# Victorian Colour Toy Books (Evans, Crane, Caldecott and Greenaway)

> Mass-printed children's picture books in which a black key block and flat colour blocks (generally up to a dozen, as few as four), printed by Edmund Evans from wood, carried pictures that dominated short texts. The illustrators Walter Crane (flat tints and sharp outlines, influenced by Japanese colour prints), Randolph Caldecott (loose, comic movement) and Kate Greenaway (dainty colours and invented late-18th-century and Regency costume) gave the format three distinct hands under one genome; image.comic belongs to Caldecott only.

- Period: 1865–1900
- Where: Western Europe
- Origin: London, where the wood-engraver and printer Edmund Evans agreed in 1865 to print sixpenny toy books for Routledge and Warne
- Branch: Pictorial & machine age
- Also known as: Sixpenny toy books, Edmund Evans colour-printed picture books, Crane, Caldecott and Greenaway picture books
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/victorian-toy-books/

## How it works

- Draw every picture as a dark key-block outline filled with a few flat, separately printed colour blocks.
- Let the picture lead and keep the text short, hand-lettered or set small beneath it.
- Limit each page to the colours the blocks can afford, up to about a dozen and sometimes as few as four, and accept slight misregistration.
- Frame the scene with decorated borders and bands, and flatten depth in the manner of Japanese prints.
- Tell the story page by page in quick, humorous line or in soft period costume and pastel tints.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Sequential narrative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/sequential-narrative/) (defining)
- [Measured density](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/measured-density/) (characteristic)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Slab serif](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/slab-serif/) (occasional)
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Naturalistic depiction](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/naturalistic-depiction/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Misregistration & overprint](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/misregistration-and-overprint/) (defining)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

### Ornament
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (occasional)
- [Floral & vegetal](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/floral-and-vegetal/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Woodblock & linocut](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/woodblock-and-linocut/) (defining)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (defining)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (characteristic)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (occasional)

Avoids: Straight photography, Ornament-free, Grotesque & neo-grotesque, Halftone & Ben-Day dots, Modular grid, Horror vacui

Palette: #f1e6cc, #2b2622, #c4452f, #e0a93b, #4f7ea6, #8fae8b

Typefaces: Hand-lettered titles and verses, Wood-engraved display lettering, Victorian old-style and Egyptian text faces

Known for: Walter Crane, The Baby's Opera (1878), printed by Edmund Evans; Richard Doyle, In Fairyland (1870), printed by Edmund Evans; Randolph Caldecott, The Diverting History of John Gilpin (1878); Kate Greenaway, Under the Window (1879); Edmund Evans, sixpenny toy books for Routledge and Warne (from 1865); Walter Crane, Absurd ABC (1874)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Influenced by: [Japonisme](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japonisme.md) (1860–1910)
- Alike in its design choices: [Push Pin Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/push-pin.md) (1954–1980), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kanoon-childrens-illustration.md) (1965–1979), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Tarot de Marseille Woodcut Cards](https://stylogeny.com/styles/tarot-de-marseille.md) (1639–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Imagerie d'Épinal & European Bilderbogen](https://stylogeny.com/styles/imagerie-epinal.md) (1796–1939), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Cairo–Beirut Arab Modernist Book & Periodical Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cairo-beirut-book-design.md) (1952–1990), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Lubok Popular Print](https://stylogeny.com/styles/lubok.md) (1650–1920), 62% alike

## Sources

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Evans
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_book
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Crane
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Greenaway
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Doyle_(illustrator)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Victorian Colour Toy Books (Evans, Crane, Caldecott and Greenaway)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/victorian-toy-books/