Mother Goose’s Melodies
17 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted Child Book, Mother Goose
in17 Tuesday Sep 2013
Posted Child Book, Mother Goose
in15 Sunday Sep 2013
Posted Child Book, John Leighton, Old Dame and her Pig
in15 Sunday Sep 2013
John Leighton (1822-1912) was, like Owen Jones, an extremely gifted, versatile, and prolific visual artist. In addition to 600-1,000 book covers (Ball 77), Leighton designed monograms, bookplates, valentines, Christmas and playing cards, ceramics, stained glass, book and magazine illustrations and title pages, medals, and banknotes. He wrote and lectured on subjects including design, libraries, Japanese art, bookplates, copyright, the postal service and binocular perspective. He was a founding member of the Photographic Society of London (1853), inventor of a “luminous fireplace” (stove) and rubber stereotypes, and an inveterate traveler. Several times during the last decade of his life, he ran unsuccessfully as Liberal Unionist candidate in the London borough of St. Pancras. Leighton’s work graces the covers of many of the mid-century Victorian classics which “found a home in every household, from the palace to the peasant’s cottage.” (Pantazzi 272)John Leighton, who studied with Royal Academy painter, illustrator and designer Henry Howard and with Thomas Seddon, was bound to books by his lineage. His great-grandfather Archibald established himself as binder in 1764, his grandfather Archibald developed book cloth in the 1820s as well as the technique of applying leather-like graining and gold stamping to it in the 1830s. (In 1853, his firm became Leighton, Son & Hodge and employed John to design many of its bindings.) His father John and uncle James had the bookbinding and publishing firm J & J Leighton. Leighton’s brother Henry apprenticed with the Brothers Dalziel engravers and executed many of John’s designs. Various other relations were involved in the color printing firm Leighton Brothers and the lithographic press Leighton & Taylor.Leighton’s illustration, cover design, and writing began appearing in the 1840s. Many of these early works, including The Ancient story of the Old Dame and her Pig, London out of Town, and London Cries and Public Edifices are in a cartoon style yet demonstrate Leighton’s mastery of line, use of cover space and comic touch. He served on the Commissions of the International Exhibitions held in London in 1851 (with Owen Jones) and 1862, Paris in 1855 and 1867, and Philadelphia in 1876, and won various medals at each. For example, he designed the commemoration shield for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and, using his pseudonym Luke Limner, won prizes for binding designs for J & J Leighton and Westley’s. In 1852-3, Leighton’s Suggestions in Design…for the Use of Artists and Art Workmen was published, also under Luke Limner. This style guide, with 102 plates containing 1,100 individual designs, anticipates Owen Jones’ 1856 masterpiece The Grammar of Ornament and is an obvious source for much of the work Leighton produced over the next twenty years.While the gift books of the 1850s-60s frequently had beveled boards, gilt edges, and gold blocking on both covers and the spine, it was common for the eye-catching spine and front cover to be decorated in gold and the back cover in blind. Leighton excelled in intricate work, even within the confines of spine widths, pointing to books’ content with small scenes or objects and expressive titling. John Leighton’s characteristic designs are among the most accomplished of the High Victorian period, made possible not only by his own skill but that of the engravers, die-cutters and finishers who transformed his drawings into gold.
(libraryasincubatorproject.org)
13 Friday Sep 2013
Posted Child Book, Ihe Crooked Man, McLoughlin Brothers
inMcLoughlin Bros.
was a New York publishing firm that pioneered the systematic use of color printing technologies in children’s books, particularly between 1858 and 1920. The firm’s publications served to popularize illustrators including Thomas Nast, William Momberger, Justin H. Howard, Palmer Cox, and Ida Waugh. The artistic and commercial roots of the McLoughlin firm were first developed by John McLoughlin, Jr. (1827-1905), who as a teenager learned wood engraving and printing while working for Elton & Co.–a New York firm formed by his father John McLoughlin, Sr. and engraver/printer Robert H. Elton. Elton & Co. (active 1840-1851) printed and issued toy books, comic almanacs, and valentines. Between 1850 and 1851, John McLoughlin, Sr. and Robert H. Elton retired–giving John Jr. control of the business. He started to publish picture books under his own name, and soon acquired the printing blocks of Edward Dunigan, a New York picture book publisher for whom Robert Elton had executed many wood engravings.
