Materials received from Harold Jones between 1966 and 1980.
Non-circulating; available for research.
This collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.
Harold Jones, born February 22, 1904 in London, England, was an illustrator of children's books for more than half a century. His first illustration classes began in 1920 at Goldsmith's College, where he was fortunate to have Edmund Sullivan, a former teacher of Arthur Rackham, as an instructor. Jones continued his education at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in 1922 and 1923, and in 1924 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. At the Royal College, from which he took his diploma in 1929, Jones studied etching, line engraving, wood engraving, and lithography. These techniques influenced his later pen illustrations for books.
Beginning in 1930, Jones taught at a boys' school in London for four years. In 1933 he married Mollie Merry, and the following year quit his teaching job because it provided no outlet for his creative instincts. He became a free- lance illustrator, and in 1937 collaborated with Walter de la Mare to produce This Year, Next Year, a book of poems and pictures about the seasons of the year. It was also in 1937 that Jones began to teach art classes in Oxford and London. At the outbreak of World War II in 1939 he joined the Royal Engineers as a lithographic draftsman, compiling and drawing maps for the invasion of Europe. In 1940 he ceased teaching art and was forced to suspend his career as an illustrator until the war ended. In 1945 he resumed teaching, working at the Sunnydale School of Ballet until 1946 and at the Chelsea School of Art until 1958.
Jones liked telling bedtime stories to his two young daughters, Stephanie Angela and Gabrielle Pamela, and he thought that he would enjoy creating a book for each of them as well. So it was that his first self-written book, The Visit to the Farm (1939), which was dedicated to Stephanie Angela, came about. Jones' second book, The Enchanted Night (1947), was written and illustrated for Gabrielle Pamela. Jones is perhaps best known for Lavender's Blue (1954), a collection of nursery rhymes for which he provided illustrations and the book design. This book was a runner-up for the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal, and it won a Carnegie special commendation from the United Kingdom's Library Association. Lavender's Blue was also listed as an American Library Association Notable Book and it received a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1960. The book was compiled by Kathleen Lines (1902-1988), a British librarian and critic who provided the text for a number of Jones' books.
Other books written by Jones were The Childhood of Jesus (1964) and There and Back Again (1977). He illustrated and designed more than fifteen children's books, as well as books for adults and dust jackets. Among the books he illustrated were such classics as Songs from Shakespeare (1961), The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1962), The Water Babies (1961), and The Fairy Stories of Oscar Wilde (1976). His works are included in the collections of the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Lillian H. Smith Collection of the Toronto Public Library.
Mr. Jones was a long-time resident of Putney, a suburb of London, England. He died in 1992.
The collection contains selected items of Jones' correspondence with Lena Young de Grummond and materials related to fourteen books illustrated by him, three of which he wrote himself. There are also twenty-five unidentified sketches and a color sample. The correspondence is arranged chronologically, whereas book materials have been arranged in the probable order in which they were created. Jones' earlier books are difficult, if not impossible, to obtain in the United States, and so in some instances page numbers have been impossible to verify.
The correspondence with Lena de Grummond consists of photocopies of Jones' handwritten letters to her, as well as three original exhibition announcements which Jones used as greeting cards. Some of the letters contain information on his contributions to the Collection.
Book-related materials span nearly thirty years of Jones' career. The earliest title represented in the collection is This Year, Next Year (1937), for which there are six original illustrations, four illlustration proofs, one final proof page, and a dummy for the book cover. This dummy book cover bears the original title of the book, which was In and Out of Doors. It is interesting to note that Walter de la Mare's poems for the book were written based upon Jones' illustrations, rather than vice-versa.
