GREENAWAY, Kate.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Collection of works. First editions; an attractive assemblage of works by one of the most significant Victorian illustrators, including an Almanack in the rare dust jacket and from the library of the writer Sir Hugh Walpole. The titles comprise Greenaway's Alphabet, Birthday Book for Children and a gathering of her beloved Almanacks issued within the years 1883 to 1894. "It is often claimed by admirers that, during the 1860s and 1870s, Kate Greenaway dressed a generation of children; that her influence upon fashion was to ensnare such diverse personalities as Isidora Duncan, the German Kaiser as well as royal infants, each one dutifully outfitted in Kate Greenaway apparel. Such influence extended into the spheres of commercial printing, publishing, fine art porcelain, jewellery and haberdashery" (Schuster & Engen, p. 9). Her artistic style "combined strong outlines and a keen ability to arrange and pattern space with the use of a palette of soft, silvery pastel colours" in its portrayals of "idyllic and profoundly nostalgic depictions of vaguely 18th-century and slightly stilted children" (ODNB).The sheer extent of Greenaway publications - 574 items listed in the definitive catalogue raisonné of Schuster and Engen, most with multiple variants - all but ensures that a truly comprehensive collection is impossible. "That is the beauty of Kate Greenaway, nobody will ever have them all" (ibid., p. 7).The dust jacket in this collection was printed to serve as the original mailing e

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.