Godmother's Stories

New Legends to Old Rhymes

By Mrs F H Hall

Illustrated by Katharine Cameron

Published by David Nutt in 1912

Lovely to find this rarity recently. These images by Katharine Cameron are not often seen,but are absolutely beautiful.

Katharine Cameron

1875 -1965

The Garden Books by Edward Augustus Bowles (1865 -1954)

Edward Bowles was one of the 20th Century's great gardeners, largely self taught but by 1916 had been awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society and has 42 plants named after him. He wrote three books about his garden; My Garden in Spring, My Garden in Summer (both published in 1914), and My Garden in Autumn and Winter (published in 1915). They have been reprinted many times and are still in print today. The bindings for the first editions were designed by Katharine Cameron (1874 - 1965) and are signed with either her initials 'KC' or as ' K Cameron' on the lower part of the front board. Cameron studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1890 -1893) and was an accomplished artist, illustrator and close friend of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret MacDonald. The binding for ' My Garden in Autumn and Winter' is particularly stunning and I love the use of colour and the trail of petals which is repeated on the spines. I presume that she must have been a friend of Bowles, as she is known for her flower paintings as well as her interest in flowers and it would be lovely to know more. The bindings are probably her lesser known works and as such can be picked up fairly cheaply still. The books are lavishly illustrated throughout by artists of the day (although not by Katharine Cameron).

Katharine Cameron

(1874 -1965)

Katharine Cameron (1874 - 1965) studied at the Glasgow School of Art (1890 -1893) and was an accomplished artist, illustrator and close friend of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret MacDonald. She remains a perennially popular artist and illustrator. I have concentrated here on the fairy tale books she illustrated, but she did do so much much more, which will be explored further at some point. Her romantic images did much to popularise Scottish and Irish legends to a generation of children who were now able to afford the fairly cheap colour editions published by Thomas Nelson, Blackie & Son and T C & E C Jack at the turn of the twentieth century. I have included an example of a deluxe gilt binding sold earlier this year.

 

Silver Studio

Harry Napper ( 1867 - 1930)

I really enjoy collecting Silver Studio bindings, primarily because they are still very cheap, but I think I was originally drawn to the designs because of the simple symmetrical design. A bit about the Silver Studio though. The Silver Studio was established in Hammersmith, London in 1880 by Arthur Silver (1853 -1896) and primarily produced designs for wallpaper and textiles for a large range of manufacturers, but particularly Liberty and Co, Warner & Sons and G.P & J Baker and became enormously successful. One of the most famous designers in the Studio (and I will blog later about the others, who were all without exception, very talented) was Harry Napper (born 1867 in Spaxton, Somerset) who joined in about 1891. On the death of Arthur Silver, Napper took over the management of the studio in 1896. The Studio also produced commissioned book cover designs for Blackie & Son Ltd based in Scotland. Interestingly, Arthur Silver was born in Reading and his family had an upholstery business in the centre of town, as did at the same time co incidentally the grandfather and father of Talwin Morris (1865 -1911), Art Manager at Blackie & Son Ltd which is worthy of more research and may explain the relationship between the two companies. It would be interesting to know how many Blackie books were designed by the Studio and I have always meant to take myself to the Silver Studio archives held in Middlesex University. Harry Napper died in Clapham, London in 1930.

Talwin Morris

Thought it might be a good idea to start putting in to some order the hundreds of Talwin Morris design images sitting on my computer. I have serial designs dotted all over the place that I have used on ebay listings but it is crying out for some sort of a reference book to be created. Apart from anything else, there is a lot of misinformation kicking around, so Ethel Larcombe and Silver Studio designs are often listed as Talwin Morris. I will list Silver Studio designs that I am collecting in a separate blog - there is so much and again another reference book is needed. Hard pressed to know where to start really but I will start with a favourite early work as it also contains some simple line drawings inside by Talwin Morris. This edition of 'The Whispering Winds' by Mary Debenham was published in 1895, so one of his earlier binding designs and particularly cherished as has a title page illustration by Morris as well. The binding design reminds me slightly of Arthur Hughes and I love the swirling hair.