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A Floral Fantasy in an Old English Garden
Walter Crane (1845-1915) was an English artist. Born in Liverpool, he was part of the Arts and Crafts movement. He produced paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. In 1862 his picture The Lady of Shalott was exhibited at the Royal Academy, but the Academy steadily refused his maturer work; and after the opening of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877 he ceased to send pictures to Burlington House. In 1864 he began to illustrate a series of sixpenny toy-books of nursery rhymes in three colours for Edmund Evans. He was allowed more freedom in a series beginning with The Frog Prince (1874) which showed markedly the influence of Japanese art, and of a long visit to Italy following his marriage in 1871. From the early 1880s, Crane was closely associated with the Socialist movement. He provided the weekly cartoons for the Socialist Organs Justice, The Commonweal and The Clarion. One of his last major works would be his Lunettes at the Royal West of England Academy which were painted in 1913.
60 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1899
About the author
Walter Crane
610 books28 followersWalter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of English children's illustrated literature would exhibit in its developmental stages in the latter 19th century.
His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.
His work featured some of the more colorful and detailed beginnings of the child-in-the-garden motifs that would characterize many nursery rhymes and children's stories for decades to come. He was part of the Arts and Crafts movement and produced an array of paintings, illustrations, children's books, ceramic tiles and other decorative arts. Crane is also remembered for his creation of a number of iconic images associated with the international Socialist movement.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 19, 2016
I have been neglecting my poetry picks the last few months so I thought today would be a good day to get back into the rhythm of the rhyme. I started easy with Walter Crane's charming little book A Floral Fantasy In An Old English Garden.
I don't know about anyone else, but I think a garden is a lovely place to daydream, and that is exactly what Crane does here. He imagines the flowers all coming to life, and both illustrates and describes the characters they would be. I love this type of creativity.
The poetry part is not all that fancy: the names of the flowers are simply worked into sentences giving a clue as to what they are doing during one day in the garden. I could look at this book for hours....and I think I will before I close the link. By the way, here it is, available free at Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24485/...
(One of my favorites was the knight made of a "Dent-De-Lion"....the details were marvelously clever!)
I don't know about anyone else, but I think a garden is a lovely place to daydream, and that is exactly what Crane does here. He imagines the flowers all coming to life, and both illustrates and describes the characters they would be. I love this type of creativity.
The poetry part is not all that fancy: the names of the flowers are simply worked into sentences giving a clue as to what they are doing during one day in the garden. I could look at this book for hours....and I think I will before I close the link. By the way, here it is, available free at Project Gutenberg. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/24485/...
(One of my favorites was the knight made of a "Dent-De-Lion"....the details were marvelously clever!)
August 15, 2017
A charming book beautifully illustrated. Reminds me of the type of books of poetry and rhymes my grandmother always had around.
July 13, 2023
I bought this book and had it shipped from London purely for the illustrations after seeing a scan of it on Internet Archive. It was absolutely mesmerizing and I’m obsessed with the art. I did end up gifting this book to my tattoo artist bc she is so in line with this art style. A beautiful piece of period piece art.
January 30, 2016
No illustrations
Walter Crane was an artist and illustrator. The little bit of dialogue was meant to accompany illustrations. There are no illustrations in this Kindle edition published December 12, 2012.
Walter Crane was an artist and illustrator. The little bit of dialogue was meant to accompany illustrations. There are no illustrations in this Kindle edition published December 12, 2012.
August 15, 2020
Excellent Start
Lovely prose but his line drawings are what make the book and this edition doesn't have them. Still good for the text.
Lovely prose but his line drawings are what make the book and this edition doesn't have them. Still good for the text.
October 31, 2008
...He Said...
First in venus looking glass
You may see where
Love lies bleeding
Queen of the Meads
is Meadowsweet
In the realm of grasses wide
Puisi, peri-peri, dan bebungaan cantik. Deskripsi unik untuk beragam bunga di kebun bunga ala Inggris kuno, direpresentasikan oleh peri-peri yang anggun. Seperti berada dalam dunia khayalan.
sweet & enjoyable
First in venus looking glass
You may see where
Love lies bleeding
Queen of the Meads
is Meadowsweet
In the realm of grasses wide
Puisi, peri-peri, dan bebungaan cantik. Deskripsi unik untuk beragam bunga di kebun bunga ala Inggris kuno, direpresentasikan oleh peri-peri yang anggun. Seperti berada dalam dunia khayalan.
sweet & enjoyable
February 23, 2013
I love it. So clever, fun, and really quite pretty!
September 20, 2013
A beautiful book for the budding young naturalist (if one was from the Edwardian times)! Walter Crane is now another of my illustrator-faves!
November 28, 2014
Less than Worthless
This is a book of illustrations with no pictures in the kindle edition. It consists solely of the name of illustrations.
This is a book of illustrations with no pictures in the kindle edition. It consists solely of the name of illustrations.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews