Winter Poems by Favorite American Poets. Illustrated. Boston, Fields, Osgood, & Company, 1871.
The Art of Book Design: Winter Poems by Favorite American Poets, Illustrated
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Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Winter Poems by Favorite American Poets. Illustrated. Boston, Fields, Osgood, & Company, 1871.
C.B. Burleigh. All Among the Loggers or Norman Carver’s Winter in a Lumber camp. Boston, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard co., 1908.
Edith Francis Foster. Marigold’s Winter. Illustrated by the author. Boston, D. Estes & company, 1908.
Charles D.G. Roberts. In The Deep Of The Snow. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co, 1907.
Grimm, Jakob / Grimm, Wilhelm: Sneewittchen / [Jakob und Wilhelm Grimm.] Gezeichnet von Franz Jüttner. – (Scholz’ Künstler-Bilderbücher ; 6). Mainz 1905. Scholz.
According to a study group in Lohr, Bavaria, Snow White is based on Maria Sophia von Erthal, born on 15 June, 1729 in Lohr am Main, Bavaria. She was the daughter of 18 th century landowner, Prince Philipp Christoph von Erthal and his wife, Baroness von Bettendorff.
After the death of the Baroness, Prince Philipp went onto marry Claudia Elisabeth Maria von Venningen, Countess of Reichenstein, who was said to dislike her stepchildren. The castle where they lived, now a museum, was home to a ‘talking mirror’, an acoustical toy that could speak (now housed in the Spessart Museum). The mirror, constructed in 1720 by the Mirror Manufacture of the Electorate of Mainz in Lohr, had been in the house during the time that Maria’s stepmother lived there.The dwarfs in Maria’s story are also linked to a mining town, Bieber, located just west of Lohr and set among seven mountains. The smallest tunnels could only be accessed by very short miners, who often wore bright hoods, as the dwarfs have frequently been depicted over the years.
The Lohr study group maintain that the glass coffin may be linked to the region’s famous glassworks, while the poisoned apple, may be associated with the deadly nightshade poison that grows in abundance in Lohr.
A German historian has also postulated that it may be the true story of Margarete VonWaldeck. (via ancient origins.net/myths)
According to Sander, the character of Snow White was based on the life of Margarete von Waldeck, a German countess born to Philip IV in 1533. At the age of 16, Margarete was forced by her stepmother, Katharina of Hatzfeld to move away to Wildungen in Brussels. There, Margarete fell in love with a prince who would later become Phillip II of Spain.
Margarete’s father and stepmother disapproved of the relationship as it was ‘politically inconvenient’. Margarete mysteriously died at the age of 21, apparently having been poisoned. Historical accounts point to the King of Spain, who opposing the romance, may have dispatched Spanish agents to murder Margarete.
So what about the seven dwarfs? Margarete’s father owned several copper mines that employed children as quasi-slaves. The poor conditions caused many to die at a young age, but those that survived had severely stunted growth and deformed limbs from malnutrition and the hard physical labour. As a result, they were often referred to as the ‘poor dwarfs’.
Whether true or not, the story has persisted into modern times thanks to Walt Disney and his 1937 classic telling of the tale. I’ve included the artwork done by Franz Juttner, a German artist, in 1905 for the Sneewittchen book pictured above.
Jules Verne. The Field of Ice. London, New York, George Routledge & Sons, 1875.
via: The George Smathers Library at the University of Florida
Julia McNair Wright. On a Snowbound Train. New York, American Tract Society, 1893.
via: The Internet Archive
Winter Pictures by Poet and Artist. Illustrated by Edward Whymper. London, The Religious Tract Society, undated.
via: The Internet Archive
Annie Oakes Huntington. Studies of Trees in Winter. A description of the deciduous trees of Northeastern America. Illustrated by Mary S. Morse with photographs by the author. Boston, Knight and Millet, 1902.
via: The Internet Archive
Jules Verne. A Journey to the North Pole. Illustrated by E. Riou. London and New York, George Routledge and Sons, 1875.
via: The George Smathers Library at The University of Florida
Stella Austin, S. Baring-Gould, Caroline Birley, E.H. Nachtbull-Hugessen, Charlotte M. Young, Mrs. Lucy Massey, Mrs. Molesworth, Anne Thackery-Ritchie, Ethel Mary Wilmot- Buxton. Jack Frost’s Little Prisoners. A collection of stories for children four to twelve years of age. Boston, Knight and Millet, 1887.
Welcome to December at The Art of Book Design. We have a full month of winter-themed books to share and I thought I’d start with a title that expresses how Jack and I feel about winter when it’s icy outside. It’s a book of winter stories for young children, and I love the little birds that decorate the cover.
via: The George Smathers Library at the University of Florida
G. Clifton Bingham. A Snow Baby. London, Ernest Nister, 1888.
Goody Two Shoes. New-York, McLoughlin Bro’s, 1888.
I’ve always wondered about the origin of the expression “Goody Two-shoes,” and I finally found the answer in a Victorian Era’s Children’s book. This is not the original version, which I have been unable to locate, but the story is the same. It was initially published in 1768 by John Newbury Co. In London and tells the story of an orphaned girl who does well in life despite her impoverished beginnings. As with most stories of the time, the girl succeeds by being unfailingly kind and sweet, and she is rewarded with a happy marriage to a wealthy man. Uggh! So it’s basically Cinderella without the cinders and marriage is the ultimate success for a girl. Goody’s brother also does well, by going to sea and having lots of adventures while amassing a fortune. Why do the boys always get to have adventures, but the girls must become capable and good wives?
It’s a short book, so I’ve attached all the illustrations below the fold if you’re interested.
It isn’t certain who wrote the story. In those days, publishing houses paid writers for anonymous work. Some people argue that Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith may have penned the story. Others suggest that John Newbery himself wrote the story, or possibly Giles Jones, a friend of Newbery’s. There is little evidence for any of these claims.
The 1768 book isn’t the origin of the phrase, however, which is first seen in literature in 1670 in the book Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque by Charles Cotton.
Mistress mayoress complained that the pottage was cold;
‘And all long of your fiddle-faddle,’ quoth she.
‘Why, then, Goody Two-shoes, what if it be?
Hold you, if you can, your tittle-tattle,’ quoth he.
– Voyage to Ireland in Burlesque, 1670, by Charles Cotton
The phrase being used in this instance to point out the Goodwife’s (Goody) privilege (having 2 shoes as opposed to others who have none.) The 1768 book did, however, make being a Goody Two-Shoes into a desirable trait for a girl.
Next week we’ll look at a different sort of book for girls.
Source for book and illustrations: The Internet Archive
Source for information on Goody Two-Shoes: Wikipedia