Two of the books represented in this collection were written by Jones for his daughters. The earliest of these, and the first book authored by Jones himself, was The Visit to the Farm (1939). For this title there are original illustrations, color separation proofs, illustration proofs, a dummy, and a printed book cover. The dummy is of special interest in that its text is in Jones' own handwriting, and the title it bears is its original: "Stephanie Angela's Visit to the Farm." For The Enchanted Night (1947), created by Jones for his other daughter, the collection holds three pages of Jones' holograph design specifications and a dummy. This dummy contains original illustrations as well as illustration proofs, which were glued onto the original art. The original illustrations may be seen by carefully lifting the loose edge of the proofs. For the final title written by Jones that is represented in this collection, The Childhood of Jesus (1964), there are two sketches, several dummy pages, paste-ups, page proofs, and a dust jacket.
Jones illustrated several books with religious themes. For Once in Royal David's City: A Picture Book of the Nativity (1956) there are dummy pages, page proofs, printed endpapers, and the dust jacket for the British edition. For Bless This Day: A Book of Prayer for Children (1958) holdings include a partial dummy, paste-ups, and a dust jacket for the British edition. There are sketches, two unpublished watercolor illustrations, and a British edition dust jacket for Noah and the Ark (1961). As Jones indicates in his corre-spondence, the two watercolors were displayed at the Fourth International Exhibition of Illustrators in Bologna, Italy in 1970.
For Jack and the Beanstalk: A Book of Nursery Stories (1960) the collection holds proof sheets, a sketch, and a dummy. The American edition of this book was simply titled Nursery Stories. For Lavender's Blue (1954), Jones' best- known book, there are a number of proof sheets in various stages of production, an unpublished full-color alternate illustration for the dust jacket, and a dust jacket for the British edition.
In the course of his long career, Jones had the opportunity to illustrate several books by classic authors. For The Complete Greek Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne (1963), a collection of children's tales compiled from A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales, there are color separations for the dust jacket, a dust jacket for the British edition, and a dummy. For Browning's The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1962) there are sketches, proof sheets, and a dust jacket for the British edition. The sketches for this title, which mostly feature architectural subjects, may have been made in Germany when Jones went there to conduct research for the book. For Songs from Shakespeare (1961) there are illustration proofs, while Songs of Innocence (1958) is represented by numerous original illustrations, color separation proofs, a bound proof, and a dust jacket. Holdings for The Water Babies (1961) include sketches and a dust jacket for the British edition.
The collection also includes twenty-five of Jones' sketches, unidentified with any book title, as well as one color sample which may have been used for Noah and the Ark.
Box/Folder
A. Correspondence
1/1 To the de Grummond Collection, 1966, 1970-1971, 1975, 1980, undated,
12 items.
B. Books
BLESS THIS DAY: A BOOK OF PRAYER FOR CHILDREN compiled
by Elfrida Vipont and illustrated by Harold Jones (New York: Harcourt, Brace
and World, 1958) / (London: Collins, 1958).
1/2 Partial dummy with watercolor illustrations and galley text, pp. 51-62.
Paste-ups, pp. 18/19, 62/63, 70/71, 74/75, 78/79, 82/83, dust jacket.
Dust jacket, British edition.
THE CHILDHOOD OF JESUS written and illustrated by Harold Jones
(London: Victor Gollancz, 1964).
1/3 Sketches, graphite, 2 items.
Dummy pages, watercolor illustrations with holograph text, pp. 21-24.
Paste-ups, pp. 17, 24/25, 32.
Proofs, pages unidentified, 2 items.
Dust jacket.
THE COMPLETE GREEK STORIES OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
illustrated by Harold Jones (New York: Franklin Watts, 1963) / (London:
Victor Gollancz, 1963).
1/4 Dummy with paste-up illustration proofs and no text, annotated.
Color separations, dust jacket, 2 items.
Dust jacket, British edition.
THE ENCHANTED NIGHT by Harold Jones (London: Faber and Faber,
1947).
1/5 Design specifications, 3 pp.
Dummy, ink and watercolor illustrations, illustration proofs, and
galley text, with holograph corrections.
JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: A BOOK OF NURSERY STORIES
chosen and edited by Kathleen Lines and illustrated by Harold Jones
(London: Oxford University Press, 1960) /NURSERY STORIES chosen
and edited by Kathleen Lines and illustrated by Harold Jones (New York:
Franklin Watts, 1960).
1/6 Sketch, graphite.
Dummy, watercolor illustrations with galley text.
Proof sheets, 7 items.
Proof sheet, pp. 119-122.
LAVENDER'S BLUE: A BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES compiled
by Kathleen Lines and pictured by Harold Jones (New York: Franklin
Watts, 1954) / (London: Oxford University Press, 1954).
1/7 Proof sheets, 3 items.
Proof sheet, pp. 20-21, pasteup text.
Proof sheet, pp. 20-21.
Proof sheets, 5 items.
Illustration, ink and watercolor, dust jacket (unpublished).
Dust jacket, British edition.
NOAH AND THE ARK by Harold Jones and Kathleen Lines (New York:
Franklin Watts, 1961) / (London: Oxford University Press, 1961).
1/8 Sketches, graphite, 5 items.
Sketches, watercolor, 7 items.
Illustrations, watercolor, unpublished, 2 items. [Stored separately].
Dust jacket, British edition.
ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY: A PICTURE BOOK OF THE NATIVITY
retold from the Gospels by Kathleen Lines and drawn by Harold Jones
(New York: Franklin Watts, 1956) /(London: Oxford University Press,
1956).
1/9 Dummy pages with ink and watercolor illustrations and holograph text,
6 items.
Page proofs, pp. [23-26, 31-38], 5 items.
Dust jacket and endpapers on binding board, British edition.
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN by Robert Browning, illustrated by Harold
Jones (New York: Franklin Watts, 1962) / (London: Faber and Faber, 1961).
1/10 Sketches, graphite, 6 items.
Sketches, ink, 2 items.
Proof sheets, 4 items.
Dust jacket, British edition.
SONGS FROM SHAKESPEARE with decorations by Harold Jones
(London: Faber and Faber, 1961) / (New York: Barnes, 1961).
1/11 Illustration proofs, pp. [4, 13, 22, 30].
Illustration proofs, annotated, pp. [21/4, 30/13].
S0NGS OF INNOCENCE by William Blake, with decorations by Harold
Jones (London: Faber and Faber, 1958).
2/1 Illustrations, ink, pp. [1/24/35/36/3, 18/5/17/8, 6/9/21/15/16,
28/25/29/13/30, 22/7/14/23, 10/33/31/32].
Illustrations, watercolor, pages unidentified, 3 items.
[Two items stored separately].
2/2 Color separation proofs, page unidentified, 4 items.
Proof, bound.
Dust jacket.
THIS YEAR, NEXT YEAR by Walter de la Mare and Harold Jones
(New York: Holt, 1937)/ (London: Faber and Faber, 1937).
2/3 Illustrations, ink and watercolor, pp. [9, 27, 43, 46], endpapers, 6 items.
Illustration proofs, pp. [9, 27, 43, 46], 4 items.
Proof, pp. [45/46].
Dummy, cover.
THE VISIT TO THE FARM by Harold Jones (London: Faber and Faber,
1939).
2/4 Dummy, "Stephanie Angela's Visit to the Farm," ink illustrations with
holograph text.
Illustrations, ink and watercolor, pages unidentified, 2 items.
Color separation proofs, annotated, page unidentified, 2 items.
Illustration proofs, pages unidentified, 5 items.
Cover.
THE WATER BABIES by Charles Kingsley, illustrated by Harold Jones,
the text specially prepared by Kathleen Lines (New York: Franklin Watts,
1961) / (London: Victor Gollancz, 1961).
2/5 Sketches, graphite, 15 items.
Endpapers.
Dust jacket, British edition.
C. Unidentified
2/6 Sketches, various media, 25 items.
2/7 Color sample, possibly for Noah and the Ark.
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