Peter Newell – Illustrations for The Hole Book 1908

Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell (March 5, 1862 – January 15, 1924) was an American artist and author.

A native of McDonough County, Illinois, Newell built a reputation in the 1880s and 1890s for his humorous drawings and poems, which appeared in Harper’s Weekly, Harper’s Bazaar, Scribner’s Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Judge, and other publications.

He later wrote and illustrated several popular children’s books, such as Topsys and Turvys (1893), a collection of poems and images which could be viewed upside-down or right-side-up; The Hole Book (1908), which had a literal hole at the center of each page to indicate the path of a bullet; and The Slant Book (1910), which took the shape of a rhomboid and told the story of a baby carriage careening down a hill.

Presenting First edition of The Hole Book with illustrations by Peter Newell. Published by Harper, New York in 1908. It has an unique design that Newell actually patented. The story is literally based on the title, there is a hole throughout the book and the illustrations followed. It is something quite unique at that time and remains so today.

Art Gallery: Peter Newell – The Hole Book 1908