Making A Mark

Doing a bookmark as a self imposed assignment helped
me practice some basics while learning to do my drawing, 
painting, and designing work on the computer. 

Do East

(click on images to enlarge)

More snow, more scenes. This time east of Broad St.

Beginning my career years, book and magazine 

publishers surrounded Washington Square.

The Curtis building, north side of the Square.

The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal

and Jack & Jill used to live here. Converted to

offices. Always reminds me of the north side of

London's Grosvenor Sq.

The old J. B. Lippincott building.
Converted to loft style condos. 
How appropriate and fun for a book Illustrator and Author to live in the 
former publishing house. 
Had my name on it perhaps, but not 
my "number" $$$$.

Next door, former Mayor Richardson Dillworth's
colonial style home. Built in the 1950's and the 
object of dispute whether to save or demolish.
To the left, The Atheneum, a special collections
library focusing on history. For more info:
http://www.philaathenaeum.org/about.html

Goings on over head.

Look carefully, be rewarded.

Find some one enjoying a snack 

over head.

CATalog Samples, part I

(you can click on images to enlarge)

Hardly any of my books are cat-less. It all started

when Jane Flory asked me to illustrate her rollicking 

cat tale, We'll Have A Friend For Lunch.

My first picture book. Not too sure what I was doing, 

made a full color dummy and sent it to Jane's publisher, 

Houghton Mifflin Co. in Boston. A very patient and 

humorous Walter Lorraine taught me color separation 

over the telephone and that my 38 page dummy needed 

to become 32 pages.

As author as well as illustrator, in Too Many Babas,
my first I Can Read book for Harper, I gave Baba 
Edis a cat. While the Babas are making soup, the 
cat is otherwise occupied in the pictures only.

Lee Bennett Hopkins supplied the how, what, where, 
when and who poems in QUESTIONS, another Harper 
I Can Read book. Lots of places for cats. This one 
accompanying the poem What Do I Make? by Ilo Orleans.

My, oh, my, watching Grandma make SWEET POTATO 
PIE, from Anne Rockwell's delectable singsong early Step 
Into Reading book for Random House.

Caterina and Pavel wishing for a child of their own, 

see that even the Cat has kittens from THE LITTLE 

SNOWGIRL, my retelling of an old Russian tale for 

Tomie De Paola's Whitebird imprint at Putnam.

The Farmer and his cat hear something spooky. 

From Tony Johnston's very clever/funny/not so 

scary Halloween ghost story for early readers, 

BOO, A Story That Could Be True at Scholastic.

Sometimes a little cat just wants to be there.

From FINGERPLAYS AND SONGS FOR 

THE VERY YOUNG, (which my brother Ted 

calls, "The Patty Cake Book") illustrating

Ride A Horse To Boston, another for Random

House.

Bob Barton's retelling of Paul Gallico's sweet 

story about a boy and his Donkey, THE SMALL 

MIRACLE, Henry Holt. No cats in the story. 

But that never stopped me. That's why there's 

a cat, who looks a lot like Tizzy, watching 

from the window.

 

There are lots of farm animals in THE THREE 

BROTHERS, my retelling of a German folk tale,

Whitebird/Putnam again. Here is the cat witnessing 

the magic of the ending along with the Father 

and his sons.

Lastly (for part 1) is this cat looking out the window to

see WHAT WILL THE WEATHER BE, by Linda DeWitt, 

a Let's Read & Find Out book from HarperCollins.

Don't know about you, but after all this,

I need a CAT nap.  =^..^=

Wild About Charlie

Charlie Williams and his wife Lydia are public library 

Librarians from North Carolina, now retired. 

When Charlie discovered my picture book, REDOUTÈ, 

The Man Who Painted Flowers, at an exhibition of work 

by another botanical artist, Mark Catesby, he wrote to 

me suggesting Catesby as subject for a future book. 

He also mentioned his interest in Andre Michaux, one 

of Redoutè's outstanding Botanist collaborators. 

Andre Michaux

We finally met when Charlie's Michaux research 
brought him to Philadelphia and the American 
Philosophical Society. I shared a paper mentioning 
Michaux, that I had acquired from its scholar 
author during my Redoutè search. Turned out, it
contained information Charlie needed.


When Charlie returned to Phila. with his wife, 
Lydia, we enjoyed a visit to Bartram's Gardens,
18th century home of the fascinating John and 
William Bartram, America's first Botanists. 

Charlie Williams as himself

Back home in North Carolina in conjunction 
with Stowe Botanical Garden, Charlie began 
talking to school children about Michaux and 
his work in America, particularly North Carolina. 
To further children's interest he began dressing 
in 18th century costume. As he refined the costume 
to look more like an 18th century Botanist 
working out in nature, Charlie soon "morphed"
into Andre Michaux telling his own story.

Yesterday's holiday card written by Lydia, contained 
the news that Charlie Williams is the 2009 recipient 
of the Elizabeth Ann Bartholomew Award of The 
Southern Appalachian Botanical Society for distinguished 
professional and public service in advancing knowledge 
and appreciation of the world of plants. The first non 
professional Botanist to win this award. , Lydia writes 
that, typically, Charlie was flabbergasted.

Lydia also sent this photo of Michaux's Lily which 
unexpectedly bloomed on their mountain property.  
They don't know if it bloomed because conditions
were just right or Michaux's spirit was hovering over them.
No doubt in my mind.




(Read Charlie's biography of Andre Michaux)
http://www.michaux.org/michaux.htm
Stowe Botanical Garden
http://www.dsbg.org/ 
American Philosphical Society
http://www.amphilsoc.org/
Bartram Gardens
http://www.bartramsgarden.org/?page_id=657/

Library Notes

On this day 278 years ago (July 1,1731)

Benjamin Franklin began the first circulating

library, The Library Company of Philadelphia.

In those days books were more expensive than

most people could afford. So Franklin invited

50 intellectual friends to share the expense by

pooling their funds. Each contributed 4o shillings

to help buy books and 10 more in yearly dues.

Donated books were also gratefully accepted.

In exchange, members could borrow what they

wanted to read. From the Revolution to 1800

while Philadelphia was the capital of the US

it served as the Library of Congress. Until 1850

it was the largest library in the country.

Today, The Library Company of Philadelphia

continues as an historical research library

(right down the street from here) of the

17th -19th centuries. The original books in

Ben Franklin's library are still in the collection.

http://www.librarycompany.org/

The first library on wheels was begun

in 1905 by Mary L. Titcomb, head of the

Hagerstown, MD Public Library.

Like Franklin, Mary Titcomb wanted to make

books available to people who could not

afford them. Mostly rural families who

lived far from towns with libraries.

At first she placed circulating books in general

stores and churches.

Then she designed a horse drawn wagon that could

carry hundreds of books around the countryside.

I am posting several of my illustrations from

Nancy Smiler Levinson's, Clara & The Bookwagon.

A fictional account of the very real Ms. Titicomb

and her brilliant idea.

Note:

My "model" for Ms. Titicom's wagon, was an actual

delivery wagon that the old and now sadly closed,

Strawbridge & Clothier department store used to

have on display in the food hall on the first floor.