Margaret Winifred Tarrant (19 August 1888 – 29 July 1959) was an English illustrator, and children’s author, specializing in depictions of fairy-like children and religious subjects. She began her career at the age of 20, and painted and published into the early 1950s. She was known for her children’s books, postcards, calendars, and print reproductions.
Margaret Tarrant was born in Battersea, south London, the daughter of landscape painter Percy Tarrant and Sarah Wyatt Tarrant. She studied in the art department of Clapham High School and the Clapham School of Art. She briefly trained as a teacher, but turned to art instead. She studied at Heatherley’s School of Art, and at Guildford School of Art in 1935. She launched her career at age 20 with an edition of Charles Kingsley’s The Water Babies.
In the 1920s, Tarrant helped to popularize fairies in a long-running series of titles on the theme such as The Forest Fairies, The Pond Fairies, and The Twilight Fairies. She was long associated with the Medici Society and many of her postcards, calendars, and children’s books were published by the organization. Following the death of both her parents in 1934, the Society sent her on a trip to Palestine to research material. During World War II, she donated posters to the war effort, and rode an old bike to conserve petrol.
Books illustrated by Margaret Tarrant
- Kingsley, C. – The Water Babies, Dent, 1908
- Dewar, G. A. B. – The Book of the Seasons , Allen, 1910
- Perrault, C. – Contes de Perrault Siegle 1910
- Browning, R. – The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Dent, 1912
- Bigham, M. A. – Merry Animal Tales, Harrap, 1913
- _ Nursery Rhymes ,Ward, 1914
- Webb, M. St. J. – The Littlest One, Harrap, 1914
- Wilman, S. V. – Games for Playtimes and Parties , Jack, 1914
- Cole, F. A – Picture Birthday Book for Boys and Girls, Harrap, 1915
- Golding, H. – Fairy Tales ,Ward, 1915
- Snell, F. J. – The Girlhood of Famous Women, Harrap, 1915
- Carroll, L. – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Ward, 1916
- Andersen, H. C. – Fairy Stories from Hans C. Andersen , Ward,
- 1917 Webb, M. St. J. – Knock Three Times!, Harrap, 1917
- Golding, H. – Verses for Children, Ward, 1918
- Rhys, G. – In Wheelabout and Cockalone, Harrap, 1918
- Stevenson, R. L. – Songs with Music from A Child’s Garden of Verses, Jack, [1918]
- Golding, H. – Zoo Days, Ward, 1919
- Rudolf, R. de M. – The Tookey and Alice Mary Tales, Harrap, 1919
- Webb, M. St. J. – Elizabeth Phil and Me, Harrap, 1919
- Golding, H. – The Animal A.B.C., Ward, 1920 Our Day, Ward, 1923
- Rhymes of Old Times , Medici, 1925 The Tales the Letters Tell, Grant 1925
- Webb, M. St. J. The Forest Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The House Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The Insect Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The Pond Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The Sea Shore Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The Wild Fruit Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1925
- The Magic Lamplighter, Medici, 1926
- Farjeon, E. – An Alphabet of Magic , Medici, 1928
- Webb, M. St. J. – The Orchard Fairies, Modern Art Society, 1928
- The Twilight Fairies, Modern Art Society,
- 1928 Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes , Ward, 1929
- D., S. N. – Simple Composition Steps Grant 1930
- The Songs the Letters Sing, Grant 1930
- Golding, H. – Our Animal Friends , Ward, 1930
- Mackenzie, E. – Simple Reading Steps, Grant 1930-32
- Oxenham, J. – The Hidden Years, Longmans 1931
- Tarrant, M. – The Margaret Tarrant Birthday Book , Medici, 1932
- Todd, B. – Magic Flowers, Medici, 1933
- Tarrant, M. & Dutton, L. – Joan in Flowerland Warne 1935
- Gann, M. – Dreamland Fairies, Duckworth 1936
- _ Flowers of the Countryside, Medici, 1943
- Tarrant, M. – The Margaret Tarrant Nursery Rhyme Book, Collins 1944
