Charles Robinson, illustrator - his life and works

Charles Robinson


Charles Robinson (1870-1937) was a very productive British illustrator and maybe the most talented in a family of extremely successful illustrators: his father Thomas (1838-1902) was a bookbinder at first and became a wood engraver later, his older brother Thomas Heath (1869-1954), and younger brother William Heath (1872-1944). By the way, Heath was the surname of Thomas' wife Eliza, mother of seven kids altogether, three illustrators included.

Charles got his initial formal artistic education at Highbury School of Art. He honed his undeniable talent as an apprentice at the lithographic printing company Waterlow and Sons. In 1892 he won a place in the Royal Academy which he had to pass because the tuition fees were too high for his income. Instead, he took evening classes at West London Art School and Heatherley’s School of Art.

He was 25 years old when he illustrated one of the classic works for children: A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. The book was a huge success and practically guaranteed him commissions for the rest of his life. A Child's Garden of Verses with one hundred black and white illustrations went through numerous reprints and his name became inextricably linked with a specific style of drawing influenced by Art Nouveau and Pre-Raphaelites, fused with old Japanese prints cementing him as a standard for children's book illustration for next decades.

While we are at influences, there are three big names to mention, all recognizable in different areas and stages of Charles Robinson's work: Aubrey Beardsley, Walter Crane, and Albrecht Durer.

Charles tried to join the army when World War started but with 44 years he was too old for regular service, so he joined the internal defense militia. When the war ended economy completely changed and the market for luxury illustration practically vanished. Charles was forced to and his family (he had a wife and six children) by drawing for magazines. This proved as a stable yet modest income which gave him enough time to return to the almost neglected activity of painting with aquarelles. He was elected to the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1932.

Before his death, he illustrated over one hundred books, including classics such as already mentioned Child's Garden of Verses, Alice in Wonderland, Aesop's Fables, Secret Garden, fairy tales by Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, Brothers Grimm, Oscar Wilde, ...

This website is an attempt to collect his work for children in one place, so everybody interested in Charles Robinson's work (and vintage illustration in general) has a starting point to explore the beautiful world of creativity from the not-so-distant past.

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Goose Girl

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Goose Girl, ilustrated by Charles Robinson Goose Girl is a fairy tale written by the brothers Grimm. It deals with all the major questions and themes from their collection: social status, trickery, the importance of a given word, marriage, and rigorous punishment. We'll summarize the story with the help of Charles Robinson's illustrations from the book The Big Book of Fairy Tales. As with all other fairy tales in this book, it starts with a typical decorative letter. Once upon a time, there was a princess whose father died. Her mother arranged a marriage to her daughter with a prince from another kingdom. The princess has to leave and only one servant (a waiting maid, actually) comes with her. She also gave her a handkerchief with three drops of her blood and a talking horse. Both had the power to remind the princess of her royal origin but she was so inexperienced she didn't really understand it. After some time, the princess became thirsty. She asked her companio
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Frog Prince

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Frog Prince by Charles Robinson Frog Prince is also known as Frog King. It's the first fairy tale in the Children and Household Tales by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, officially noted as KHM 1. It's a very important story, a classic tale about a given word and a broken promise, paternal authority, an undesirable groom in the form of the frog, and, of course, a marriage as a typical happily ever after ending. Charles Robinson made the illustration which were published in 1911 by Blackie and Son in London. The book was titled The Big Book of Fairy Tales and this blog features several fairy tales from the same collection. Once upon a time, there was a princess whose favorite pastime was playing with her golden ball. Unfortunately, one day it dropped it in the pond. The princess was sad. She would like to get her ball back. But how? Then a frog appeared. He asked her what was wrong. Can he help her? She explained her problem and promised to reward the frog. He could eat by her table, pl
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Aesop's Fables

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Aesop's Fables by Charles Robinson Aesop's Fables was one of the first projects signed by Charles Robinson. He was still a young inspiring artist when he got a chance to illustrate legendary fables by Aesop. These were all black-and-white drawings in his still-evolving yet already recognizable style. Numerous fables with clear morals were published in 1895, a year before Robinson's take on Robert Louis Stevenson's A Child's Garden of Verse which secured him commissions for many years to come. Drawings from Aesop's Fables were also reprinted several times but never achieved the fame of already mentioned Stevenson's masterpiece. After World War 1 Charles Robinson spent more time on watercolor paintings and that resulted in a series of new illustrations of Aesop's Fables, this time in full color. These were published in 1930 by Blackie and Son in the book from which we are presenting them in this article. Here are some examples of fables splendidly portray
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