Warwick Goble, I: "Chaucer" and "Pentamerone"

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Warwick Goble (22 November 1862 -- 22 January 1943) was an illustrator of children's books. He specialized in Japanese and Indian themes. Goble was born in Dalston, north London, the son of a commercial traveller, and educated and trained at the City of London School and the Westminster School of Art. He worked for a printer specializing in chromolithography and contributed to the Pall Mall Gazette and the Westminster Gazette. In the 1890s, he contributed half-tone illustrations to monthly magazines such as Strand Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, and The Boy's Own Paper. In 1893, he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy. In 1896, he began illustrating books. In 1898, he was the first to illustrate H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, having illustrated it for Pearson's Magazine in 1897. He briefly continued with scientific romance themes. In 1909, he became resident gift book illustrator for MacMillan and produced illustrations for The Water Babies, Green Willow, and Other Japanese Fairy Tales, The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Stories from the Pentamerone, Folk Tales of Bengal, The Fairy Book, and The Book of Fairy Poetry. During World War I, he was employed in the drawing office of Woolrich Arsenal, and volunteered for service with the Red Cross in France. He worked occasionally for New York MacMillan, and produced editions of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Goble gradually gave up illustration to pursue sculling, cycling, and travelling. He died in his Surrey home in 1943. --------------- Warwick Goble I: "Chaucer" and "Pentamerone": "The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer" (1912) The author of the work, Geoffrey Chaucer, was born in London about 1340, the son of a wine merchant associated with the Royal Court. For Chaucer, that connection with the Court continued throughout his life in one way or another. At one point, he was a squire to the King and through the 1370s, he was involved in seven embassies to the Continent. Two of those embassies were to Italy where Chaucer was exposed to Italianate literary influences. For an individual with no university education, Chaucer achieved fantastic literary success and upon his death, he was the first writer buried in the south transept of Westminster Abbey - a location that is now known as Poet's Corner. Goble's illustrations for "The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer" are full of life and colour. They are a marvellous complement to the 14th Century poetry. Contemporary reviews of Goble's work were favourable and include that in "New Outlook" (Vol. 102: 1912): ... "The Modern Reader's Chaucer" is a noble book in form, with a series of thirty-two illustrations in colour from the paintings of Warwick Goble, which are satisfying to the eye and are an aid to the imagination. ::::::::::::: "Stories from the Pentamerone" (1911) is based on a collection of tales written by Giambattista Basile - a late-Renaissance Italian poet and courtier. As adapted by Strange from Basile's work, this version of Stories from the Pentamerone conforms with the fairytale setting of the original - within which further fairytales are explored - but, in this form, only 32 of the original tales are told, those including: 'How the Tales came to be told'; 'The Myrtle'; 'Peruonto'; 'Vardiello'; 'The Flea'; 'Cenerentola'; 'The Merchant'; 'Goat-Face'; 'The Enchanted Doe'; 'Parsley'; 'The Three Sisters'; 'Violet'; 'Pippo'; 'The Serpent'; 'The She-Bear'; 'The Dove'; 'Cannetella'; 'Corvetto'; 'The Booby'; 'The Stone in the Cock's Head'; 'The Three Enchanted Princes'; 'The Dragon'; 'The Two Cakes'; 'The Seven Doves'; 'The Raven'; 'The Months'; 'Pintosmalto'; 'The Golden Root'; 'The Sun, Moon, and Talia'; 'Nennillo and Nennella'; 'The Three Citrons'; and 'Conclusion'. Contemporary reviews of Goble's artwork were favourable - including that published in "The Academy" (Vol. 81: 1911) thus: This is an exceptionally beautiful Christmas book. It is good outside and inside, most attractively bound, beautifully illustrated in colour, the designs being chaste as well as whimsical ...together a charming production as a gift-book to children who are old enough to appreciate graceful writing and beautifully executed illustrations. The volume is compiled with all the art to point a moral or adorn a tail. Music: Loreena McKennit "La Serenissima"