Walter Crane was the first of the grand triumvirate in children’s book illustration who worked under the tutelage of the English printer Edmund Evans. Crane, the son of an artist, developed his artistic talents from an early age and at seventeen exhibited at London’s Royal Academy.
Over the course of his career Crane set himself many artistic challenges by choosing to illustrate a variety of texts, from Alphabet books and brief rhymes to fully developed fairy tales, and he strove in all of these works to bring coherence to the overall appearance of the individual book. In addition to his books for children he created illustrated books for adults and several textbooks about book design and illustration.
When Crane died in 1915 he had become internationally known and admired, and his contributions to children’s book illustration can still be seen in children’s books of the late twentieth century.
Queen Summer or the Journey of Lily & the Rose is one of the most beautiful book Crane illustrated at the peek of his career. Here Crane tells the story of beautiful damsels and brave knights, who personify the essence of spirits of the garden flowers. The charm of these simple yet elegant drawings, reminiscent of medieval illuminated manuscripts, transcends the fairly cliched story. The book was published by Cassell & Co London, 1891, contains twenty double leaves, with lithographs on both recto and verso, forty illustrations in all.