December 5th – It’s snow joke

Here’s a wee verse from a book of children’s rhymes by Hamish Hendry, from 1897, with illustrations by Alice. B. Woodward.

“We made a man all by ourselves;

we made him jolly fat;

We stuck a pipe into his face

and on his head a hat.” (1)

“We left him grinning on the lawn

That we to bed might go;

but in the night he ran away,

– leaving a heap of snow!” (3)

As well as being a prolific illustrator of children’s books, Alice was skilled in scientific technical illustration including for numerous works relating to palaeontology. Sadly, we do not hold any of Alice’s technical drawings in our collection, though this little seahorse gives a glimpse at her skill in depicting the natural world.

This provides a somewhat fitting link to our second illustrator for this ditty, schoolboy Walter Hubbard, from whose imagination came what appears to be two figures swept down a hillside by an over-sized snowball.

Reference:

Hamish Hendry ; illustrated by Alice B. Woodward, “Red apple and silver bells : a book of verse for children of all ages” (1897, s PN6110.C4H4)

Dinosaurs in the Drawing Room: the forgotten palaeoartists Alice and Gertrude Woodward – Palaeomedia