A Little Golden find

Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Child's Garden of Verses' is a favourite of mine and I have a small collection of them. I'm always looking out for more so was delighted to find this Little Golden Book in a thrift shop a couple of weeks ago. The book was printed in 1972 and has beautiful illustrations by Eloise Wilkin.

I love all R.L.S. poems but the one entitled 'Rain' seems particularly suitable for the summer we've had here in north-west England

I thought I'd show you illustrations by four different artists from four of my books. They all depict the 'Rain' poem.

The rain is raining all around

Eloise Wilkin chose to illustrate the first line with a little girl and her dog watching the rain falling on the street outside the window (poor dolly doesn't look too happy does she!)

Below is the same poem illustrated by Tasha Tudor who chose the second line

It falls on field and tree,

Hilda Boswell chose the third the line

It rains on the umbrellas here,

And finally, Brian Wildsmith worked his colourful magic on the fourth line

And on the ships at sea.

 

Returning to Little Golden Books . . . . . they are loved around the world and it's easy to see why. There are hundreds of titles to choose from and the books are the perfect size for even the smallest hands.

Merrily Ann has been a most welcome arrival in the playroom as she loves amusing the younger dollies and reading them stories. Jack and Jill are too young to read but it seems something has caught their attention in the bottom corner.

Meanwhile, Belinda Jane has been busy with other matters. I found her with a Jane Austen novel, a basket of knitting wool and some strawberries. What can she be up to? 

It turns out she's seen a very tempting blog post with a fantastic givaway. The items that you see in the picture with Belinda are not the giveaway but there is a connection. So do pop over to Millefeuilles and take a look.

Flower filled days

Don't you just love these colours!

This illustration is by Brian Wildsmith and it accompanies the poem 'The Flowers' in his fabulous version of 'A Child's Garden of Verses' published in 1966. Brian Wildsmith is now in his 80s and has illustrated many books over the years.

Hilda Boswell's lovely books include 'A Child's Garden of Verses' which like Brian Wildsmith's also dates from the 1960s. Her style is typical of that era whilst his illustrations seem way ahead of their time.

Hilda Boswell (1903 - 1976)

Children in the Victorian and Edwardian era would have been treated to Charles Robinson's version of the book which contained over 100 wonderfully detailed black and white illustrations in the Art Nouveau style. It was first published in 1895

Charles Robinson (1870 - 1937)

In 1946 Alice Watson illustrated the book. One of her delicate line drawings accompanies every poem. This is her version of 'The Flowers'

A.H. Watson (Alice Watson 1896 - 1984)

I have a copy of Gyo Fujikawa's 'Child's Garden of Verses' which she illustrated in the 1950s. Sadly the poem in question hasn't been included but as I'm a great fan of this lady's work I decided to include her flower filled cover picture.

Gyo Fujikawa (1908 - 1998)

Last but not least is Tasha Tudor's wonderful interpretation. She first illustrated 'A Child's Garden of Verses' in 1947 but my book is a newer version dating from the early 1980s. I love it.

Tasha Tudor (1915 - 2008)

Robert Louis Stevenson's poems have always been a favourite of mine and I'm afraid I can never resist buying yet another vintage version of his book when I find one.

I've enjoyed several 'garden days' this week as the weather has been amazingly kind. Here are four views of my 'patch' captured yesterday.

Below is a small part of the 'cutting garden' that I planted last year.

I'm really pleased with the way it has matured. Every available space is filled with colour.

Having a cutting garden is a great way to have cut flowers for the house without spoiling the main flower beds. I wish I'd thought of it years ago.

Thanks for dropping in.

Until next time

Eli

Time for tea

Like many other bloggers I adore vintage china. Show me a pretty cup and saucer and I'll immediately imagine it decorating the tea table or displayed amongst other well loved pieces on the shelves of my dresser.

As I've always loved mixing and matching my china, and am quite happy to use eclectic sets, its tempting to buy 'must have' pieces when I find them.

But with so many of us searching for teatime pretties it isn't always possible to be first in the queue.

