by Kate Greenaway
The complete run of tiny almanacs from 1883-1929
London and New York: George Routledge & Sons; J. M. Dent & Co.; Frederick Warne & Co., 1882-1928. Collection of 34 Kate Greenaway almanacs, representing a complete run from 1883 to 1897 (no almanac was printed in 1896) plus the six reprints issued annually from 1924-1929. 24 or 36 pp. each, engraved on wood and printed in color by Edmund Evans. Includes variant bindings for eight different years and duplicate for first year. Bound in pictorial paper- or cloth-covered boards (27 copies), paper wrappers (5 copies), and leather (2 copies). Overall Near Fine with light wear and toning, occasional foxing, and several small bookplates to front pastedowns. Eighteen booklets in extremely scarce jackets, glassine (5 copies) or paper (13 copies), varying condition, overall Very Good. Housed in a custom box, plum brocade lined in gray cloth, title label to front of lid. Box lightly rubbed and warped with some dampstaining to inner hinge and exterior; lining beginning to curl up at lid edges.
The complete run of almanacs illustrated by Kate Greenaway, whose pastoral scenes of childhood freedom and innocence were essential to late Victorian iconography. Greenaway’s vision of an idealized rural England was founded on her childhood summers at a farm in Nottinghamshire, a blessed respite from the grimy London neighborhood where her father eked out a living as an engraver. He noticed her talent and sent her to art school, and Greenaway made a modest living as a greeting card artist until she published an illustrated book of verses, Under the Window, in 1879. Her preternaturally calm children, dancing gracefully through bright meadows in a loose version of late Georgian costume, appealed to the Victorian masses whose own constrained lives were colored by coal smoke. Under the Window launched both the artist's career and the “Greenaway vogue” that brought to market a flood of ceramics, jewelry, and clothing in her signature style.
These annual almanacs, expertly printed with electrotyped woodblocks by Edmund Evans, represent some of Greenaway's best-known and best-loved work. The first almanac alone sold around 90,000 copies across four countries when it was published in 1882. Reviewers described it as “small, quaint, and prettily got up,” and “a little pearl,” and Punch recommended it as a New Year’s gift. Routledge published a new almanac each year until 1895, when Greenaway changed her publisher to Dent. No almanac appeared for 1896, but Dent produced one last almanac for 1897, now the rarest of all. Greenaway's old-fashioned Arcadia had given way to the sinuous sophistication of Aubrey Beardsley and his imitators, and the Cult of the Child was over.
Greenaway’s delicate and ephemeral little books, easy prey to the ravages of time and the clawing hands of children, are difficult to find in good condition. This extraordinary collection comprises thirty-four books in the following bindings, as catalogued by Schuster & Engen:
Almanack for 1883: 1a (glazed pictorial boards) and 1d (2 copies, cream imitation morocco boards). Almanack for 1884: 2a and 2c (pictorial wrappers with different borders), 2d (cream imitation morocco wrappers; glassine jacket present), and 2e (green imitation morocco wrappers). Almanack for 1885: 3a (glazed pictorial boards with turquoise endpapers; jacket present) and 3c (white imitation morocco boards). Almanack for 1886: 4a (olive glazed pictorial boards; jacket present) 4c (white imitation morocco boards; jacket present), 4d (limp black morocco), and 4e (hand-painted wrappers). Almanack for 1887: 5a (glazed pictorial boards). Almanack for 1888: 6b (glazed pictorial boards with blue spine cloth). Almanack for 1889: 7a (black glazed pictorial boards; jacket present). Almanack for 1890: 8a (black glazed pictorial boards; jacket heavily chipped but present) and 8b (green cloth; jacket present). Almanack for 1891: (glazed pictorial boards; jacket present). Almanack for 1892: 10d (glazed pictorial boards with blue spine cloth; jacket present) and 10f (cream imitation morocco boards; blue mailing jacket present). Almanack for 1893: 11b (glazed pictorial boards with green edges; jacket present) and 11c (green silk). Almanack for 1894: 12a (glazed pictorial boards; jacket present); 12b (cream imitation morocco; jacket present), and unrecorded olive calf. Almanack for 1895: 13a (glazed pictorial boards; jacket present). Almanack and Diary for 1897: 14a (mustard imitation morocco boards; glassine jacket present). Almanack for 1924: 15a (glazed pictorial boards; glassine jacket present). Almanack for 1925: 16b (glazed pictorial boards with white endpapers; glassine jacket present). Almanack for 1926: 17a (black glazed pictorial boards). Almanack for 1927: 18a (glazed pictorial boards). Almanack for 1928: 19a (glazed pictorial boards). Almanack and Diary for 1928: 20a (green imitation morocco; glassine jacket present).