It’s confession time. I hadn’t even heard of Randolph Caldecott until I was researching Kate Greenaway for a future post. Randolph Caldecott’s name came up several times, as one of Kate Greenaway’s very gifted contemporaries. Although born in England in Chester, it seems that he is more honoured in the USA, where the Caldecott medal, named in his honour, is presented for the most distinguished American picture book for children of the previous year.
Randolph Caldecott began as a clerk, but sent sketches and illustrations to many magazines and had them published. He hadn’t necessarily planned to become mainly an illustrator of children’s books, when Edmund Evans, a colour printer, having lost the services of Walter Crane engaged him to produce illustrations for two Christmas books. One of these was The House that Jack Built. So successful were they with the public that Caldecott would go on to produce two more books every Christmas until he died in 1886 at the age of 40. His health had always been poor, and he actually died in St. Augustine, Florida, where ironically he had taken a trip to help improve his health.
Contemporaries praised Caldecott for his simplicity, and I can echo this. The lack of Victorian fussiness about his work makes it seem far more timeless than some of his contemporaries.
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