The Baby's Own Aesop
author
Walter Crane
(Liverpool, 1845 - 1915, Horsham, England)
publisher
George Routledge and Sons
(British, 1864 - 1912)
Date1887
MediumInk on paper
ClassificationsBooks
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberv.4.3.34
eMuseum ID722841
Previous Numberv.7.2
EmbARK ObjectID26184
TMS Source ID10080
Last Updated8/9/24
Description1 vol., 56 p., illus., 12°Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIsabella Stewart Gardner was a voracious reader, and books were the first objects that she collected. Of the 2700 books she acquired for her museum, about 120 can be considered children's books.
Although not composed for children, Aesop fables have always been popular with them. This light-hearted treatment of the stories with large colorful illustrations and a short text reflects Walter Crane’s belief in the power of the picture book: “Every child, one might say every human being, takes in more though his eyes than his ears, and I think much more advantage might be taken of this fact.”
Although not composed for children, Aesop fables have always been popular with them. This light-hearted treatment of the stories with large colorful illustrations and a short text reflects Walter Crane’s belief in the power of the picture book: “Every child, one might say every human being, takes in more though his eyes than his ears, and I think much more advantage might be taken of this fact.”
BibliographyNotesSusan Sinclair and Philip B. Eppard. Catalogue of Children’s Books from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection and the Personal Libraries of John Lowell and Isabella Stewart Gardner (Boston, 1988), p. 13, no. 5.
ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection at an unknown date.
