(Fine Art & Original Illustration) Greenaway, Kate. Two Original Graphite, Ink, and Watercolor Drawings for "Under the Window." London: George Routledge & Sons, [1878]. Two original production drawings, each executed in graphite, ink, and watercolor on paper. Sheets oriented vertically, measuring approximately 9" x 7-1/2" (7-5/8" x 5-1/2" sight), individually housed in archival mounts matted to 14" x 11". Both drawings are distinctly signed with the artist's initials "K.G." within the lower-left quadrant of the image. Offered as a complete collection alongside a pristine copy of the corresponding monograph: Greenaway, Kate. Under the Window. Pictures and Rhymes for Children. London: George Routledge & Sons, [1878]. First Edition, First Issue [Schuster & Engen 201: 1a]. 4to, original color pictorial boards, preserved in exceptional condition.
The physical condition of the first drawing is graded (9/10) - EXCELLENT (utilizing a standardized 10-point scale for photographic prints and original works of art, indicating mild condition issues that are barely perceptible to the naked eye). The drawing features five small children walking down a village road, exhibiting two short closed tears to the bottom margin and a chip to the bottom left corner, all confined to the margins and under the mat. The physical condition of the second drawing is similarly graded (9/10) - EXCELLENT. The drawing features a young girl walking across the tiled rooftops of an unnamed town, presenting a clean sheet in fine condition. The condition of the accompanying volume, Under the Window, is graded separately using the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper, presenting in FINE condition; the pictorial boards remain structurally square with sharp corners, and the internal wood-engraved color blocks remain vibrant and completely free from routine thumbing or foxing.
Material Aesthetics and Chromographic Production Mechanics
These original drawings represent a foundational milestone in late-Victorian juvenile illustration, serving as the direct primary source material for Kate Greenaway’s (1846–1901) breakthrough publication, Under the Window. This work was the first volume both authored and illustrated by Greenaway, effectively defining the aesthetic landscape of late nineteenth-century children's literature.
The first drawing illustrates the verse on page 31 of the first edition, beginning: "You are going out to tea to-day, So mind how you behave..." depicting five children processing down a stylized English village lane. The second drawing corresponds to page 38, illustrating the poem: "What is the way to Somewhere Town? Oh, up in the morning early; Over the tiles and the chimney-pots..." capturing a young girl traversing a continuous sequence of tiled roofs.
Technically, these drawings demonstrate Greenaway's meticulous layered methodology, utilizing light graphite under-drawing to establish proportion, precise ink outlines to define form, and delicate watercolor washes to establish her characteristic soft, pastel palette. The preservation of these specific pieces provides critical mechanical insight into Edmund Evans’ pioneering color wood-engraving process (chromoxylography). Evans engraved his key-blocks directly from Greenaway's original ink lines and mixed his oil-based inks to mimic her transparent watercolor washes, making the survival of the original artwork alongside a first-issue impression an invaluable point of comparison for the study of Victorian print block serialization.
Provenance, Bibliographic Priority, and Scarcity
The presence of the first edition, first issue copy of Under the Window establishes absolute bibliographic context for the artwork. Identified by the definitive points outlined in the Schuster & Engen bibliography [201: 1a] (including the specific layout of the Routledge imprint and the presentation of the wood-engravings), the accompanying volume represents the exact printing state produced concurrently with the execution of these drawings.
Original production artwork of this caliber by Greenaway is exceedingly scarce on the open market, as the vast majority of her primary manuscript drawings were dispersed into permanent institutional holdings or retained by the Evans and Routledge families during the late nineteenth century. The survival of two complete, large-scale finished drawings directly tied to the primary verses of her masterwork constitutes a paramount archive for advanced research into the Golden Age of British illustration.
A MAGNIFICENT, MUSEUM-GRADE OFFERING OF TWO SIGNED ORIGINAL 1878 PRODUCTION DRAWINGS BY KATE GREENAWAY, ACCOMPANIED BY A FLAWLESS FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE COPY OF "UNDER THE WINDOW," CONSTITUTING A PARAMOUNT ARTIFACT FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH INTO VICTORIAN CHROMOXYLOGRAPHY, NOVELTY JUVENILIA, AND THE GRAPHIC LEGACY OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH ILLUSTRATION, REPRESENTING A PARAMOUNT ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL RESEARCH ARCHIVES OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE GOLDEN AGE OF BRITISH BOOK ILLUSTRATION.
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