Isabelle Pinard
Managing Editor

Pastel-painted fairy wings and children dressed in white come to life in pages from “Making the Modern Picture Book: Children’s Book from the Victorian Era” exhibit at the Legion of Honor, showing the history and artistic ability of old English storybooks.

Illustrated children’s books became popular in the late 19th century in England and were called toy books according to designer Allison Weiner for Chronicle Books blog.

Toward the end of the 19th century design, production and marketing for children’s books rose in England with improved book printing techniques including color printing.

In true Victorian spirit, publishers built aesthetic considerations into their projects, working with renowned illustrators to achieve a compelling fusion of art and literature according to the Legion of Honor.

Some pieces in the exhibit include “The Queen of Hearts” by Randolph Caldecott and “Pied Piper of Hamelin” by Robert Browning.

Most books were used as prizes or rewards, gifts or toys, and were designed to reinforce social behavior of children while entertaining them, according to Weiner.

Edmund Evans, a wood and color engraver, made most of the artwork featured in this exhibit possible for the illustrators and authors because he commercialized color printing in the nineteenth century, according to the Online Archive of California.

The pages show Victorian-styled art with Empire-style costumes and medieval picture compositions, such as works by illustrator Walter Crane. Some of his illustrations include, “My Mother,” “A-Gaping-Wide-Mouth-Waddling-Frog” and “One, Two Buckle my Shoe.” Crane’s art shows his ability to give life to two-dimensional characters of snarling dogs and smiling frogs, which shuffled across the pages in hues of black and blue.

“The pictures are really fun to look at,” a local 4-year-old who said he was dragged to the exhibit by his even younger sister. “She was excited at first, but now is a little disappointed because there are a lot of hard words, not like the books we have at home.”

The dated language in the toy books make the plotlines harder for modern children to understand and some stories have storylines that adults can relate to better than children. The stories tell about the stress of a wedding day, the pain from loss of children and the worries of not having enough money, which are still relevant today.

Victorian parents felt exposing a child to aesthetic design from an early age, he or she would grow up to be an artistic, morally upstanding citizen of the nation according to the Legion of Honor.

“I thought the exhibit was going to be an ancient collection of children’s books, but I actually enjoy reading them,” Valerie Greeley, the mother who didn’t want her son and daughter names used, said. “I feel like a kid again, humming the titles of the books to the tune of nursery rhymes I grew up with. Walter Crane is indeed the master of all things decorative.”

The exhibition gift shop sells prints from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum featuring the books of illustrators and authors of the exhibit.
The Legion of Honor is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Tickets range from $6 to $10.