Victorian Children and Animals Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889

One of the things that delighted me so much with the illustrations from the Harper's Young People weekly was the number of illustrations of Victorian children with animals, like the illustration above that appeared in the August 31, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 670. The illustration was entitled "Getting ready for a walk."

When I was a young girl I can remember times when we found bird's nests with baby birds in them that seemed to be abandoned by their mothers.  We always tried to help the little babies and would take them home and with the help of our Dad try to feed them.  I can remember using a little eye dropper to feed them water and digging up worms to feed them.  Unfortunately we weren't successful in our endeavors.

One of the reasons I love the illustration above, which appeared in the March 20, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 313. It was an engraving that was entitled "Drink, Pretty Creature, Drink! and was from the painting by O. Tojetti.

What I like about this engraving is not only the beautiful details like the folds in her dress but you can see the love, care and concern in the little girl's face for the chickadee.  Plus, if you look closely you can see her reflection in the water.

I chuckled a little when I saw the illustration above from the February 9, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 204.  It was contained within a story entitled "Captain Polly" by Sophie Swett.

The illustration above was entitled " Polly's Indecision" and the reason I chuckled was knowing when you have dogs, like I have had my whole life,  there are so many daily occurrences during bad weather when you wonder whether you should let the dog out or not.  I love the look on both her face and the look on the dog's.

The 4-part illustration above also brought a smile to my face as I can remember so many times as a young child when I was giving our dog a bath it would inevitably get out of the tub and before I could get the towel on it would do exactly what the little dog did in the fourth picture above.  The illustration appeared in the April 20, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 368.

The illustration was entitled " Turn About Is Fair Play." The four captions under the four pictures were: "Come, Doggie, I'll give you a bath." ""There you is." "Doggie jumps out, and returns the compliment."

So many, many times that was me.

I love the details of the little girls face, dress, doll, and dogs face in the illustration above that appeared in the May 25, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 446.  It was entitled "Nellie and Her Dearest Friends."  The caption was "Now, Rover dear, we will wait for the postman, and maybe he will bring the letter mamma wrote for me, all printed in the Young People. Wou't you and Pussy and Jack be glad when you read all about yourselves in my paper."

The weekly magazines had a "Our Post-Office Box' section that contained letters from its' readers.  I'll bet during this period many, many readers wrote in and many, many readers anxiously awaited the weekly for its' stories and illustrations.

 

The illustration above was from the May 4, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated Book on page 393 and was an engraving entitled "Can't Get Acquainted." from the painting by J.G. Brown, N.A.

I think the expression on the young boy's face is so enchanting.  You can feel the love he has for his dog.  The details of this engraving are exceptional - don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed the Victorian children and animals illustrations.

Victorian Children At Play Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889

There's nothing more delightful than watching young children play.  As a young child I have such fond memories of playing with my older brother or friends.  We were usually outside running around, playing a sport, riding our bikes, playing on the beach and looking for crabs, or getting into trouble with our antics.....lol

Seems times have drastically changed for children as I rarely see any children playing outside anymore.

So, of course I was drawn to the Victorian images of children playing like the illustration above which appeared in the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 46.  It's entitled "The Only Boy In The Family."

In looking at the illustration you might think it was labelled wrong and that the child is a girl.  Well, it seems in the Victorian era boys and girls clothing was indistinguishable. There was a practical reason for why boys worn dresses and it has to do with diapers and potty training.  It would have taken way too much time for changing a little boy.  It was so much easier to just lift the dress. Unbuttoning Victorian trousers was way too time consuming for mothers and way too difficult for little boys to do.

I just love the illustration above entitled 'The Gossips."  It appeared in the July 6, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 540.  How adorable are these two? Wonder what they were talking about?

How charming is the illustration above that appeared in the January 26, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 164.  It was the picture for a poem entitled "Little Clara's Grievance" which was written by Margaret Eytinge.    Here's what it said:

Oh, how sad it is to know

Little girls must always grow--

Grow in size and grow in years!

