Edmund Evans after Walter Crane
“Frontispiece”
Pan-pipes; a book of old songs, newly arranged, & with accompaniments by Theo. Marzials; set to pictures by Walter Crane; engraved and printed in colours by Edmund Evans
London: George Routledge and sons, 1883
Walter Crane was a Victorian polymath: painter, designer, teacher, Socialist, and author, he is currently best remembered for his book illustrations. Deeply influenced by Aestheticism, Crane displays in Pan Pipes many of the movement’s preoccupations. There are elements of classical stylization in the figures, Gothic decoration in the foliage, and Japanese design in the water reeds and the banner on the right. Crane, too, acknowledges the relationship between music and the erotic, placing the figure of an adolescent Cupid with his bow in the center of the frontispiece and suggesting an amorous encounter between the god Pan, and the water nymph Syrinx on the title page.
Crane noted of his collaborator, the composer Theo Marzials, that he seemed “more troubadour” than “modern person.” The collaboration allowed Crane to explore further the decorative possibilities of illustrated songbooks, a project he began in 1876 with his acclaimed Baby’s Opera.As Crane recalled in his autobiography, “the book was in oblong form, so as to be convenient on a piano, and to each song there was a colored design, taking the form of a decorative border enclosing the music.” Crane explored a subdued palette to harmonize with the “old-world flavour” of songs such as “Greensleeves” and compete with rival illustrators such as Kate Greenaway, who favored pastel tones for her pastoral scenes. The book was heavily marketed by George Routledge & Sons for Christmas 1883.
YALE CENTER FOR BRITISH ART, RARE BOOKS COLLECTION
ML89 M38+