Under the Window
Encyclopedia
Under the Window: Pictures & Rhymes for Children (London, 1879) was Kate Greenaway
's first children's picture book, composed of her own verses and illustrations. Selling over 100,000 copies, the toy book
was a commercial success, helped launch Greenaway's career as a children's book illustrator and author in the late 19th century as well as starting what became known as the "Greenaway vogue".
Although Greenaway illustrated over 150 books, Under the Window is one of the only two books that she both wrote and illustrated, the other being Marigold Garden (1885).
The book is considered to be one of the first earliest examples of a designer picture book.
her manuscript, Under the Window. Evans explains: "I was at once fascinated by the originality of the drawings and the ideas of the verse, so I at once purchased them." Evans considered Greenaway's illustrations to be commercially appealing and encouraged Routledge
to publish the book. Of Greenaway's first collection of illustrations and verse
, Evans writes:
for the book. In Under the Window, Greenaway presented drawings of children dressed in styles based on the fashions of the turn-of-the-century. This appealed to the sensibilities of the time, since the children's clothing appeared sweetly old-fashioned to Greenways' contemporaries, the more sophisticated of whom were involved in the Artistic Dress movement
of the era. Her books were so popular that the clothing the children in them wore came back into fashion.
The book reflected the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement
with its aesthetic motifs described as "quaint fancies of olden times, soft refined colouring, and humour suggested rather than strongly expressed" Each of the pages is framed with a border, creating a detached, static effect, "as if the reader were observing the scene". The coloring is pale with gently modulated tints "favored by the Aesthetes", mainly soft yellows and greens. Other fashionable motifs illustrated in the book are sunflowers, blue and white china, and Queen Anne Style architecture
. Also evident within the book is the influence of Japanese woodblocks with their definite block outline, flat, delicate colors, and use of white space.
The emphasis is placed largely on the illustrations which are accompanied by verse. The images reflect the English countryside, childhood fantasies, and adult parodies.
recalled how:
A further 70,000 copies were printed and sold in England, with separate editions for America
and other European countries.
The book was published in 1879; Edmund Evans
produced 100,000 copies of Under the Window (including French and German editions) which helped launch Greenaway's career as an author and illustrator of children's books.
Under the Window was followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and other children's books which became enormously successful. Despite the fact that the Greenaway's books were considered toy book
s, they created a revolution in children's book illustration and were praised by John Ruskin
, Ernest Chesneau, Arsène Alexandre in France, Richard Muther in Germany, and other leading art critics throughout the world.
too shared Greenaway's frustration, writing in his Reminiscences:
Greenaway's friends considered Afternoon Tea to be a crude exploitation and urged legal action. Greenaway's biographer Rodney Engen described Afternoon Tea as an objectionable "pastiche" of Greenaway's style, with "shocking alterations," such as a boy furtively smoking a pipe and a darkened graveyard, in shades that Greenaway would never use. Frederick Locker
denounced the book as "a shameful imitation of your manner, which if it goes on will tend to disgust the brutal British public and therefore injure you."
Kate Greenaway
Catherine Greenaway , known as Kate Greenaway, was an English children's book illustrator and writer, who spent much of her childhood at Rolleston, Nottinghamshire. She studied at what is now the Royal College of Art in London, which at that time had a separate section for women, and was headed by...
's first children's picture book, composed of her own verses and illustrations. Selling over 100,000 copies, the toy book
Toy book
Toy book is a form of 19th century children's book which became popular in the second half of the century during the Victorian era in England. Toy books typically were paperbound books with six illustrated pages. Early toy books sold for sixpence, and later, more elaborate editions, for a shilling...
was a commercial success, helped launch Greenaway's career as a children's book illustrator and author in the late 19th century as well as starting what became known as the "Greenaway vogue".
Although Greenaway illustrated over 150 books, Under the Window is one of the only two books that she both wrote and illustrated, the other being Marigold Garden (1885).
The book is considered to be one of the first earliest examples of a designer picture book.
Background
In the late 1870s, Greenaway—who had been illustrating greeting cards—persuaded her father, who was also in the engraving business, to show Edmund EvansEdmund Evans
Edmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
her manuscript, Under the Window. Evans explains: "I was at once fascinated by the originality of the drawings and the ideas of the verse, so I at once purchased them." Evans considered Greenaway's illustrations to be commercially appealing and encouraged Routledge
Routledge
Routledge is a British publishing house which has operated under a succession of company names and latterly as an academic imprint. Its origins may be traced back to the 19th-century London bookseller George Routledge...
to publish the book. Of Greenaway's first collection of illustrations and verse
Verse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
, Evans writes:
After I had engraved the blocks and colour blocks, I printed the first edition of 20,000 copies, and was ridiculed by the publishers for risking such a large edition of a six-shilling book; but the edition sold before I could reprint another edition; in the meantime copies were sold at a premium. Reprinting kept on till 70,000 was reached.
