1881 Candace Wheeler PRIZE PAINTING BOOK Good Times TWO COPIES Amer. and Eng. Ed’s, NY, one copy of the FIRST AMERICAN PRIZE EDITION [Extremely rare with none of the line drawing pages colored in] and one copy of the First English Edition [not a prize edition, but also uncolored]:

DESCRIPTION COPY ONE: First American Edition: Words by Candace Wheeler; Pictures by (Dora Wheeler, Candace’s daughter)]; Title, “Prize Painting Book, Good Times"; White & Stokes Publishers, New York; 1881; Cadwell lith. N. Y; it measures 8-1/4 inches by 10 inches; cover is pictorial paper on boards; There are 8 color printed illustrations and 30 line drawings to be colored by owners [7 of the colored printed illustrations are duplicated in the line drawings [including the title page], with the intentions that they be colored in also (perhaps offered as coloring samples)] and 26 pages of text [rhymes etc.]. The Dora Wheeler’s illustrations were modeled similar painting books designed by the English artist Walter Crane whose work had tremendous impact on American Designers.

SCARCITY: The scarcity of a uncolored copy of the American edition stems from the fact that most of the copies were sent to the publisher to be judged in the contest [because of the large amount of prize money offered] or after a few pages were done it was deemed by the person coloring it that it was so poorly done that it could not win a prize and never sent in. At the time of this posting there was only one copy partially filled in or colored copy available online and this copy offered here is the only one in collectable condition uncolored in its original state that I have ever located.

DESCRIPTION COPY TWO: First English Edition: Candace Wheeler [Words]; Dora Wheeler [pictures]; Title, Prize Painting Book: Good Times; with the exception of the retooling of the publisher’s name [Frederick Warne] and the retooling of the back cover to eliminate mention of the prizes, both editions appear to be printed from the same plates but the English copy is one half inch shorter due to smaller page margins.

CONDITION: Both copies in good condition; The American edition is weak at the hinge of the title page, but still intact; both covers have typical edge wear for pictorial paper covers over boards;

SECURITY: ARGUS BOOKS [or other wording] in light grey may have been super-imposed over images for security and are not on the actual item.

HISTORY: The American edition was published as a prize coloring book, “with the intention of providing the most attractive material for the fascinating work of painting in water colors, and with the certainty of furnishing amusement and instruction combined, to children and beginners in drawing and color work”; [Candace Wheeler: The Art and enterprise of American Design, 1875-1900, page 172]; Additionally the publishers offer of three prizes of $75.00, $50.00 and $25.00 was a considerable amount for a child to envision winning in 1881.  [see SCARCITY above].

BIBLIOGRAPHIC: Candace Wheeler (1827-1923) Wheeler founded Associated Artists [an interior decoration company] with Louis Comfort Tiffany [of later glass fame], Samuel Coleman and Lockwood de Forest.  Upon the disbanding of this company she was allow to keep the name Associate Artists. Members included: Mrs. Wheeler, Miss Dora Wheeler, Miss Rosina Emmet, and Miss Ida Clark.  Wheeler’s first major undertaking in the decorative arts (the founding of the Society of Decorative Art in New York and its regional auxiliaries) was inspired in great part by her visit to the Centennial Exposition 1876 and her viewing of the exhibits from Great Britain.  It was the largest international fair that had ever been held in the United States and included a woman’s pavilion, the first specifically woman-run exhibit at a world’s fair.  Many of the most impressive objects on display were the products of the teachings of British design reformers such as Christopher Dresser, Owen Jones, and Charles Locke Eastlake. In 1893 she was appointed Director for the Women’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in and to organize the State of New York’s applied arts exhibition.

               She emerged as the leading American textile designer of the late nineteenth century by educating herself to match and then surpass the accomplishments of advanced European designers. Moving from embroidery to the design of fabrics and interiors, she wrote influential books on decorating and was a driving force behind the professionalization of women in the design field. She was an important member of the American Arts & Crafts movement.  Wheeler has at various times been claimed as a designer of the Aesthetic movement, the Arts and Crafts Movement, and the Colonial Revival.  In as much as she was creating textiles and interiors over a period of some twenty-five years, she can be described as all of these. But it seems she was never a strong proponent of one particular style over another; ever practical, she found elements in each that were useful to her art or her philanthropic goals.  It is not too dramatic to assert that Wheeler transcended specific style in her goal to create a peculiarly American design aesthetic [Pg. 80 Candace Wheeler (Peck and Irish)].

SHIPPING: [Books, journals, magazines, multiple copies or issues, etc.] thicker than 1/4 inch are boxed securely and shipped by USPS Media mail at actual cost [unless other arrangements have been made with seller]. [MIK – B1 – S3]