On Nonsense | Philip Hofer, Peter Newell's Pictures & Rhymes |
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Ten years ago – on January 15, 1924 – Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell, American humorist and illustrator, dies at Little Neck, Long Island, New York. Ten years is a very long time in the world as it moves today – from one newspaper headline to the next. And Peter Newell has long since passed from the front page (of the book section) if not, indeed, from most readers' memories. But there is a group of children who will never forget him. I, as one of them, write these lines.  I mean the children who devoured good stories and verses, and looked at the pictures which can do so much, or so little, to make their books live, between the years 1900 and 1914. I do not forget that these children are all middle-aged in the eyes of the world now. Some of the younger generation – their children, in fact – are no doubt enjoying Peter Newell today. Only there are not enough of them. On the one side, humor of the comic strips is easier and obvious; on the other, that of the New Yorker up-to-date and subtle. Then there is the foreign humor which parents offer their children as a kind of sugar-coated pill through which they may acquire a further knowledge of the polite languages. Between all these counter-attractions, America's humor of a past generation hardly has an even chance. Thus, even able authors are forgotten, for a time, until social-historical sense gains sufficient perspective. Then, suddenly, someone in a position to do so makes a brand-new discovery. He sings the praises of an author whom plenty of people had recognized and loved twenty or more probably forty years before. Then everyone takes him up, and, finally, he goes safely down to posterity, without interruption, from father to son. But what of the "lost generation" that is growing into boy and girlhood today? They do not know Peter Newell's Pictures & Rhymes, his Alice in Wonderland, and his Hole Book as my generation once did. For this there is another reason I have not yet mentioned which cannot lightly be waved aside. Let us propound it this way. Do you, reader, see how many copies of the books I have just mentioned you can find on your bookseller's shelves. Then, when you have been met with blank faces – as well as equally empty spaces – go to the second-hand dealer, advertise, or even try your public library. For every sound fresh copy of the original Hole Book of 1908 you can find, there are collectors who will give you their unbounded blessing – and four times the original publishing price. No, the main reason that children of today cannot enjoy Peter Newell as we once did is that, for the moment, his books are not to be found. Thus, he has reached exactly the spot in the cycle of celebrity that deserves re-discovery; for his books have been accorded the highest honor that children can bestow upon them: they have been thumbed right out of existence. Now they mmust be republished for the benefit of the children of today. If this eulogy stirs any interest within you, or memories of a half-forgotten childhood, you may be willing to go further. You will, then, want to hear more about the man himself, about his work and his talent. so this is the purpose I have set myself, within the limits of my space. You will see a few examples of his art, although without the color of the originals they cannot do him justice. And you will find a first attempt at a check-list of his books. I quite realize that it will not be complete. All I can claim is that it is ten times as long as the titles listed after his name in a leading library's catalogue file. The check-list mentions, at least, the greater part of his work in book form. I suppose if there is one thing which stands out in Peter Newell, distinguishing him from the rank and file of his contemporaries, it is his originality. All his work has a most distinctive flavor which you may like or not as is your taste. At least it is purely his, and quite as thoroughly "American". He has imitated no one, either consciously or unconsciously, I believe. Indeed, he admitted to John Kendrick Bangs, who knew him intimately, that he had never even heard of Edward Lear's Nonsense Books before he wrote his own Pictures & Rhymes. I do not pity Peter Newell, except what he missed in his childhood. As an artist – a creator – hhe was all the better for the unprompted spontaneity fo his imagination. Mr. Newell believed one can consciously stimulate an imagination, just as one can cultivate an ability to draw, providing a gift exists in the first place. He did both seriously – in hours of hard concentrated work at home. He was not a Bohemian, and did not need the atmosphere of Paris or Greenwich Village to give him inspiration. Instead, he rejoiced in the singular reputation of being a good citizen in each of the two or three small towns in which he lived. He was "Uncle Peter" to all of Leonia, New Jersey, where he spent most of his creative years. Spare and lanky, for he was over six feet tall, he had, as perhaps the self-portrait at the beginning of this article will show, a kindly whimsical face under his shaggy eye-brows and bushy creas of hair. Someone said of him that if ever he had had an enemy no one knew of it – and probably the enemy had forgotten all about it himself. Of course these kindly personal characteristics have nothing to do with making a good writer or artist. Temperament is more often approved as the customary attribute of genius. Still, they do help explain the quality of his humor. It was always kindly and gentle – neither biting, as was Tom Nast's, or rollicking, boisterous and perhaps just a little maudlin at times, as were Wilhelm Busch's or Mark Twain's. One cannot claim that his talent was so great as theirs, nor his humor so rich. One even admits that such writing as he did in a serious vein, or on the inspiration of others, is far beneath his humorous level. Fortunately, he had the good sense to see his ability and hewed close to its line. Simple as he was in all things, he made no effort to seek publicity. His dress was formal and quiet – again the antithesis of what is expected. Because Peter Newell drew Negro subjects so often in the cartoons with which he first attracted the attention of a wide public, many have supposed that he came from the South. Actually he was born in Illinois. Before he was twenty he sent his first humorous drawing to an Eastern publisher – the editor of Harper's Bazaar – and asked ingenuously if it "showed any talent." The editor's reply – "No talent indicated" – was softened, and one suspects denied, by the enclosure of a check. In any event, the young man's career was thereupon decided, and in 1882 he set out for New York.  