Warwick Goble – Illustrations for Japanese Fairy Tales 1909

Warwick Goble (1862 – 1943) was an illustrator of children’s books. He specialized in Japanese and Indian themes.

In 1909, he became resident gift book illustrator for MacMillan and produced illustrations for The Water Babies, Green Willow, and Other Japanese Fairy Tales, The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Stories from the Pentamerone, Folk Tales of Bengal, The Fairy Book, and The Book of Fairy Poetry.

During World War I, he was employed in the drawing office of Woolrich Arsenal, and volunteered for service with the Red Cross in France. He worked occasionally for New York MacMillan, and produced editions of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Goble gradually gave up illustration to pursue sculling, cycling, and travelling. He died in his Surrey home in 1943.

The Japanese Fairy Tales was edited by Grace Edith Marion James , was an English writer, born in Tokyo. She was both an author of children’s literature and a Japanese folklorist. Her Japanese Fairy Tales (1910) collected and retold stories from the Japanese folk tradition.

Presented here is one of  Warwick Goble’s most elaborate and loved work, Japanese Fairy Tales, published in 1909 by MacMillan, London. In my opinion, this book is his best work where he maintained an overall consistency and originality that he lacked in his later works. One of the great Golden Age illustrator.

For a list of illustrations by Warwick Goble available on our site. Please visit our Warwick Goble Illustrated Books Art Gallery.

Art Gallery: Warwick Goble – Japanese Fairy Tales 1909