ious old lady who "thought all fairy tales were abolished
years ago by Peter Parley and the _Penny Magazine_." These fanciful
stories deserve to be republished, for they are not old-fashioned, even
if their pictures are.

To what date certain delightfully printed little volumes, issued by
Tabart and Co., 157 Bond Street, may be ascribed I know not--probably
some years before the time we are considering, but they must not be
overlooked. The title of one, "Mince Pies for Christmas," suggests that
it is not very far before, for the legend of Christmas festivities had
not long been revived for popular use.

"The Little Lychetts," by the author of "John Halifax," illustrated by
Henry Warren, President of the New Society of Painters in Water-Colours
(now the R.I.) is remarkable for the extremely uncomely type of children
it depicts; yet that its charm is still vivid, despite its "severe"
illustrations, you have but to lend it to a child to be convinced
quickly.

"Jack's Holiday," by Albert Smith (undated), suggests a new field of
research which might lead us astray, as Smith's humour is more often
addressed primarily to adults. Indeed, the effort to make this chronicle
even representative, much less exhaustive, breaks down in the fifties,
when so much good yet not very exhilarating material is to be found in
every publisher's list. John Leech in "The Silver Swan" of Mdme. de
Chatelaine; Charles Keene in "The Adventures of Dick Bolero" (Darton, no
date), and "Robinson Crusoe" (drawn upon for illustration here), and
others of the _Punch_ artists, should find their works duly catalogued
even in this hasty sketch; but space compels scant justice to many
artists of the period, yet if the most popular are left unnoticed such
omission will more easily right itself to any reader interested in the
subject.

Many show influences of the Gothic revival which was then in the air,
but only those which have some idea of book decoration as opposed to
inserted pictures. For a certain "formal" ornamentation of the page was
in fashion in the "forties" and "fifties," even as it is to-day.

[Illustration: ILLUSTRATION FROM "CAPE TOWN DICKY" BY ALICE HAVERS (C.
W. FAULKNER AND CO.)]

To the artists named as representative of this period one must not
forget to add Mr. Birket Foster, who devoted many of his felicitous
studies of English pastoral life to the adornment of children's books.
But speaking broadly of the period from the Queen's Acc