Lot 461: STRATTON (HELEN)

None

19th Century

A good group of original pen and ink illustrations by Helen Stratton (active 1892-1925), for use in an edition of The Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, the works for which she is best known. Included are images for The Little Mermaid, Wild Swans, Ugly Duckling, and The Snow Queen,. All are framed by Henry J. Murcott, one with an exhibition label on the reverse reading "Leighton House..., Kensington. Loan Exhibition of Fairy & Folk-tale Illustrations", with names of the artist, subject and owner (the publisher Messrs. Archibald Constable & Co.) supplied in ink. The drawings by George H. Sumner (1853-1940) in this lot comprise: 'Fog and Filthy Air' (75 x 240mm.), an allegorical art nouveau design; Father Christmas and horse-pulled cart against a wintery moonlit background (120 x 325mm.), used as a headpiece for The English Illustrated Magazine (1886), the printed version of which is reprinted in Simon House, The Dictionary of 19th Century British Book Illustrators, where his work is described as "owing something to Blake and Palmer, his illustration's... somewhat akin to Morris".