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Original artwork for The Mother Goose Treasury, [c.1966].
Details
BRIGGS, Raymond (1934-2022)
Original artwork for The Mother Goose Treasury, [c.1966].
Two double-page spreads, 285 x 440mm each. Gouache, pen, pencil and correcting fluid on card, numbered ‘40’ and ‘spread no 63’ in felt-tip pen on versos.
Two spreads for The Mother Goose Treasury, the work that won Briggs his first Kate Greenaway Medal: a fascinating glimpse of the early work produced by of one of Britain’s most important 20th-century children’s book illustrators.
The first is the spread for pp.70-71, featuring the rhyme ‘Fire! Fire! Burn Stick!’; editor's note in blue pen: ‘Shorter rope 1/8”’. The second is the spread for pp.102-3, featuring the rhymes ‘What’s the news?’ (left-hand page) and ‘The Sky’ and ‘Two Robins’ (right-hand page); page 102 is a preliminary draft, revised for the published edition, with elements of the scene added in pencil.
The first three collections of rhymes illustrated by Raymond Briggs – including Ring-a-ring o' Roses (1962) and Fee Fi Fo Fum (1964) – attracted the attention of an American editor, Alice Torrey, who suggested a co-edition of 'the biggest nursery rhyme book ever' (see N. Jones, Raymond Briggs: The Illustrators Series, 2020, pp. 28-29). This became The Mother Goose Treasury, published in the U.K. by Hamish Hamilton, an exuberant, revolutionary work produced by Briggs free from the oversight of a book designer and decorated as he saw fit. A glorious hotchpotch of styles, with influences ranging from Chagall to collage artwork, the book won Briggs the first of his Greenaway Medals in 1966 – he went on to win another, in 1973, for Father Christmas.
Original artwork for The Mother Goose Treasury, [c.1966].
Two double-page spreads, 285 x 440mm each. Gouache, pen, pencil and correcting fluid on card, numbered ‘40’ and ‘spread no 63’ in felt-tip pen on versos.
Two spreads for The Mother Goose Treasury, the work that won Briggs his first Kate Greenaway Medal: a fascinating glimpse of the early work produced by of one of Britain’s most important 20th-century children’s book illustrators.
The first is the spread for pp.70-71, featuring the rhyme ‘Fire! Fire! Burn Stick!’; editor's note in blue pen: ‘Shorter rope 1/8”’. The second is the spread for pp.102-3, featuring the rhymes ‘What’s the news?’ (left-hand page) and ‘The Sky’ and ‘Two Robins’ (right-hand page); page 102 is a preliminary draft, revised for the published edition, with elements of the scene added in pencil.
The first three collections of rhymes illustrated by Raymond Briggs – including Ring-a-ring o' Roses (1962) and Fee Fi Fo Fum (1964) – attracted the attention of an American editor, Alice Torrey, who suggested a co-edition of 'the biggest nursery rhyme book ever' (see N. Jones, Raymond Briggs: The Illustrators Series, 2020, pp. 28-29). This became The Mother Goose Treasury, published in the U.K. by Hamish Hamilton, an exuberant, revolutionary work produced by Briggs free from the oversight of a book designer and decorated as he saw fit. A glorious hotchpotch of styles, with influences ranging from Chagall to collage artwork, the book won Briggs the first of his Greenaway Medals in 1966 – he went on to win another, in 1973, for Father Christmas.
Special notice
Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.
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