Books & their illustrators

Initially books like "Aesop's Fables", "The Pilgrim's Progress" & "Gulliver's Travels" were illustrated to attract children's attention. When Children's literature started appearing,  illustrations enhanced their appeal.

However, some illustrators were identified so closely with certain authors & books that they became inseparable in the readers' mind. The classic example is Gustav Dore's 190 woodcuts for Cervantes' "Don Quixote." So also were Sir John Tenniel's work for Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" & "Through the Looking Glass." Later they were also coloured. (Few are aware that even the surrealist Salvador Dali illustrated this book!)

Though George Cruikshank illustrated first  Charles Dickens' books, he also illustrated the first English edition of "Grimm's Fairy Tales." But the later Arthur Rackham made them his own by 62 b/w & 40 colour illustrations. Of course many children's books were illustrated by noted artists. 

Beatrix Potter & Jill Barklem being gifted artists, illustrated their own books about Peter Rabbit & Brambley Hedge, as did Ludwig Bemelmans, who created Madeline. A.A.Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" was  unforgettably "decorated" by E.H.Shepard.

Incidentally his daughter, Mary Shepard,  illustrated the "Mary Poppins" books authored by the fastidious P. L. Travers. All of Roald Dahl's children's books were illustrated by the quirky Quentin Blake.

Inga Moore's "wall to wall" illustrations for Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" & Frances Hodgson Burnett's "The Secret Garden" brought book illustration nearer to great art.