Old Christmas From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving : The New Cranford Series : Illustrated by Randolph Caldecott

Old Christmas

From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving

Illustrated by Randolph Caldecott

Published by Macmillan, London, 1901. The New Cranford Series. Hardback, Crown 8vo, decorative boards by book designer Albert Angus Turbayne, gilt to all edges, illustrated title page, 165 pages, plus 4 pages at the rear advertising more titles from the 'New Cranford Series'. Illustrated by Randolph Caldecott.

CONDITION
A very good clean copy throughout. The cloth binding is in very good condition and with no damage. There is a neat dated inscription to the front endpaper. All contents present and pages very clean throughout.

Albert Angus Turbayne (1866–1940) was one of the most distinguished binding designers of the final decade of the nineteenth century, and worked in several styles. Some of his commissions took the form of elaborately tooled bindings in leather which were directed at the expensive tastes, while others, and those which have still have currency, were trade bindings for the modest (or middle-class) pocket.

Often linked to the Arts and Crafts designs of William Morris, and credited as one of those who sought to improve public taste by promoting work of the highest quality, he is also viewed as a sophisticated proponent of Art Nouveau, whose bindings bear comparison with those of Laurence Housman and Charles Ricketts. Framed by Morris’s Kelmscott Press and the extravagance of Aubrey Beardsley, Turbayne occupies a complex position within the discourse of Victorian book design.

Randolph Caldecott (22 March 1846 – 12 February 1886) was a British artist and illustrator, born in Chester. The Caldecott Medal was named in his honour. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations. His abilities as an artist were promptly and generously recognised by the Royal Academy. Caldecott greatly influenced illustration of children's books during the nineteenth century. Two books illustrated by him, priced at a shilling each, were published every Christmas for eight years.

Caldecott also illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel, made humorous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life, drew cartoons and he made sketches of the Houses of Parliament inside and out, and exhibited sculptures and paintings in oil and watercolour in the Royal Academy and galleries.

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