Title-page
Jemima Blackburn (née Wedderburn) (1823-1909),
1862
From an online version at (Project Gutenberg
The artist's initials appear at center bottom
This title-page of arrests our attention with its beautiful yellow and purple flowers. The title-page also includes telling details that anticipate important moments about the life cycle of a flock of crows, the focus of this tale. There is a nest with eggs, pointing to the joyous birth of baby crows that begins the story; a farmer holding a gun, predicting the slaughter of the crows; and three clues to what follows the shooting—a skeletal crow, a wounded crow, and a farmer eating a crow pie.
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