Thinking of it brings the tears.

But though I may cry and fret,

Every day I bigger get;

Every day I'm older too.

And there's nothing I could do

That would make me stop a-growing,

Or would keep the years from going.

Now I'm five; soon I'll be six:

Here's a poor child in a fix!

After six comes seven; then

Follow eight and nine and ten.

How I wish I could stay

As I am this very day--

Always have my hair in curl. 

Always me mamma's wee girl!

But I can't; I've got to grow.

Oh dear me! Why is it so?

Very soon I must be six; 

Here's a poor child in a fix!

She's a five year old girl fretting over getting older.  Wait til she gets to 65...lol She'll definitely be fretting then.

Once again, in the illustration above we have a boy blowing a horn.  This illustration appeared in  the June 22, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 501.  It's entitled "All Are Not Hunters Who Blow the Horn."  The caption was a 4 line verse:

Tantara! Tantara!  Tantara!

Bobby has got a new horn.

He drives us all crazy from morning till night,

Then sleeps like an angel till morn.

I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw the illustration above from the September 7, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 686 as it reminded me of something my older brother and I might might have tried on our younger sister or brothers.  It was entitled "An Interesting Experiment."

The illustration above appeared in the December 22, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 92 and was the picture for a short poem entitled "Little Honora Mullally" written by Margaret Eytinge.  It was about a little Irish girl in tattered clothing watching some children play on Christmas day.  I love all the details of her outfit and the beautiful expression of pride on her face.

The illustration above was one of a group of five Christmas Sketches  that appeared in the January 12, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 144 and was entitled "Now, Charlie, Kiss Me!"  Can't you just picture this scenario of a young girl holding a mistletoe above her head and the little hesitant boy getting ready to run away.

I just love the verse that appeared with the illustration above in the March 2,1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 254.  It read:

Three little boys and thee little girls,

Some with smooth hair, and some with curls!

And remember, if we 'sturb you with our noise,

Only half of us are girls; the rest are boys!

The illustration above was on the front cover of the July 6, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 530.  It was entitled "A Morning Serenade" and was drawn by Jessie Shepherd.  How delightful is this illustration?  I love all the details and the antics of the children.

The illustration above was on the cover of the October 5, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 738 and was entitled " The minuet." It was also drawn by Jessie Shepherd.

What I noticed about this when I blew it up was the expressions of the children dancing and the little girl in the lower left hand corner. They all seemed bored out of their minds...lol I also noticed the elaborate details on the dress of the young girl dancing.  Amazing.

The illustration above which appeared in the the August 17, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 633 was entitled "Robin Hood and His Merry Men."  It was drawn by Lydia F. Emmet.

What's interesting about this illustration is Robin Hood and His Merry Men are all depicted as children.  I don't think I've seen them as children anywhere before.

The illustration above was a full page engraving in the May 11, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book on page 409 and was engraved by Ch. Baude after the painting by J.T. Errazuris.

What was amazing about this engraving is the beautiful detail on the children and the field of flowers. Remarkable.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all these illustrations.

For the Love of Reading - Victorian Girls and Their Books Illustrations

If you've been a reader of my Linda's Blog for awhile you know that I've had a long term love affair with dolls, doll patterns, the Victorian era, floral design, genealogy, research, history and books. As far as I'm concerned you can never have enough dolls and you can never have enough books.

So, of course, I would be drawn to illustrations of Victorian girls and their books from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book of 1889, like the illustration shown above.  It appeared in the May 18, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on Page 420.

It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood and appeared in a story "The A.O.I.B.R" by Elizabeth Eggleston Seelye.  According to her Wikipedia page: "Her story "“The A.O.I.B.R." appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1889 with an illustration of a child reading. The Rockwell Centre for American Visual Studies cites this as a surprisingly early illustration of a girl reading. The subject of girls reading in the illustration by Rosina Emmet Sherwood is thought rare (like the ones in Louisa Allcott's Little Women)."