According to John McLoughlin, Jr.’s obituary in Publishers’ Weekly (May 6, 1905), he made his younger brother Edmund McLoughlin (1833 or 4-1889) a partner in 1855. However, the firm was not listed in New York city directories as McLoughlin Bros. until 1858. During the early years of this partnership, the product line expanded to include non-book toys including games, blocks, and paper dolls.
By 1863, the firm had expanded from its original headquarters at 24 Beekman St. to include 30 Beekman St. John McLoughlin, Jr. continually experimented with color illustration–progressing from hand stenciling, to the mechanical relief process of zinc etching, to the planographic process of chromolithography. In light of the firm’s commercial and creative development, McLoughlin Bros. moved to 52 Greene St. in May 1870, and subsequently moved the main New York office to 71 Duane St. in February 1871. In this same year, the McLoughlin firm opened a color printing factory at South 11th and Berry St. in Brooklyn. This factory employed as many as 75 artists, and is the probable site of the firm’s experimentation with color reproduction techniques. By the 1880s, McLoughlin books were regularly featuring titles in folio formats, illustrated by chromolithographs. A number of titles were probably “pirate” editions of picture books issued in England by firms like George Routledge & Sons.
After Edmund McLoughlin’s retirement in 1885, the firm’s New York office was moved several times over the next twenty years to the following addresses: 623 Broadway (1886-ca. 1892); 874 Broadway (1892-1898); 890 Broadway (1899-ca.1920). The firm received some new leadership when John McLoughlin, Jr.’s sons James G. and Charles joined the firm after Edmund’s retirement. By 1886, the firm published a wide range of items including cheap chapbooks, large folio picture books, linen books, puzzles, games and paper dolls.
After John McLoughlin, Jr.’s death in 1905, the McLoughlin firm suffered from the loss of his artistic and commercial leadership. In 1920, McLoughlin Bros., Inc. was sold to Milton Bradley, the Brooklyn factory was closed, and the company was moved to Springfield, Mass. With this sale, McLoughlin Bros. ceased game production, although the publication of picture books continued. McLoughlin Bros. enjoyed some success in the 1930s with mechanical paper toys called “Jolly Jump-Ups,” but the McLoughlin division of Milton Bradley stopped production during World War II.
Between 1950 and 1951–apparently amid the threat of liquidation, the McLoughlin Bros. executive officers divided among themselves the firm’s archival collection of books, drawings, company correspondence, illustration blocks, paper dolls, free standing wooden dolls, puzzles, and games. In December 1951, the McLoughlin Bros. trademark was sold to New York toy manufacturer Julius Kushner. Under Kushner’s leadership, some popular favorites like the Jolly Jump-Ups were reissued. However, the McLoughlin line of children’s books was sold to Grosset & Dunlap in June 1954. Since that date, several books bearing the McLoughlin Bros. imprint were issued, but the name dropped out of print by the 1970s. Since 1970, McLoughlin products have enjoyed great popularity with collectors, and their visibility continues through displays at book fairs and in catalogs like New York book dealer Justin Schiller’s Catalogue 35 (1978) devoted to McLoughlin wood engraving blocks.
