Kathleen Ainslie, Shakespeare and Catherine Susan

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Children's books, Colour Illustrations, Kathleen Ainslie, Shakespeare

We get many books of Shakespeare quotations here in the Tower Project but few are as entertaining as this recent find. 

Ay! There’s the rub – Hamlet

The book “Tut-tut” by Kathleen Ainslie features famous quotes from many of Shakespeare’s plays accompanied by humorous illustrations. I’m not sure that I’ll ever look at some of these plays the same way again!

Poor, poor dumb mouths – Julius Caesar

Take, oh! Take those lips away – Measure for Measure

 

Catherine Susan and Me

After a bit of investigation I found out that the author, Katherine Ainslie, was quite a well-known illustrator in the early Twentieth century. She was most famous for producing a series of books about a little Dutch peg doll called Catherine Susan. Over the years she wrote and illustrated many adventures for the plucky little doll which became a firm favourite.

 

Getting arrested in “Votes for Catherine Susan and Me”

Some stories were surprisingly topical, such as “Votes for Catherine Susan and Me” which saw the main character and her friend joining a Suffragette march and ending up in jail! There were also some traditional stories featuring more everyday adventures and numerous calendars produced.

 

These books make me think of the story books that I used to have as a little girl where toys came magically to life, so it was really nice to find this small reminder of my childhood in the tower. I’m sure if I had been around one hundred years ago I would have been an avid reader of the ‘Catherine and Me’ books!

 

Catherine Susan’s Calendar 1911: 1911.6.63

Catherine Susan and Me in Hot Water: 1911.6.64

Votes for Catherine Susan and Me: 1911.6.65

Tut-tut: 1911.7.436

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Mabel Dearmer: Here be dragons

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Children's books, Colour Illustrations, Mabel Dearmer

When I found Mabel Dearmer’s illustrations, I was charmed by their colourful and imaginative nature. The three illustrations shown below are taken from two books that she illustrated for her fellow author Evelyn Sharp: “Wymps, and other fairy tales” (1897.7.635) and “All the way to fairyland” (1898.7.167).

The Little Witch of the Plain

The first, and my favourite, illustration from Wymps shows the Little Witch of the Plain with the suitor whom she had turned into a cat, and whom she needs to turn back with the help of the most valuable thing in the world – which turns out to be a kiss. Mabel Dearmer’s artistic beginnings in poster art can be seen clearly in many of her illustrations, and this one is a case in point. It’s eye-grabbing, with vibrant blocks of colour and clear lines, and the content can be taken in at a glance.

The second shows a little boy who is tired of being mistaken for a girl because of the smock his nurse insists on him wearing.

The little boy in the smock

The lazy dragon

The final illustration (below) from “All the way to Fairyland,” a collection of fairy stories, depicts a lazy dragon who is supposed to be guarding a Princess under enchantment, and the King who wishes to marry said Princess. Although he does marry her in the end, the story takes some unexpected turns before they can live happily ever after.

Mabel Dearmer: an unusual life (Part 1)

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Children's books, Colour Illustrations, Geography, Mabel Dearmer

Mabel Dearmer’s life was as unusual and striking as her pictures: she was born Jessie Mabel Prichard White in 1872, and was a novelist, playwright, translator and illustrator. She was the wife of the Rev. Percy Dearmer (1867-1936), a liturgist and historian of Christian worship, and the mother of the WW1 poet Geoffrey Dearmer (1893–1996).   

From A Noah's Ark geography (1901.9.9)

Mabel Dearmer first meant to be an actress but abandoned this career because “They did not think me pretty enough.” She also studied art and wrote a small number of novels but her greatest successes were in her illustrations and plays. Her illustrations are instantly recognisable for her use of bright, eye-catching blocks of colour and simple yet imaginative designs. She first experimented with poster-art and moved on to book illustration, maintaining the poster style for many of her pictures. Despite their detail, they can be taken in with a glance and, much like posters, make a vivid and lasting impression on the viewer.  

Great energy seems to have suffused any project into which she threw herself; nothing she did was done half-heartedly. In her role as a vicar’s wife, she made it her business to know her husband’s Hampstead parishioners, and, much like Anne of Green Gables, was always able to recognise ‘kindred spirits.’  

From A Noah's Ark geography (1901.9.9)

In spite of her failure to become an actress, she remained heavily involved with the theatre and wrote and produced a great number of plays. In a letter, George Bernard Shaw wrote: “You are one of the few people living who can write plays.” People in the business thought she might one day have her own theatre; with her “combination of tact with driving power” this might have been possible had the war not intervened. She even had a side-line in buying and then leasing theatrical costumes. They were kept in one of the houses that she owned, managed and let out to tenants.