
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Indian Book (1911)
A collection of traditional stories from the Mandan Indians. Only the title page vignette is by E. Boyd Smith. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
John William Hopkins
Illustrator(s):
George Catlin
E. Boyd Smith
Ivanhoe (1913)
A tale of the Saxons and the Normans in the days of Richard the Lion Heart. Read for free online at HathiTrust.
Author(s):
Sir Walter Scott
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
John of the Woods (1909)
A young orphan escapes from the strolling tumblers who have abused him and finds refuge with a hermit in the forest. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Abbie Farwell Brown
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Land of Little Rain (1903)
A collection of essays about the land and people of California. Read for free online at Project Gutenberg.
Author(s):
Mary Austin
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Last of the Mohicans (1910)
This, the second book in the Leatherstocking Tales, is again set in New York during the French and Indian War. Uncas is the titular Mohican. Read online at Hathitrust.
Author(s):
James Fenimore Cooper
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Last of the Mohicans (1910)
In this second volume in the Leatherstocking Tales, we meet Natty Bumpo and Chingachgook as they rescue two young British women. Read online at Hathitrust.
Author(s):
James Fenimore Cooper
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Lions ‘n’ Elephants ‘n’ Everything (1929)
The animals of the African veldt.
Author(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Log of a Cowboy (1903)
A history of the cattle drives north from Texas after the Civil War. Read for free online at Internet Archive.
Author(s):
Andy Adams
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Mary Hunter Austin (1968)
A short biography published by the foundation that maintains Mary Austin’s home for the centennial of her birth. Includes a bibliography of her works.
Author(s):
Anonymous
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
The Ministry of David Baldwin (1907)
A young man begins his career as a Protestant minister. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Henry Thomas Colestock
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
My Village (1896)
An American artist in France writes of the inhabitants of the small village of Valombre. The essays seem somewhat mean-spirited. Read for free online at HathiTrust.
Author(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Myths from Many Lands (1906)
A large selection of myths. Read online at archive.org.
Author(s):
Various
Illustrator(s):
Walter Crane
Howard Pyle
T. H. Robinson
E. Boyd Smith
Noah’s Ark: The Story of the Flood and After (2010)
This book combines The Story of Noah’s Ark and After They Came Out of the Ark in one volume.
Author(s):
E. Boyd Smith
Illustrator(s):
E. Boyd Smith