So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a wonderful website selling vintage teaware. I was immediately smitten and regularly pop in to see what's new. I'm sure many of you will have already discovered the site but if you haven't then do pop in and take a look. You can either search by maker's name or simply do as I do and click on the 'New Products' button in order to look at everything currently being offered.
To feast your eyes on some wonderful goodies go to Everything Stops for Tea.

Making time for clocks

Every so often our longcase (grandfather) clock becomes temperamental. It doesn't matter how much you coax the old thing it simply refuses to tick for longer than a few hours. It has been in one of its moods this week and so on Wednesday I threatened it with the auction sale room and left it to sulk. I later gave it one last chance to behave and would you believe it, the wise old thing has been ticking ever since.

From being a child I've loved old clocks and have gathered a few around me over the years. The longcase is the oldest. It dates from 1810 so would have been around in Jane Austen's time. I like to imagine the man of the house winding it every week and often wonder if he also had to tolerate its temperamental nature.

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This fellow resides in our computer room and dates from the 1860s. For much of its life it hung high up on a classroom wall. Over the years a great many teachers and children must have listened to the slow tick tock and watched the old hands gradually moving closer towards the sounding of the hometime bell.

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And here is my granny's clock. My dad remembers it ticking the hours away in the farm house parlour when he was a boy. Granny had left the farm by the time I came along and I remember this old timepiece hanging over her dresser. So many memories, I was delighted to inherit it.

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This large mantel clock belonged to my husband's grandad and it lives in our garden room. It has a lovely quiet tick but a very loud chime which can really startle you at times.

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Made in Germany's Black Forest region we bought this cuckoo clock soon after we were married. When young our children were fascinated by it and used to sit nervously waiting for the cuckoo to pop out of the door and 'do his thing'.

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To add to my timepiece collection I have a small number of old fob watches in various states of repair

The small one below would have been worn by an Edwardian lady.

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Finally we come to our sitting room mantel clock. Antique in style but only dating back a few short years. I wonder if it will still be ticking in someone's home a hundred years from now?

Hoping you can make time to do lots of fun things this weekend.

Aqua glass

Vintage aqua glass has always been a passion of mine and I was lucky enough to find a hoard of bottles when a new water pipe was laid in our road several years ago. Presumably they had been left there by workmen when the first pipe was fitted many years before.

 

The smallest bottles make perfect vases for tiny spays of flowers. This glass was unfashionable for a long while but made a comeback in the 1970s and of course I couldn't resist buying some for the table. Using it always makes me think of long summer afternoons in the garden.

A busy old week

Well folks, it's been a busy old week with one thing and another. Just doing this and that and not really achieving anything in particular.

Sunday was a frustrating knitting day. I seemed to spend more time pulling back than actually knitting.

Monday I braved torrential rain and went shopping

Tuesday turned cold and before going to bed I filled my trusty hot-water bottle.

Wednesday I received the wonderful news that my oldest school friend had become a grandma for the first time.

Thursday night was cold again and this time I filled the trusty bottle and put an extra blanket on the bed....very snug!

Friday was a 'shopping for the weekend' day and as usual hubby and I got seriously frustrated by the huge number of pedestrians who step off in front of the car and wander aimlessly across the road.

Saturday. Out with the camera and take a few pics for the blog.

In case you hadn't guessed I'm a bit of a Mabel Lucie Attwell fan. Her innocent world of chubby children and fairies is one that has always appealed to me!

A very lucky fairy band
Got a lift to fairyland

If I had a fairy
How jolly it would be.
I'd bathe him in a tea cup
And take him walks with me.

I don't have many Lucie Attwell books but love my 1944 annual and there are 51 more to collect!
Before I go I must thank Julie at Yummy Miniature Foods who kindly gave me an award. Do call in and look at the tiny doll sized morsels this talented lady makes, they are amazing. It is something I have always wanted to do so I'm very envious of her skills.

