Category Archives: Art Collections
Willy Pogany Borders and Illustrations from Tisza Tales
Willy Pogany was a highly regarded early 20th century illustrator. He was born in Hungary and became a naturalized American citizen. In addition to illustrating many books and being one of the outstanding pin-up illustrators of the era, he also did set designs for the Metropolitan Opera and worked as an Artistic Director on early Hollywood films. Pogany is best …
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Owen Jones “The Preacher” Package
One of Owen Jones most interesting illuminated books is his 1849 edition of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes published under the title The Preacher, consisting of 35 hand-colored, fully illuminated pages. It is one of the most poetic and most often quoted sections of the Bible, presented here in a somewhat modernized text of the King James version. “Vanity of …
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Historic Borders Collection
One if the best inclusions in our phenomenal collection of images is a set of historic borders from the 15th through 19th centuries which exemplify the height of the art of decoration in printed books as it developed over that period. These are all borders which were cut in wood or metal to be set with type and they demonstrate …
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Walter Crane’s Illustrations for The Rosebud
The Rosebud and Other Stories by Arthur Kelly is one of the rarer and more unusual books illustrated by Walter Crane. It is a collection of humorous and whimsical tales with strong fantasy elements. The stories are fun, but what stands out art the Walter Crane illustrations which are exceptionally well executed and on topics which are outside of Crane’s …
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Arthur Rackham’s Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
In 1906 legendary illustrator Arthur Rackham was commissioned to illustrate J. M. Barrie’s prequel to his play Peter Pan. The standard edition features 10 original illustrations, but there was also a very limited edition with 40 additional illustrations which is now extremely rare. Remarkably the tipped in plates are included as an appendix to the regular book consisting of nothing …
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Art Fonts
Art fonts (sometimes called “dingbats”) have their origins in early printers ornaments or artistic marginalia used to fill space on a page and break up large blocks of type. Traditionally these ornaments took the form of floral or geometric designs, and were inserted when the page was set, just like letter type.
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Walter Crane Decorations Mini-Package
Even when writing essays on socialism and the philosophy of art, Walter Crane was incapable of resisting an opportunity to add some decoration. In his book The Claims of Decorative Art, Crane embellished each chapter with an intricate decorative header featuring neoclassical and mythological scenes in his usual meticulous and detailed style.We’ve taken all of the decorations from the book …
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Odyssey – Illustrated by W. Heath Robinson
W. Heath Robinson was an artist of the first half of the 20th century who started his career as a book illustrator and produced many fantasy and fairytale illustrations, including illustrating Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies. Later in his career he became a cartoonist producing humorous cartoons of fanciful weapons during the World Wars. One of his little known works …
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Goblin Market by Margaret Tarrant
Margaret Tarrant was a notable English children’s book illustrator of the early 20th century. She is best known for her fairy illustrations, published in books like The Forest Fairies, The Pond Fairies, and The Twilight Fairies from the publishing wing of the Medici Society. Although it had already been illustrated by several popular illustrators, like Arthur Rackham, Tarrant was called …
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Illuminated Initials from Early Manuscripts
In the mid-19th century Owen Jones undertook to catalog historic design and decoration in phenomenal detail and with exacting thoroughness in a series of beautifully illustrated books. The most famous of these is his Grammar of Ornament, which provides an overview of design and ornament from ancient times to the Renaissance. His next most notable work on historic design is …
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Eastlake Design Sampler
When we were renovating our house I discovered ornamental brass fixtures for the doors designed by Charles Eastlake. So I went shopping and found antique Eastlake hinges and knobs for all the doors. Charles Locke Eastlake (1836–1906) was the greatest British Arts and Crafts designer in the period after William Morris. Like Morris he combined principles of art and decoration …
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Walter Crane’s The Shepheard’s Calender
Another of Walter Crane’s interesting decorated books is his edition of Edmund Spenser’s epic poem The Shepheard’s Calender. It’s not as well known as Spenser’s The Faerie Queen which Crane also illustrated, but it has excellent illustrations and a particularly outstanding set of emblems with latin mottos which accompany the main illustrations. It also has a great frontispiece, decorative endpapers …
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