Back to bookThe Complete Collection of Pictures and Songs
Free sample
Free sample
Chapter I

The Complete Collection of PICTURES & SONGS BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT

R. CALDECOTT’S COLLECTION OF PICTURES & SONGS

The Complete Collection OF PICTURES & SONGS BY RANDOLPH CALDECOTT

ENGRAVED AND PRINTED BY EDMUND EVANS

WITH A PREFACE BY AUSTIN DOBSON

LONDON GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS Broadway, Ludgate Hill GLASGOW, AND NEW YORK 1887

This Edition is Limited to 800 Copies.

No. 272

PREFACE.

The first two of the children’s books here reproduced were published in 1878; the last two in 1885, only a few weeks before Mr. Caldecott’s premature death. He had not intended to make any further additions to their number, and the series is consequently complete. Into what new domain his still-creative genius would have wandered,—for he was well on the hither side of the period fixed by tradition for the decline of human invention, and in spite of ill-health, was gifted with a rare buoyancy and elasticity of temperament,—it is idle to conjecture. But his gradual development from the tentative sketches of his early days into the purely individual manner of his latest work, had been unmistakeable enough to justify the belief that even higher triumphs might have been reserved to his ripened powers. Would he not have gained fresh laurels as a designer in some unfamiliar field?—as a modeller of bas-relief touched with his own distinctive quality?—as a delicate and dexterous water-colour artist? None can answer these questions now. But at least he has left us

a definite legacy of accomplished work, for which we can scarcely be too grateful, since it is unique in kind, and certain to be enduring in charm.

Of this legacy, the two volumes of “Old Christmas” and “Bracebridge Hall,” and the present collection of picture-books are surely the most memorable. In decorating the gentle and kindly pages of Goldsmith’s American disciple, Mr. Caldecott seems for the first time to have discovered a fitting outlet of his cherished memories of the country-side where he was bred, and of the picturesque old town where he was born;—for those loving studies of animal life which had delighted him as a boy;—for that feeling for the old-world in costume and accessory which was a native impulse in his talent. No books of this century have been so genially, so loyally, so sympathetically illustrated. And yet these Irving volumes, however excellent, were but the stepping stones to the artist’s more10 signal successes in nursery literature. “John Gilpin” and “The Mad Dog” are illustrated books; but they are illustrated books “with a difference.” Mr. Caldecott found in them his theme, it is true: but it was a theme upon which his pencil played the most

engaging variations. Who, for example, ever before conceived of Madam Blaize as a pawnbroker, because—

Who, again, had penetrated the hidden secret of that corroding jealousy which led the dog to bite the prim and impeccable personage who afterwards so fatally disagreed with him? And where else had the world been shewn the authentic academic presence,—the very “form and pressure,”—of “The Great Panjandrum Himself,” “with the little round button at top;” or imagined the hurly-burly of those headlong, horn-blowing, cheek-bursting and hopelessly futile “Jovial Huntsmen”? Nor were these all, or even a tithe of the sportive surprises, the undreamed disclosures, of these captivating pages. Around and about them the artist has woven the most humourous ingenuities, the most freakish and frolicsome fancies; he has set them in the most inviting framework of town and country; he has enlisted in his service the most blithe and winsome figures of women and children, the most irresistible dogs and horses and birds. The open-air life of England, with all its freshness and breeziness, its pastoral seduction and its picturesque environment, is everywhere

present in his work. He has the art, too, of being elegant without being effeminate, and of being tender without being mawkish. It was said of a great English novelist that his laugh clears the air; it may be said of these light-hearted pictures that their mirth clears not only the air but the imagination. No taint clings to them of morbid affectation or sickly sentiment: they are the genuine pictorial utterances of a manly, happy nature, delighting in beauty, delighting in innocent pleasure, and dowered as few English artists have been with the gifts of refinement and grace.

A. D.

11

R. Caldecott’s PICTURE BOOK

The Babes in the Wood The House that Jack built The Mad Dog John Gilpin

13

The House that Jack built.

ONE OF R Caldecott’s Picture books

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS

15

The House that Jack Built.

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

47

The Diverting History of JOHN GILPIN

ONE OF R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS

49

The Diverting History of John Gilpin.

50

51

THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN: Showing how he went farther than he intended, and came safe home again.

WRITTEN BY Wm. COWPER

WITH DRAWINGS BY R. CALDECOTT

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

78

79

81

The Mad Dog

ONE OF R. CALDECOTT’S PICTURE BOOKS

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS

83

Elegy on a Mad Dog.

84

85

An ELEGY on the DEATH of a MAD DOG.

WRITTEN By Dr. Goldsmith

Pictured By R. CALDECOTT

Sung By Master Bill Primrose

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

101

102

103

104

105

106

107

108

109

110

111

112

113

115

The BABES in the Wood.

