What's-on-my-Bookshelf Wednesday

Just recently, I acquired this lovely book...

I love Gladys Peto's illustrations!

Quintessential Art Deco styling...

Gladys Peto was a children's book illustrator and writer, an advertising illustrator and a fashion designer as well as a sometime travel writer and costume and theatre set designer.  Influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, she was a household name between the two World Wars.  

Her art work was used to create pretty Tuscan Ware sets...

...and if you ever come across one of her books of hankies, do try to buy it (they're worth a small fortune!)

Strange that she is now so little known...

I love the black and white illustrations.

I'm not sure what  a Boojum dog is (I will have to read the story, perhaps!) but I'm sure I'd like one!

This tale was penned by Gladys's husband.

This one makes me think of a Dr Who story...

But even better than the black-and-white are, of course, the colour plates!

Magical places

Homely places

Far away places

Mysterious places

I'm sure Gladys's beautiful books transported many a child on delightful adventures.

What books did you like to read, or gaze at, as a child?

PS Talking of books, I put six in the post yesterday.  I'm really sorry if the mice didn't pull your name out of the hat this time, but will be in touch with Jill, Briony and Penny when I finish my next batch  to see if they fancy any of those instead!  

Oh and Gill (with a G) - the mice DID pull your name but my attempts to find your email have failed, so if you leave me a comment with either your email or address, I won't publish it, but will get in touch!

A little bit of sewing and a discovery

Now that Mr U-t-B is truly back on his feet, we'd planned to go to a decent car boot sale on Sunday and give ourselves a £20 challenge to see who could bring back the best bundle of treasures.  This is what the eldest Miss U-t-B's boyfriend's family do to introduce an element of competition into their Sunday morning strolls, and it sounded like great fun.

But as Mr U-t-B ended up going to a work-related conference in Portsmouth with a bunch of his co-workers and the weather was inclement, we put the challenge off to another weekend.  All alone, with the vague scent of car boot treasure in my nostrils, I was tempted to venture out to our local, undercover, sale instead.

I have to say it wasn't really worth getting out for, but I did find one thing to bring home, something ripe for a little transformation...

First it got a lining of some pretty Lecien fabric...

This is the fabric, bought online from Tikki Patchwork...

Rosalie Quinlan Grandmother's Flower Garden fabric by Lecien pale green

I used the strawberry motif for inspiration for the pincushion...

I found a tip about using 100% wool scraps to stuff pincushions, so in true thrifty mode, used some skinny scraps of an old blanket (the rest of which has been used to line slippers and iPad bags) cut up small for these.  Supposedly the oils in the wool stop pins from rusting, but in this day and age, with our warm and relatively damp-free homes, I'm not sure this is as relevant as it might have been in days of yore!  Anyway, it is a good way of using up small scraps of wool.

Next I covered one of my empty mini 'Moo card' boxes with a scrap of Cath K fabric...

 

Here they are nestling in the basket...

Needlecase and scissor case to follow!

Whilst I was hunting for a pattern for a strawberry pincushion in amongst some sewing magazines, guess what I found?

My...

 ...(out-of-date)...

 ...Vogue...

...calendar!

Yay!

A Treat from the Oxfam Shop

I had to pop into Farnham the day before yesterday and as I was passing one of the two Oxfam shops, I couldn't help but notice a very quaint and attractively small dollshouse in the window.  I'd say it was from the 50s - it had cute metal windows that looked like leaded lights, a bright red roof and was painted in a really charming, naive way, in a sort of Tyrolean style.  It looked like something a vintage Heidi would live in.

I can't show you a photo! 

I managed to park nearby and hopped, skipped and jumped along to said Oxfam shop to look at the price. You could see the price tag from the window.  It was tantalisingly reasonable, so I walked in ready to seize the treasure. 

And then I saw the 'SOLD' sign on the back...

Harrumph!

So I crossed the road and went into the dedicated books and music Oxfam instead, to have a browse amongst the shelves of vintage books.  In amongst them was one that jumped out at me
as a consolation prize...

It is in near perfect condition, just like my Dad who was born the year it was published (well, his knees do cause him a bit of grief).

Edited by Harry Golding, its illustrators include Susan Beatrice Pearse and Grace Jones (whose work I am so far unaware of) and Margaret Tarrant.  It is jammed with charming pictures, and the stories I've read so far have been sweet.

I love the whole composition of this one...

I love the startled look on the elephant's face and the little Bohemian girl in the headscarf in this one...

I think this is by Anne Anderson

Now there's an interesting idea, a pretty little boat with a Viking-style prow and a patchwork sail! 

Another sweet boat!

This Red Riding Hood is passing through the most Art Deco of forests...

Love the expressive face on this little chap...

And the dress on this princess, if not her petulant-looking face...

Some of the stories are illustrated with silhouettes.  Very clever to portray so much just by this means.

Whilst the writer of each story is named both in the contents and at the end of their story, no credit is given to any of the illustrators anywhere in the book! It was only by trawling the internet that I was able to find out the names of three of them.  Yet the illustrations are so much part of the enduring appeal of these books - what a shame the talented illustrators may have felt that their work was valued less than that of the writers...

{Later:  Just having another read, this time with specs on.  My goodness - I didn't realise how much I need those glasses these days - of course there are some signatures on some of the illustrations, so not completely uncredited!}

Children's Book Illustrations

After yesterday's fun with travel posters and luggage labels, today I wanted to turn my attention to the second of my new books, 'Classic Children's Book Illustrations'.  This has oodles of both familiar and unfamiliar work and is arranged in roughly chronological order, so the mid-Victorian illustrators (such as Edward Lear and John Tenniel) come early in the book and the bits I prefer, with Art Nouveau and Art Deco influences, come towards the end. 

Sadly though, the book comes to a halt at 1923, which means that two of my favourites don't even get a look in!  So, whilst I get more sheets of fabric ready to print (a process which requires lots of short bursts of activity then medium sized pauses to make sure the colours are fast) I thought I'd come to the computer and share some of the loveliness that is the work of Gladys Peto and Rie Cramer!

I think I first happened upon a book illustrated by Gladys Peto on ebay a couple of years ago.  I did quite a lot of drooling over it , but having no  plausible excuse for buying, I sadly had to let the cyber hammer come down without bidding.   The style of the illustrations stayed with me, and a few months later I could no longer resist and managed to buy 'Schoolgirl Stories' at a knockdown price.

  Here's my favourite of the colour plates.

Cute dog!

Ever had this feeling?

Another colour plate... 

Unfortunately most of the Gladys Peto books on ebay, Amazon and so on are exorbitantly expensive.  But if you like the style, here's a link to an interesting blog where you can enjoy lots of examples of Gladys's work:

Gladys Peto

These Rie Cramer illustrations capture some aspects of the weather here in Hampshire today - it's blowing a hoolie out there!

Wish it was still like this:

Though I am rather partial to this:

Not forgetting the joys of this:

I have now managed to treat, dry, iron, stick, trim, and print some more bits of vintage art, so I'm off to do some stitching (once I've washed dried, Wondawebbed and trimmed them that is...is this a bit of a palaver or what?)