The development of illustrated texts and picture books picture books, illustrated texts, 18th century, 19th century, early 20th century

1. The development of illustrated texts and picture books
Andreia Cereja
Portugal – 2014

2. The Tyger by William Blake
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears
And water’d heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

3. Pictorial Representation
• Children learn to read pictures before words
• Pictures - earliest records of man’s attempt at communication:
1 . Cave Painting 2. Church Mural 3. Stained Glass Window
BUT it took a long while for due significance to be placed on the illustration of children’s books (similar to how hard it was for
children’s literature to become more child oriented).
Well Illustrated Book ≠ Badly Illustrated Book
* Accompanying pictures enhance * The pictures lack relevance to the
or add depth to the text text, or are ill placed or poorly drawn
or reproduced

4. Rise of the Importance of Pictures & Improvement in Standards of Illustration
First Illustrated Book (Significant for Children)
John Amos Comenius‟s “Orbis Sensualium Pictus” (1659)
- Translated into English by Charles Hoole;
- Had one picture at the top of each page, with thge name
of the object that it depicted (in Latin and then in English);
- Widest range of pictures for the young available at
the time;
STILL, illustrations for children‘s books were very crude: the
models were taken from the lower end of the market (chapbooks,
broadsheets), selling cheaper than the better-class adult books.
Pictures and Stories for Children, To Which is A 1638 broadsheet, Cuckold's
Added The Picture Alphabet 1852 Haven
Reproduction of Illustrations
Methods available in the 17th and 18th centuries:
- Manual processes – most important was by woodcut
Bevis of SouthHampton ( woodcut version done in 1565)
Woodcut: Cheap method; text and pictures could be printed together, going
through the press at the same time; same method used for chapbooks and
broadsheets.
Engraving: superior form of illustration; more expensive since text and pictures
had to be printed separately.
The use of this method indicates a change in attitude towards children and their
books.

5. The aforementioned change in attitude was initiated by two men:
John Newbery and his predecessor, Thomas Boreman (no picture found).
was the 1st to to exploit commercially, the market
in illustrated children‘s books.
* End of the 18th century: the idea of illustrated books for children had
become established and some of their authors had become well known;
- Emphasis on religious and moral matters (not good illustrative material), or
social behavior which was seen as the key to prosperity.
* Early 19th century: turned towards more factual themes; the books‗ poor
quality material it was still surprising, and more so that it was the most scorned
type of reading – the chapbook – that was ultimately responsible for the
revolution in children‘s books!
Samuel Pepys
Chapbooks Collector
BUT certain improvements were taking place!
Rationalism (early 19th century) = in favour of
children’s literature
This view started being supplemented by an appreciation of new
discoveries of all kinds.
Publishers William Darton and John Harris – produced books
nearly always didactic in content, that sought to bring to children
awareness of the rest of the world outside the U.K., as well as
for them to get to know their own country in a more detailed
fashion.
Some titles produced by John Harris:
- a number of travel books specifically for ‗Little Tarry-at
HomeTravellers‘; and such works as Scenes of British Wealth
(1823), Rural Employments (1820) and City Scenes; or A Peep
into London for Children (1828).
These books were a popular if rather expensive part of
children‘s reading (publications of this kind demanded plenty of
illustrations that were done by the engraving process described
earlier).
Names of the artists employed for the illustrating of these books
were rarely known and much work remains to be done on the
identities of the ones who worked for both John Harris and
William Darton.
(See last page for some examples of these
publishers’ work)
Did you know: Chapbooks were small, crudely illustrated
booklets? They contained: folk tales, nursery rhymes,
ballads, riddles, short entertaining or moral tales

6. Advent of Henry Cole and Joseph Cundall
Sir Henry Cole (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) Joseph Cundall (22 September 1818 – 10 January 1895)
Both were important for the acceptance of nonsense and the fairy tale in the nursery
• Henry Cole, under the pseudonym ―Felix Summerly‖, instituted the Home Treasury Series, publishing in them: fairy tales and nursery
rhymes, commissioning well-known artists of the day, many of whom he knew personally, to illustrate them. He also commissioned
special covers for his books.
• Joseph Cundall, with his interest in producing well-designed books, was the right man to work with Henry Cole. The
illustrations were of good quality, relevant and attractive – but (no doubt because of the cost) very few in number.

7. Great developments in the field of children’s books, in
content and in production
From the 1830’s untill the early 20th century
Click the link below to access chronology
http://extrazoom.com/image-11067.html

8. Publishers William Darton and John
Harris (Examples)
Page from Pug's Tour, illustrated in
color
with verse below.
Published by John Harris, 1824
Illustration from a book published by
John Harris
in 1824
William Darton, Trifles for Children,
published in 1799

9. • Further reading
• Alderson, B. (1986) Sing a Song for Sixpence: The English Illustrative Tradition and Randolph Caldecott,
• Cambridge: Cambridge University Press in association with the British Library.
• Bader, B. (1976) American Picture Books from Noah‟s Ark to the Beast Within, New York: Macmillan.
• Barr, J. (1986) Illustrated Children‟s Books, London: British Library.
• Lewis, D. (1995a) ‗The Picture Book: A Form Awaiting Its History‘, Signal 77: 99–112.
• —— (1995b) ‗The Jolly Postman‘s Long Ride, or Sketching a Picture-Book History‘, Signal 78:
• 178–92.
• McLean, R. (1972) Victorian Book Design and Colour Printing, 2nd edn, London: Faber and Faber.
• Muir, P. (1985) English Children‟s Books 1600–1900, 4th imp., London: Batsford.
• Nikolajeva, M. and Scott, C. (2001) How Picture Books Work, New York and London: Garland.
• Whalley, J. I. (1975) „Cobwebs to Catch Flies‟: Illustrated Books for the Nursery and Schoolroom,
• 1700–1900, London: Elek.
• Whalley, J. I. and Chester, T. R. (1988) A History of Children‟s Book Illustration, London: John
• Murray, with the Victoria and Albert Museum.