Illustrations for the Children's ClassicsDickens' Stories About Children (1929)
Each of the thirteen "talks" after "An Introductory Talk" contains an illustrations from original drawings by Clara Mitchell Burd (1929.)
- Nell picked wild roses and made them into nosegays, while her Grandfather sat near-by from The Old Curiosity Shop (p. 20)
- Trotty Veck takes a peep and a guess from The Chimes
- Bob Cratchit takes Tiny Tim home from A Christmas Carol
- David Copperfield and Peggotty sat chatting by the parlor fire from David Copperfield (p. 53)
- They lay down on a bank of daisies, like the children in the wood, and fell asleep from The Runaway Couple
- Poor Jo looks through the iron railing at his friend's grave from Bleak House
- David Copperfield leaves home in the carrier's cart from David Copperfield
- Caleb and his daughter were hard at work in the toy-shop from The Cricket on the Hearth (p. 148)
- A queer little figure sitting in a chair, "Jenny Wren" from Our Mutual Friend
- Paul spent the greater part of the day at the beach with Florence as his only companion from Dombey and Son (p. 181)
- Pip watches the cutting of the loaf from Great Expectations
- The Marchioness peeps through the keyhole from The Old Curiosity Shop
- Oliver asks Mr. Bumble [sic] for more from The Adventures of Oliver Twist
- The Fat Boy takes another nap from Pickwick Papers
Clara Miller Burd's Artistic Output: 1920s & 1930s
Clara Miller Burd (17 May 1873 — 11 November 1933) was an American artist who worked in both illustration (magazine covers and children's books) and stained glass. Educated in Patchogue, New York, and New York City, she attended the Chase School and National Academy of Design in New York City, having won a medal as a consequence of her studies under noted painters William Chase and C. T. Turner. In 1898, she travelled to Paris to study at Academie Colarossi under Gustave-Claude-Etienne Courtois (1852-1923), sculptor Filippo Colarossi (1841-1906), and Renardo.
After returning from France, Burd worked as a stained glass designer at the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company in New York, as well as at the Church Glass and Decorating Company. Her notable stained-glass designs include the West End Collegiate Church, New York City, New York: the East transept window to the memory of Anna Van Nostrand entitled Morning cometh and the shadows flee away, which contains a sixteen-foot high, full-length image of Christ with his hand raised to the rising sun, and two kneeling angels at the base of the window on either side. She designed the McKinley National Memorial's window in Canton, Ohio, for President William McKinley, assassinated in 1901. As well as her stained-glass design work, Burd illustrated both children's books and magazine covers, signing her graphic designs "C M Burd" or "CMB."
Her magazine illustration includes covers for The Canadian Home-Journal, Farmer's Wife, Modern Priscilla, Women's Home Companion, and Woman's World. Tending to set her children's book illustrations in the Ante-Bellum Period, Burd made vibrant use of colour in such works as Louisa Mae Alcott's Little Women (1926), Jo's Boys (1928), and Little Men (1928). Her other major British work illustrated was Robert Louis Stevenson's Child's Garden of Verse.
Related Material: Illustrated Children's Stories from Dickens
- One Hundred Plates by Harold Copping (1863-1962) depicting Dickens's Characters
- Defending the Imagination: Charles Dickens, Children's Literature, and the Fairy Tale Wars
- F. O. C. Darley's Dickens' Little Folk (1855, 1856)
Scanned images and text by Philip V. Allingham. [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.]
Bibliography
Darley, Felix Octavius Carr, illustrator; N. Orr, engraver. Dickens' Little Folks. 12 vols. in two series. New York: Redfield, 1855-56; rpt., John R. Anderson, 1878.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Harold Copping. London, Paris, New, York: Raphael Tuck, 1911.
Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Children's Stories from Dickens. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.
Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris, New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1924.
Franklin, Tricia. "Illustrators: Clara M. Burd (American, 1910s-30s)." Historical Boys' Clothing. https://www.histclo.com/art/illus/ind/b/i-burd.html. Created 9 February 2004. Accessed 27 May 2025.
Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Merchant, Elizabeth Lodor. Dickens's Stories About Children. Illustrated by Clara M. Burd. London and New York: John C. Winston. Encyclopedia Americana, 1929.
Created 27 May 2025