The Washington times., 1913-12-21
'CHkbREN'S BOOKS
20 HI
raREATtY IMPROVED
Illustrations Are More Lavish
Than Ever Before, Being by
Many Prominent Artists.
By FLORENCE E. YoDER.

"A survey of the bookstalls shows that
the display of children's books, brilliant
ly illustrated in ncolor by the most repre-
sentative artists, is more lavish than
erer. Each year some new genius turns
his hand to- painting colored pictures,
and each year some competent artist
leaves his. other work entirely. for the
highly profitable business of drawing
pictures for Juvenile publications.
The young ladies and gentlemen of to-
day have real painters and pen and ink
artists working for them, if you please,
and the company is growing larger
every day. Some of them have found
that it Is more than profitable to
specialize in this sort of work, and give
their entire attention toward turning
out books for the holiday season. Christ
TpaS-toys come and. go. they break and
change, in Style, but books last for gen.
citations, and win ever be, the most
popular gifts for the little ones:
Not such a long time ago, when our
mothers and fathers were boys and
girls, there We're few coiored illustra-
tons in children's books Perhaps there
was colored frontispiece over which
one could pour for hours and try to PIC
ture the rest for the story: perhaps
there were a few cru0ely drawn pen
and ink sketches scattered here and
there throughout volume which gave
an inadequate idea of the author S
meaning, sometimes there were no IL
lustrations at all, and therefore many
of the most delightful books went beg
Slng for little readers Looking at pic
lures begins long before there is any
attempt at reading, and the book that
oi6 not show a great deal of conversa-
Sion, and A liberal supply of engaging
scenes was apt to be overlooked en-
tlrely.
In Dickens Books.
Do you remember when sou used to
lie on the floor on your tummy and
spend hours looking at the Dore illus
trations of the Ancient Mariner and
Paradise Lost? Or perhaps you lost
yourself in thoughtful ard reverent
consideration of the Cruikshank draw
ings in the big Dickens books, which
were best when regarded as the afore
mentioned, stomach fashion Gulli
yer Travels, and Swiss Family Rob-
inson, copiously illustrated in pen and
ink. you wore. 10 a bone, they Were
dog-eared with usage, for their pc
lures made them the mecca OF every
age.
Once in a great while you ran across
a colored plate. perhaps in an edition
de luxe of the bible, but more often
it-was merely tinted frontispiece. As
far as having any colored illustrations
in your own books there were not many.
Even these, along with the pen and
ink sketches were poor, the children
We're ,Stiff and awkward, and one was
apt to form personal 1islikes for the
prim and ody-goody likenesses. The
dearest books of your heart were not
illustrated or worse still the solitary
frontispiece gave you such a poor opin-
ion of your favorite character that you
shrank from looking at il.
To-day there are hundreds of bril-
alantlT c0lored illustrations IN the chill
dren's books, and many of the famous
illustrators. who not so long since !
would have laughed at the idea of !
working entirely for the young folk. |
hRFeF Joined the r2nks of. the child IL |
Illustrators and are making fortunes
thereby. There is whole army OF
painters and pen and ink artists whose |
efforts are directed entirely TO the
production of works for children,
The discovery of the three color pro-
cess of reproducing Colored plates IS
largely the cause of this increase, for
IL is now less trouble, cheaper. and
subsequently much more profitable a
business to make the present illnstra-
tions than Ii was previously Then.
TOO, the artist who works in color has
a much better chance of displaying 4
new Individually in the way OF tone
snd shading. .
Old Ones Favored
The most beautiful part of if is that
the old favorites have not been tur1ed
aside for entirely new publications. but,
c9inging, TO the books of their own
childhood, the artists have largely
chosen to make pictures of the good old