ONE OF R. CALDECOTT’S PICTURE BOOKS

George Routledge & Sons.

117

The Babes in the Wood.

118

119

120

121

122

123

124

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

134

135

136

137

138

139

AND HE THAT WAS OF MILDEST MOOD

DID SLAYE THE OTHER THERE

140

141

142

143

144

145

146

147

149

R. Caldecott’s Picture Book No 2

The Farmer’s Boy SING A SONG for SIX PENCE The 3 Jovial Huntsmen The Queen of Hearts

151

The Three Jovial Huntsmen

one of R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

George Routledge & Sons

153

The Three Jovial Huntsmen.

154

155

156

157

158

159

160

161

162

163

164

165

166

167

168

169

170

171

172

173

174

175

176

177

178

179

180

181

182

183

185

Sing a Song for Sixpence

ONE OF R. CALDECOTT’S PICTURE BOOKS

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS

187

Sing a Song for Sixpence.

188

189

190

191

192

193

194

195

196

197

198

199

200

201

202

203

204

205

206

207

208

209

210

211

212

213

214

215

216

217

219

The Queen of Hearts

ONE of R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

George ROUTLEDGE & Sons

221

The Queen of Hearts.

222

223

224

225

226

227

228

229

230

231

232

233

234

235

236

237

238

239

240

241

242

243

244

245

246

247

248

249

250

251

253

FARMER’S BOY

one of R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

GEO. ROUTLEDGE & SONS

255

The Farmer’s Boy.

256

257

258

259

260

261

262

263

264

265

266

267

268

269

270

271

272

273

274

275

276

277

278

279

280

281

282

283

284

285

287

R. Caldecott’s Second Collection of Pictures & Songs

George Routledge & Sons

289

The Hey Diddle Diddle Picture Book

by R. Caldecott

Where are you going my Pretty Maid? Hey diddle diddle A Frog he would a-wooing go Baby Bunting The Fox jumps over the Parson’s Gate

291

The Milkmaid

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

“Where are you going, my Pretty Maid?”

George Routledge & Sons

293

The Milkmaid.

294

295

The MILKMAID. An Old Song exhibited and explained in many designs by R. Caldecott.

296

297

298

299

300

301

302

303

304

305

306

307

308

309

310

311

312

313

314

315

316

317

Hey Diddle Diddle

and

Baby Bunting

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

George Routledge & Sons

319

Hey Diddle Diddle.

320

321

322

323

324

325

326

327

328

329

330

331

Baby Bunting.

332

333

334

335

336

337

338

339

340

341

342

343

A Frog he would a-wooing go.

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS

345

A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go.

346

347

348

349

350

351

352

353

354

355

356

357

358

359

360

361

362

363

364

365

366

367

368

369

The Fox jumps over the Parson’s Gate

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

GEORGE Routledge & Sons

371

The Fox jumps over the Parson’s Gate.

372

373

374

375

376

377

378

379

380

381

382

383

384

385

386

387

388

389

390

391

392

393

394

395

The Panjandrum Picture Book.

Containing 5 Subjects

Come lasses and lads, Ride a cock-horse, A Farmer went trotting, Mrs. Mary Blaize, & The Great Panjandrum himself.

George Routledge & Sons

R. Caldecott.

397

COME LASSES AND LADS

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

George Routledge & Sons London

399

Come Lasses and Lads.

400

401

402

403

404

405

406

407

408

409

410

411

412

413

414

415

416

417

418

419

420

421

422

423

RIDE a-cock Horse to Banbury+

& A Farmer Went Trotting Upon His Grey Mare

George Routledge & Sons

R. Caldecott’s Picture Books

425

Ride a Cock-Horse to Banbury Cross.

426

427

428

429

430

431

432

433

434

435

436

437

A Farmer went trotting upon his Grey Mare.

438

439

440

441

442

443

444

445

446

447

448

449

An Elegy on the GLORY of her SEX

Mrs Mary BLAIZE

R. Caldecott’s PICTURE Books

George Routledge & Sons

451

An Elegy ON THE GLORY OF HER SEX Mrs. Mary Blaize. BY Dr. OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

452

453

454

455

456

457

458

459

460

461

462

463

464

465

466

467

468

469

470

471

472

473

474

475

The Great Panjandrum himself

R. Caldecott’s PICTURE BOOKS.

George Routledge & Sons

477

The Great Panjandrum Himself.

478

479

480

481

482

483

484

485

486

487

488

489

490

491

492

493

494

495

496

497

498

499

500

End of free sample

You've read the free sample of The Complete Collection of Pictures and Songs

You have read 2 of 2 chapters. Start your trial to keep reading all 2 chapters, tap any word for an instant translation, hear the audio narration, and save your progress across devices.

Free sampleTap to translateAudio narration