The tale of Bunnykins china

In Wednesday's post I showed you 3 balls of yarn and a Bunnikins mug and asked if you could guess what I was planning. Sadly I have to disappoint those of you who thought I might be pregnant or expecting a new grandchild, neither is correct I'm afraid. The answer is a lot less exciting... another knitting pattern! Whenever I see Royal Doulton's Bunnykins china I'm immediately transported back to the days of my early childhood. The top two dishes belonged to my brothers but the bowl and plate at the bottom were both mine. As a tot I ate my porridge every day from the bowl and golden syrup sandwiches from the plate. For me it is a perfect example of what nursery china should look like, simple, sturdy, colourful and fun. I'm not a lover of the action scenes depicting modern animations that decorate some of today's nursery ware. Little people don't need excitement when they are eating. Bunnykins fun comes from the anticipation of finding those beautifully detailed scenes beneath the food when you have been 'very good' and cleaned your plate. And what little conversation pieces they are.

During all these years of admiration for Bunnykins china I have never once considered its history, until now that is, and the story behind its existence makes quite a touching little tale. In the early 1930s Mr Cuthbert Bailey was the general manager of Royal Doulton's Burslem pottery in Stoke-on-Trent. His young daughter Barbara had become a nun many miles away in Sussex and he missed her very much. His visits were infrequent and strictly controlled by the convent and he saw very little of her. During one of his visits however he asked her a favour. Barbara had always shown a talent for drawing and so he asked her to try and design something that might be suitable for a new line in the nursery china that Royal Doulton was planning. As she had a great love for both children and animals she had no hesitation in creating families of little rabbits enjoying the everyday life she had known as a child. Families cooking, picnicking, fishing, dancing and even a father rabbit bespectacled and pipe-smoking based on her own father. Although the Reverend Mother of the convent was unimpressed, the Bunnykins range was introduced by Royal Doulton in 1934 and was an instant success. Reverend Mother continued to be discouraging about the Doulton venture and demanded that Sister Barbara work at it in secret. And so she drew and painted each little scene very late at night, by candlelight, alone in her cell.

 

Working quietly and alone Sister Barbara provided all the Bunnykins designs until the Second World War (66 in total). Since then designs have been produced by a succession of other artists faithful to her original style. Bunnykins china is still being made to this day; the only Royal Doulton range to have endured so long. Sister Mary Barbara Bailey died at the convent in 2003 at the age of 92. Her obituary, printed at the time in The Independent newspaper, can be seen here.

Above is a page from 'The History of Children's China - Part II'. Bunnykins ware is featured on page 141 along with an advertisement for the range dating from 1953.

 

If you collect, or are interested in children's vintage china then both the above books are an excellent source of information and photographs (mainly black and white).
On the right - Gifts for Good Children, the History of Children's China 1790 -1890 by Noel Riley and on the left The History of Children's China, Part II 1890 - 1990 by Maureen Batkin.
Run rabbit, runI love the little rabbits that run endlessly round the rim of Bunnikins china so have produced my own knitted version (below). I have embroidered little pink daisies between the bunnies in the top row. Small blades of green grass in straight stitch would also be effective.

Making little white fluffy tails and stitching one onto each rabbit is a bit fiddly but the finished effect is worth the effort don't you think?

This chart can be used for knitting or cross stitch embroidery.
If you are planning a gift for a tiny tot you might consider giving a piece of Bunnikins china together with a little knitted hat, jacket or blanket decorated with a row of running rabbits.

Little Bo-peep will travel to.....
I want to thank everyone who entered my little competition last week. I was very touched by so many nice comments and really do wish you could all be winners. Bo-Peep and her rascally sheep have been growing more and more excited in anticipation of travelling to a new home.

It is now time to reveal the name of the winner. The weight of Bo-peep and her sheep together with the piece of Lakeland stone is 226 g (8 oz).
Here are the entries which can be seen in the comment section of my 15th October post.
Martha 217 g, Andrea 204 g, Paula 270 g, Maria 227 g, Sabine 194 g, Mumintroll 290 g, Suzanne 218 g, Robyn 180 g.
Well done Maria, your guess was only 1 g more than the correct answer. Little Bo-peep is ready and waiting to travel to Spain. How exciting!