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Untitled (childhood sketchbook), 1833
Eleanor Vere Boyle (1825 – 1916) illustrated poetry and prose by some of the most popular authors of her time. She regularly drew and painted using ink and watercolour, sketching landscapes, animals and her children from life. She also made drawings from her imagination, often reflecting spiritual themes. Boyle learnt how to draw and paint from her mother and older sister, Alba. She kept this sketchbook when she was eight years old. It includes miniature drawings, cut out paper shapes, and tiny books that she made as gifts for family.
![Dve sobaki [Two Dogs]](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/n83t80i6/production/4360e5391cd88c1f1dd88bc65b8c1072128540f4-1474x2000.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=1474)
Vera Ermolaeva, Dve sobaki [Two Dogs], 1930
Vera Ermolaeva (1893-1937) was an illustrator and painter. In 1918 she founded Segodnia [Today] collective in Petrograd; the first Soviet children’s book publisher. She illustrated children’s books throughout the 1920s and 30s for Detgiz, The State Children’s Publishing House in Russia. This book is one of a series of 12 fables by Ivan Krylov illustrated by Ermolaeva. Two dogs with the same owner discuss their different lives living indoors and out in the yard. It was published in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Russia at a time when children’s books became a mass media phenomenon. Over a ten-year period, almost 10,000 titles were published in several editions of up to 200,000. Many of these books took experimental approaches to storytelling, design and layout.
Jacqueline Ayer, Little Silk, 1970
Jacqueline Ayer (1930–2012) had a career that spanned many creative fields. She began as a fashion illustrator, and later turned her hand to children’s books, textiles and garments, as she worked in New York, Paris, London, Bangkok, Hong Kong and across India. Ayer’s fifth book, Little Silk, is about a lost doll who eventually finds her way to a loving home. It takes place in Hong Kong, where Ayer lived with her daughters from 1963 to 1965.
![Zagadki [Riddles]](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/n83t80i6/production/32f82c0fdcc37913f780c6ed76a28e7382036e3f-1328x1670.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=1328)
Lev Mordvinov, Zagadki [Riddles], 1929
In this book, a series of riddles about household objects are paired with illustrations of them. It was published in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), Russia at a time when children’s books became a mass media phenomenon. Over a ten-year period, almost 10,000 titles were published in several editions of up to 200,000. Many of these books took experimental approaches to storytelling, design and layout.