The caption reads: "She retired to the society of books." This brings back wonderful memories for me as so many times when I was growing up you could find me like this.

My house is filled with books of all kinds. My love affair with books and reading began very early on. My Mother was an avid reader, my Father was an avid reader, my Grandmother and Great-Aunt were avid readers, and so it was passed down to my siblings and I.

I have such fond memories of sitting in my Grandmother's rocking chair (which I still have) and having her read me a story. Sometimes we would sit there while she was watching her soap opera's and she would rock with me in her lap.  Kind of like in the illustration above from the March 9, 1889 weekly of the  Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 270.

Sometimes she would read me a story. I never minded just sitting there with her. I always knew there would be a story. And, I always felt safe in her arms.

Now, when I read I think about sitting with my Grandmother or listening to my Mom and Dad talk about their love of reading and it brings back warm and pleasant feelings for me.

I have been a firm believer in the value of books and teaching children the love of reading.  The more children read, the better they become at reading. And, the more young children are read to, the greater their interest in reading. Reading out loud to children helps them with their verbal skills, enhances their development and teaches them how to express themselves verbally.

I could also be found many times in the same position as the young girl in the illustration above that appeared on the cover of the January 26, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 161.  It was drawn by Rosina Emmet Sherwood.

Just look at the concentration on this young girl's face as she's reading.  I just love this illustration, too and find the detail in her drawing just beautiful.

If you love to read you know that reading is such an escape. You can literally get lost in a book - at least I can!  The book for a brief moment becomes your life and you can imagine that you're experiencing it. To me there is nothing more powerful then your imagination.

Even the most spectacular movie with all its wonderful special effects and cinematography cannot compare to what you own imagination can create. There are no limits and no boundaries to your imagination when you are reading. You can be transporter anywhere and to any time period.

I am a firm believer in books and reading as a way of teaching children. In fact, my Grandchildren can attest to the fact that every Christmas or Birthday when they were kids they knew what at least one of their presents would be from their Grandmother: books.

To me, that is one of the best presents I could give them. By giving them books all the time, I hope somehow I'm conveying a love of reading to them. Reinforcing the value of reading time and time again. Making them think. Hopefully, by developing good reading skills they learn how to think for themselves.

My grandchildren also know I'm a firm believer that there is no limit to your abilities if you can read.  You can teach yourself anything because there isn't anything you can't do if you put your mind to it.

The illustration shown above was from the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 62.  It entitled "One Happy Girl"  and she's holding a copy of the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book.  I can imagine at the time that the children anxiously awaited their copies of this weekly magazine for all the pictures and stories.  I wonder how many of them delighted in the stories and got lost in them.  Imagining all sorts of things.

Sort of like the young girl in the illustration above that appeared in the July 20, 1889 weekly of the  Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 on page 564.

I just love the expression on her face.  So pensive, so lost in thought.  Hopefully not as the caption reads: "She sat looking out of the window, feeling very dismal."  Sitting looking out the window with her favorite "dollie" and book next to her.

I was watching a show on one of the cable channels a couple of years ago about the greatest invention mankind has ever seen. They counted down through hundreds of inventions until they got to #1. Do you know what it was? The greatest invention mankind has ever seen was the invention of the printing press. Why, because it opened the whole world up to everyone and mankind was never the same again.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the girls and books Victorian illustrations.

Victorian Children At School Illustrations From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889

I don't really think it matters what the time period is when it comes to school being difficult at times for students.  The look on the face of the little girl in the illustration above could just as well be from 2019 as 1889.  All you have to see is the expression on her face to feel her distress.

The illustration above is from the December 1, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 45.  It was entitled "Katy's First Recitation in Geography After Vacation." (Or something that sounds very much like it.)