The Dictionary of American Biography, Volume XIII, has a most excellent summary of Peter Newell's life, and a bibliography of articles written about him in the years gone by. So I will not pause to give you the facts. I am much more interested in offering to you an insight into his personality, and an estimate of his writing and his art. For I do not agree with the author of the Dictionary artcle that Peter Newell was an inadequate draughtsman, nor that his imagination was restricted in its scope. Simplicity of technique and subject necessitate a skill of no mean order, as artists always discover. It is the critical and uncritical, public who mistake artistry for art, and praise detail instead of substance. No incompetent artist dares expose his lines without a dress of elaboration. But Peter Newell, far from incompetent, hated show. He used simple means because he like simple subjects. Probably he chose both because he was thinking of his audience: children, and grown-ups who retain their youth. He did not have a style of startling quality, but one which is so disarmingly unpretentious that it seems easy. It is when we compare Peter Newell's work, side by side, with that of other illustrators that we see how competent, original, well planned and well executed it is. There are few false starts – and still fewer mistakes.  As for his imagination, I hardly know how to praise it adequately in words. I beg you rather to look at the drawing, of "Wild Flowers", which appeared in Harper's Magazine a long time ago (August, 1893). Later, it served as frontispiece to Pictures & Rhymes (1899), where many a child-that-was will never forget it. You will see it here reproduced, not from the magazine or book, but from the original drawing. If you like it, you will like the whole book, which is filled with the most individual and fanciful verses and designs. If there be a criticism of them it is that they are too imaginative. The faces, with their popping eyes, their goblin-like imperturbability, have an almost frightening effect on some small children, whose minds are led away beyond their depth and beyond their ken. To older children the queer little faces give only a quite pleasant feeling of remoteness, and the unearthly china eyes stand their hair just a little bit on end and cause their toes to curl. Turn to the Alice books and Favourite Fairy Tales and all fears will be gone. Peter Newell has simply interpreted these well-known classics a little differently, and illustrated them a good deal more copiously, than you have ever seen before. It is in the Hunting of the Snark, The House Boat on the Styx, The Enchanted Typewriter, and in the earlies of all his goblin "inventions," The Topsys & Turvys, that one sees b est the queer creatures his mind loved to concoct. In the Hole Book, which was so popular that it sold thousands and thousands of copies the minute it was published, and its successors, the Rocket Book and the Slant Book, you will see pure unadulterated fun. Call it slap-stick if you like, but it is purely American, wholesome and clean.   I could ramble on a great deal longer about the books he illustrated for older people, and the cartoons he drew for magazines, throughout forty years of active contributing life. I could expatiate upon the ingenuity and merits of the flat-tone technique in water color drawing which he developed in America, unconscious of Maurice Bontet de Mouvel in France. But this would require too much space, more reproductions, and color work of a kind which is impossible for an article of this sort. Do you remember this verse in Peter Newell's Pictures & Rhymes "From Foxe's Book of Martyrs So, lest I become wearisome (myself) in this long appreciation, I recommend you to Peter Newell's books. You will be able to find some of them by means of the check-list here appended – somewhere. Or if you don't, you may be able to persuade his publishers to reissue them. In either case I wish you joy in the times you will have with them: carefree times I remember well – over twenty years ago.
______________ CHECK LIST Bangs, John Kendrick. A House-Boat on the Styx Bangs, John Kendrick. The Pursuit of the House-Boat Bangs, John Kendrick. The Enchanted Typewriter Bangs, John Kendrick. Mr Munchausen Bangs, John Kendrick. Bikey the Skicycle and other tales of Jimmieboy Brooks, Hildegard. The Larky Furnace Browne, Porter Emerson. Peace – At Any Price Browne, Porter Emerson. Scars and Stripes Carryl, Guy Wetmore. Fables for the Frivolous Carryl, Guy Wetmore. Mother Goose for Grown-Ups Cobb, Irvin S. Cobb's Anatomy Dodgson, Charles L. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Dodgson, Charles L. Through the Looking-Glass Dodgson, Charles L. The Hunting of the Snark Garnett, Louise A. Creature Songs Irwin, Wallace. Nautical Lays of a Landsman Johnson, Clifton and Burgess. Parodies for Housekeepers Johnson, Clifton. The Parson's Devil Lee, Albert. Tommy Toddles Newell, Peter. Topsys & Turvys (First Series) Newell, Peter. Topsys & Turvys (Second Series) Newell, Peter. A Shadow Show Newell, Peter. Peter newell's Pictures & Rhymes (Newell, Peter, Illustrator). Favorite Fairy Tales Newell, Peter. The Hole Book Newell, Peter. The Slant Book Newell, Peter. The Rocket Book Newell, Peter. Little Verses and Big Names Reed, Myrtle. The Book of Clever Beasts Stockton, Frank R. The Great Stone of Sardis Stone, Stuart B. The Kingdom of Why Wells, Carolyn. Mother Goose Menagerie Wells, Carolyn. The Merry-Go-Round EDITOR'S NOTE Many of the verses, fables, and "pictures" contained in the books listed here appeared first in magazines: "Harper's Round Table," "Harper's Magazine," "Harper's Bazaar," and "Scribner's" particularly. Space will not permit listing the stories and articles illustrated by Peter Newell in periodicals, or th emany cartoons which he drew for them. A complete list would be exceedingly difficult – indeed well nigh impossible to compile.
 Philip Hofer, "Peter Newell's Pictures & Rhymes." The Colophon. A Book Collectors' Quarterly. Part Nineteen. New York, 1934. |
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