[Gutenberg 20777] • R. Caldecott's First Collection of Pictures and Songs

Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) was a British artist, born in Chester. He was the eponym of the Caldecott Medal and transformed the world of children's books in the Victorian era. He exercised his art chiefly in book illustrations, which were full of life, and instinct with a kindly, graceful humour. The stories and rhymes were all of his choosing and in some cases were written or added to by himself. Caldecott's output, however, ranged wider than this: he illustrated novels and accounts of foreign travel; he made humourous drawings depicting hunting and fashionable life; he drew cartoons and he made sketches of the famous Parliament inside and out; he also exhibited sculptures and paintings in oil and watercolour in the Royal Academy and galleries.