While you can easily feel the young girls distress in the recitation illustration at the beginning of this post you certainly can feel the sorry for the little girl in the engraving above who is so distressed she's sobbing while a friend tries to comfort her.  She's in detention for whatever reason and is upset by this.  I think we've all had times at school where as young children we were brought to tears.  I just want to go over to her, put my arms around her and comfort her.  I doubt the school mistress did that.

The engraving appeared in the November 17, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book and was a two-page illustration on pages 8-9.  It was entitled "Kept In." and engraved by Ch. Baude after the painting by Trupheme.   The original painting was : In Detention, 1888 (oil on canvas), Trupheme, Auguste Joseph (183698) Musee de la Ville de Paris, Musee du PetitPalais, France Giraudon The Bridgeman Art Library.

In any event the details on this engraving are truly remarkable.  Just look at the face of the young girl trying to comfort her friend above.

Then, look at the face of the young girl laughing above.  Truly remarkable engraving based on the original oil painting.

The illustration above also conveys the distress for this little girl as well.  It was in the story "The Little Misses Jansen" by Isabel J. Roberts and appeared in the December 8, 1888 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 53.  The story was about two sisters: one of whom was very shy and the other who was not.

I love the illustration above not for the distress it depicts for the shy girl but for all the different expressions on the rest of the girls faces and the stoic expression of her sister who is trying to comfort her.

The illustration above is from the April 20, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 368.  It's entitled "Not His Fault" and was drawn by someone named Barnes.  The caption is: "Come, Dooley, why don't you rise promptly with the class?" "Please, sir, some one has put gum on the bench."

You can feel the pain of the young boy who's being bullied with the expressions on the other student's faces.  This was 1889 and bullying was going on then if not for centuries before.   Bullying is wrong and should never have been allowed no matter what the time-frame.  Thanks goodness most schools now have zero tolerance for bullying.

The illustration above entitled " Punishment" was drawn by J. Geoffrey and appeared in the September 14, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 697.  You can definitely feel the sorrow of the young boy who's being punished and the sympathy of the young boy comforting him.

It always amazes me how time really has no bearing on everyday occurrences in one's life where one child is upset and another is trying to comfort them.  Whether it's 1889 or 2019 these occurrences are similar and the reaction of comfort is so wonderful to see.

The illustration above was part of a story entitled "Pauline's Patience" by E. Cavazza in the August 19, 1889 weekly of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 611.   The caption reads: "Alice subsided into a tearful pocket-handkerchief."

In the story Alice forgot to give her father a note the previous evening and now he had left for work so her big sister had to hasten to give it to him and was annoyed with her younger sister for not having told her sooner as she had been left in charge for two days while her mother was away.
While it isn't about a school incident you can still feel the pain on the young girl's face and imagine such a scenario.

I love the expression on the youngest sister's face thankful the scolding from Pauline wasn't for her.

I hope you enjoyed seeing all the illustrations of the Victorian children at school as much as I did.

Victorian Girls and Dolls Pictures From The Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889

I love dolls.  I love making dolls and I always loved playing with my dolls.  I also love the Victorian Era, history, and books.  So, it should come as no surprise that I would love illustrations from the Harper's Young People Illustrations Book From 1889 that I found recently.

As you might recall from a previous Linda's Blog post some of the mixed media projects this summer I created some mixed media items that required quite a bit of old book papers for collage purposes.  So much so I ran out of the book pages.

Well, in looking around the house I found an old Harper's Young People Illustrations Book from 1889 that was in poor condition and with some of the pages already missing.

I don't know where this book came from and who it belonged to.  Most of the old books I have belonged to my great Aunt Flossie but I didn't think this was one of hers.  The time-frame was right but the book wasn't signed with her name - which she always did on the inside of the front cover.

In looking at the book in poor shape and missing some of the pages I thought it still might be perfect for collage purposes so I started to tear some of the pages out.  I didn't tear too many out because right away I found myself looking at some of the beautiful black and white illustrations that were contained within the book.