Laura Wasowicz, Curator of Childrens’ Literature
11 Wednesday Sep 2013
McLoughlin Bros.
was a New York publishing firm that pioneered the systematic use of color printing technologies in children’s books, particularly between 1858 and 1920. The firm’s publications served to popularize illustrators including Thomas Nast, William Momberger, Justin H. Howard, Palmer Cox, and Ida Waugh. The artistic and commercial roots of the McLoughlin firm were first developed by John McLoughlin, Jr. (1827-1905), who as a teenager learned wood engraving and printing while working for Elton & Co.–a New York firm formed by his father John McLoughlin, Sr. and engraver/printer Robert H. Elton. Elton & Co. (active 1840-1851) printed and issued toy books, comic almanacs, and valentines. Between 1850 and 1851, John McLoughlin, Sr. and Robert H. Elton retired–giving John Jr. control of the business. He started to publish picture books under his own name, and soon acquired the printing blocks of Edward Dunigan, a New York picture book publisher for whom Robert Elton had executed many wood engravings.
According to John McLoughlin, Jr.’s obituary in Publishers’ Weekly (May 6, 1905), he made his younger brother Edmund McLoughlin (1833 or 4-1889) a partner in 1855. However, the firm was not listed in New York city directories as McLoughlin Bros. until 1858. During the early years of this partnership, the product line expanded to include non-book toys including games, blocks, and paper dolls.
By 1863, the firm had expanded from its original headquarters at 24 Beekman St. to include 30 Beekman St. John McLoughlin, Jr. continually experimented with color illustration–progressing from hand stenciling, to the mechanical relief process of zinc etching, to the planographic process of chromolithography. In light of the firm’s commercial and creative development, McLoughlin Bros. moved to 52 Greene St. in May 1870, and subsequently moved the main New York office to 71 Duane St. in February 1871. In this same year, the McLoughlin firm opened a color printing factory at South 11th and Berry St. in Brooklyn. This factory employed as many as 75 artists, and is the probable site of the firm’s experimentation with color reproduction techniques. By the 1880s, McLoughlin books were regularly featuring titles in folio formats, illustrated by chromolithographs. A number of titles were probably “pirate” editions of picture books issued in England by firms like George Routledge & Sons.
After Edmund McLoughlin’s retirement in 1885, the firm’s New York office was moved several times over the next twenty years to the following addresses: 623 Broadway (1886-ca. 1892); 874 Broadway (1892-1898); 890 Broadway (1899-ca.1920). The firm received some new leadership when John McLoughlin, Jr.’s sons James G. and Charles joined the firm after Edmund’s retirement. By 1886, the firm published a wide range of items including cheap chapbooks, large folio picture books, linen books, puzzles, games and paper dolls.
After John McLoughlin, Jr.’s death in 1905, the McLoughlin firm suffered from the loss of his artistic and commercial leadership. In 1920, McLoughlin Bros., Inc. was sold to Milton Bradley, the Brooklyn factory was closed, and the company was moved to Springfield, Mass. With this sale, McLoughlin Bros. ceased game production, although the publication of picture books continued. McLoughlin Bros. enjoyed some success in the 1930s with mechanical paper toys called “Jolly Jump-Ups,” but the McLoughlin division of Milton Bradley stopped production during World War II.
Between 1950 and 1951–apparently amid the threat of liquidation, the McLoughlin Bros. executive officers divided among themselves the firm’s archival collection of books, drawings, company correspondence, illustration blocks, paper dolls, free standing wooden dolls, puzzles, and games. In December 1951, the McLoughlin Bros. trademark was sold to New York toy manufacturer Julius Kushner. Under Kushner’s leadership, some popular favorites like the Jolly Jump-Ups were reissued. However, the McLoughlin line of children’s books was sold to Grosset & Dunlap in June 1954. Since that date, several books bearing the McLoughlin Bros. imprint were issued, but the name dropped out of print by the 1970s. Since 1970, McLoughlin products have enjoyed great popularity with collectors, and their visibility continues through displays at book fairs and in catalogs like New York book dealer Justin Schiller’s Catalogue 35 (1978) devoted to McLoughlin wood engraving blocks.
(Laura Wasowicz, Curator of Childrens’ Literature)
Posted by Old News | Filed under Child Book, McLoughlin Brothers, Rhymes & jingles for Little Children
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