TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.
—In the original book, captions regarding color plates are placedon the page before illustrations; captions have been relocated after pictures.
KATE GREENAWAY
OFF TO THE VILLAGE.
From a large water-colour drawing in the possession of Her Grace the Duchess of Bedford.
KATE
GREENAWAY
BY
M. H. SPIELMANN
AND
G. S. LAYARD
FROM LADY VICTORIA HERBERT’S BOOK-PLATE
LONDON
ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK
1905
THIS BOOK
A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF
KATE GREENAWAY
IS DEDICATED
TO
JOHN GREENAWAY
HER ONLY BROTHER AND LIFE-LONG COMPANION
Preface
Apart from her work, full record of which is made in thefollowing pages, there was in the life of Kate Greenaway oneoutstanding feature—her friendship with John Ruskin. To this,without the permission of the great critic’s legal representatives,no sort of justice could have been done. It is therefore ourfirst duty and pleasure to put on record our great indebtednessto Mrs. Arthur Severn, Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, K.C., andMr. George Allen, for their liberality in allowing us to makecopious extracts from Ruskin’s side of the vigorous correspondencewhich was carried on between him and Kate Greenaway forso many years; this generous permission is only accompanied bythe proviso that, in accordance with the undertaking announcedby the editors and publisher of the Library Edition of Ruskin’scomplete work, all of his published letters shall ultimately beincluded in that noble issue. These letters have here beenprinted with the strictest adherence to Ruskin’s peculiar methodof punctuation—long and short dashes in place of commas,semicolons, and the like. From Kate Greenaway’s side of thecorrespondence abundant drafts have also been made, for theyreveal the writer’s character and method of thought better thanany independent estimate could do. That no violence has beendone to her native modesty is proved by the following letter[x]kindly communicated to us by Mrs. Severn. It was written atthe time when the preparation of the ultimate Life of Ruskin wasunder discussio