They were enchanting: illustrations of Victorian children, Victorian girls with dolls, Victorian families, holiday and seasonal illustrations and more.  I couldn't help but admire the artistic capabilities of the artists who had drawn them back in 1888 to 1889.

So, while tearing out the pages I started to set some that I really liked aside. Needless to say I wound up with a large pile I wanted to keep.  That still left me with a large pile to collage with so I was happy.

Contained within the book were many illustrations of Victorian girls and their dolls.  Well, as you know, I love graphics of girls and dolls so, for sure, I wouldn't be using any of these for collage purposes.

I just love the graphics, pictured at the beginning of this post.  Unfortunately the illustrator didn't sign it so I don't know who drew it but it appeared in the May 4, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 397.  What I love about it is the little girl is reading A Harper's magazine to her bear.

Here's some of my other favorites:

The illustration above was entitled "Deserved Reproof" and was from the February 2, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 192.  It was drawn by P. Newell (Peter Newell) and the caption was: "You naughty Bess! You ought to be 'shamed of yourself for 'bein jealous of your new sister and wearing such 'spression on your face when it's Merry Christmas morning, too."

What I find so enchanting with this illustration is the young girl's eyes.  They are so amazingly expressive for a black and white illustration - don't you think?

The illustration above was entitled "Little Miss Priggins, Doly Dimple, Her Eldest Daughter, and the Nurse."  It was also drawn by Peter Newell and was on the cover of the November 24, 1888 weekly on page 18 of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book.  I just love the two dolls.

The illustration above was entitled "Little Mary Jane clung to the doll even in her sleep."  It appeared in the January 5, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 117.

It was an illustration for a story about a little girl who opened a Christmas present that wasn't for her and found a doll.  When she pressed it to her ear it said "Momma" so the little girl thought the doll was magical.  No one had the heart to tell her the doll wasn't intended for her.

What I noticed about this illustration is not only does the mother have her hair braided but it's already down to her waist so you can only imagine how long it really was.

The illustration above was entitled "I'm going to get my papa, said the tiny swordsman." I couldn't determine who drew it but it was an illustration in a story about a Union army military unit that found a package by their camp fire that contained a doll and gave it to a young family whose father was fighting for the Union. It was in the January 5, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 128.

The illustration above was entitled "Nellie's Christmas Dream" and was an illustration for another story in the January 26, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 172.

How charming  are all the little "dollies" playing while Nellie is sleeping.

The illustration above appeared in the March 23, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 300 and was entitled "A Flat Specimen."  The caption said; " Little Miss Antoinette, of Paris (and of wax), to the paper doll. Who's sat down on you?"  Can't you imagine the wax doll asking the paper doll why they were flat? I certainly can.

Looking at the illustration above you can't help but feel the little girls pain at seeing her beloved doll being swept down the river in her carriage and her dog's gallant attempt to save her for his little mistress.  This illustration appeared in the May 18, 1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 428.

What little girl doesn't want a doll who looks just like they do? The illustration above appeared in the October 19,1889 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 782.  The captions reads: "Doesn't she look just like me? She isn't a bit afraid of the water, and I'm going to teach her to swim."

The illustration above appeared on page 144 of the Harper's Young People Illustrated book and was included in a compilation of other Christmas sketches in the January 12, 1889 weekly.  I just love the elaborate costumes for the dolls and their large size.

I just love the illustration above - don't you?   It was a full page picture in the December 22, 1888 weekly in the Harper's Young People Illustrated book on page 89 and was entitled "Their Christmas Dinner."  It was drawn by Alice Barber (Alice Walker Barber.)

The details in this illustration are amazing.  Just look at the expression on the woman's face and on the face of the little girl.  Add the clothing details, the details on the painted water vase, the apples and the design on the tablecloth.  Just amazing!

I hope you enjoyed the illustrations above and found them as charming as I did.