Page Decorations in Flora Annie Steel's Tales of the Punjab, by John Lockwood Kipling (1837-1911)
Once upon a time..... two initial "O"s. Left: At the beginning of "Sir Buzz" (p.1). Right: At the beginning of "Little Anklebone" (p. 118).
Left: Another initial "O" at the beginning of "The King of the Crocodiles" (p. 111). Right: Side-panel in "The Sparrow and the Crow" (p. 103)
Left: Tailpiece to "Death and Burial of Poor Hen-Sparrow" (p. 158). Right: Tailpiece to the whole collection (p. 296).
Elizabeth James compares the page decoration here to that of Lucy Crane's Household Stories from the Collection of the Bros. Grimm, illustrated by her brother Walter Crane(Macmillan 1882). She points out that there is not the same density of illustration here, and finds evidence that this was for economic reasons. Still, she finds the initial letters "ingeniously conceived, thematically related to the narrative, and and finely executed" (373), and the headpieces, tailpieces and other inset illustrations, where they occur, are very attractive.
Scanned images, and commentary, by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use the images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned them and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Bibliography
Bryant, Julius, and Susan Weber, eds. John Lockwood Kipling: Arts and Crafts in the Punjab and London. New York: Bard Graduate Centre Gallery; New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2017.
James, Elizabeth. "Kipling and Book Illustration." In Bryant and Weber. 361-399.
Kipling, John Lockwood. Beast and Man in India: A Popular Sketch of Indian Animals in Their Relations with the People. London: Macmillan, 1891. Internet Archive. Contributed by the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. Web. 22 January 2017.
Created 22 January 2017