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Ralph Caldecott is a Victorian illustrator with a bit of a cult following. Born in Chester in 1846 he died at just 40 years of age in Florida, where he was on a holiday for his health, having produced a prodigious amount of art in his short life. According to Wikipedia, Maurice (Where the Wild Things Are) Sendak said: "Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the modern picture book. He devised an ingenious juxtaposition of picture and word, a counterpoint that never happened before. Words are left out—but the picture says it. Pictures are left out—but the word says it." Sendak also appreciated the subtle darkness of Caldecott's work: "You can't say it's a tragedy, but something hurts. Like a shadow passing quickly over. It is this which gives a Caldecott book—however frothy the verses and pictures—its unexpected depth." The stories and illustrations in Graphic Pictures, Complete Edition, 1898 is a reflection of the life and style of the English middle/upper middle classes in the Victorian era. There are eight stories:
All consist of a short story, illustrated with Caldecott's fine work, and lots to look at and think about. At the end there ia a collection of black and white illustrations and notes. This is a hefty book, measuring about 15" by 11" 1" thick. The 161 pages are gilt edged and the colour plates are printed on one side of the paper only to give an extremely high quality finish. The book itself has slight damage to the spine, and marks to the cover which you'd expect in a book that is 116 years old. |