Contents
Under the Window: Pictures and Rhymes for Children consists of rhymes and traditional nursery rhymes. Greenaway wrote her own verseVerse (poetry)
A verse is formally a single line in a metrical composition, e.g. poetry. However, the word has come to represent any division or grouping of words in such a composition, which traditionally had been referred to as a stanza....
for the book. In Under the Window, Greenaway presented drawings of children dressed in styles based on the fashions of the turn-of-the-century. This appealed to the sensibilities of the time, since the children's clothing appeared sweetly old-fashioned to Greenways' contemporaries, the more sophisticated of whom were involved in the Artistic Dress movement
Artistic Dress movement
The Artistic Dress movement and its successor, Aesthetic Dress, were fashion trends in nineteenth century clothing that rejected the highly structured and heavily trimmed Paris fashion of the day in favour of beautiful materials and simplicity of design....
of the era. Her books were so popular that the clothing the children in them wore came back into fashion.
The book reflected the influence of the Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
with its aesthetic motifs described as "quaint fancies of olden times, soft refined colouring, and humour suggested rather than strongly expressed" Each of the pages is framed with a border, creating a detached, static effect, "as if the reader were observing the scene". The coloring is pale with gently modulated tints "favored by the Aesthetes", mainly soft yellows and greens. Other fashionable motifs illustrated in the book are sunflowers, blue and white china, and Queen Anne Style architecture
Queen Anne Style architecture
The Queen Anne Style in Britain means either the English Baroque architectural style roughly of the reign of Queen Anne , or a revived form that was popular in the last quarter of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century...
. Also evident within the book is the influence of Japanese woodblocks with their definite block outline, flat, delicate colors, and use of white space.
The emphasis is placed largely on the illustrations which are accompanied by verse. The images reflect the English countryside, childhood fantasies, and adult parodies.
Publication history
Under the Window appeared in stores in October 1879, in time for Christmas. Edmund EvansEdmund Evans
Edmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
recalled how:
George RoutledgeGeorge RoutledgeGeorge Routledge was a British publisher.He gained his earliest experience of business with a bookseller at Carlisle...
"chaffed" me considerably for printing 20,000 first edition of a book to sell at six shillings, but we soon found out that we had not printed nearly enough to supply the first demand: I know booksellers sold copies at a premium getting 10 shillings each for them: it was of course, long out of print, for I could not print fast enough to keep up the sale.
A further 70,000 copies were printed and sold in England, with separate editions for America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and other European countries.
The book was published in 1879; Edmund Evans
Edmund Evans
Edmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
produced 100,000 copies of Under the Window (including French and German editions) which helped launch Greenaway's career as an author and illustrator of children's books.
Under the Window was followed by The Birthday Book (1880), Mother Goose (1881), Little Ann (1883), and other children's books which became enormously successful. Despite the fact that the Greenaway's books were considered toy book
Toy book
Toy book is a form of 19th century children's book which became popular in the second half of the century during the Victorian era in England. Toy books typically were paperbound books with six illustrated pages. Early toy books sold for sixpence, and later, more elaborate editions, for a shilling...
s, they created a revolution in children's book illustration and were praised by John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
, Ernest Chesneau, Arsène Alexandre in France, Richard Muther in Germany, and other leading art critics throughout the world.
Imitation
Within weeks of publication of Under the Window, several imitations appeared, frustrating Greenaway. Most notable of them was a children's book called Afternoon Tea: a book of new rhymes for children by John G. Sowerby and Henry Hetherington Emerson published by the rival firm Fredrick Warne which Greenaway regarded as a "blatant piracy." Edmund EvansEdmund Evans
Edmund Evans was a prominent English wood engraver and colour printer during the Victorian era. Evans specialized in full-colour printing, which became popular in the mid-19th century...
too shared Greenaway's frustration, writing in his Reminiscences:
Immediately this novelty in style was imitated by several artists who ought to have known better: some actually copied parts of the figures from Under the Window and took the head of one to add to the figure of another, thinking not to be found out. One fairly well-known artist from the North of England wanted me to buy a copy of a book he had drawn, painted, and I believe written the verses, calling the book Afternoon Tea. Of course I could have nothing to do with such a bare faced copy of K.G.'s book. It was, of course, bought and published by another firm of publishers and soon got classed as "Kate Greenaway Books" which flooded the bookseller's shop for years to follow.
Greenaway's friends considered Afternoon Tea to be a crude exploitation and urged legal action. Greenaway's biographer Rodney Engen described Afternoon Tea as an objectionable "pastiche" of Greenaway's style, with "shocking alterations," such as a boy furtively smoking a pipe and a darkened graveyard, in shades that Greenaway would never use. Frederick Locker
Frederick Locker-Lampson
[File:Frederick Locker .jpg|thumb|right|[File:Frederick Locker .jpg|thumb|right|[File:Frederick Locker .jpg|thumb|right|[[File:Frederick Locker .jpg|thumb|right|...
denounced the book as "a shameful imitation of your manner, which if it goes on will tend to disgust the brutal British public and therefore injure you."
External links
- Under the Window, Project Gutenberg
- Under the Window, Illuminated books