SONGS ON THE WIND BY EILEEN A SOPER 1948 RARE 1st EDITION BEAUTIFUL CONDITION!

Description: SONGS ON THE WINDWritten and IllustratedBY EILEEN A SOPER 1948RARE FIRST EDITION! SONGS ON THE WIND” written and illustrated by Eileen Soper (1905-1990), well-known as the illustrator of all Enid Blyton's Famous Five books. Moving at aged 3 into the house built by her father the artist George Soper, in Enfield near London, she lived there with her sister until her death in 1990. Published by Museum Press in London. Hardback, 56 pages. Excellent copy! No foxing, Very clean. No inscriptions or writing at all. All illustrations are in excellent condition. No tears at all. The covers are in Excellent Condition. Spine is excellent. Binding is tight with no cracking whatsoever. Not a former library book. Dimensions about 10 x 8 x 0.5 inches. There is only one other copy listed anywhere on the internet and that one is in much in poorer condition. Please see my many photographs of the actual book for sale and form part of the description.This book is located in Pennsylvania.Eileen A. Soper (1905 – 1990) A prominent British printmaker, book illustrator, painter, author and poet, Eileen Alice Soper was born in Enfield, England, a town about 10 miles north of London (now part of Greater London) and lived most of her life in Harmer Green, Hertfordshire (about 10 miles north of Enfield). Her mediums were etching*, drypoint*, watercolor, and chalk. Her subjects included children at play, fantasy and wildlife. Her painting style was Realism*. Soper was a member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (UK) and the Royal Society of Miniature Painters*. Her works are in the permanent collections of the British Museum (London. England), Art Gallery of New South Wales (Sydney, Australia), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Canada), the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Photograph Archives, Washington, D.C.), and The Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois), which has 70 of her works in its permanent collection and illustrated online. Attached below is her biography courtesy of March House Books:British illustrator Eileen Soper was born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1905 the second daughter of George and Ada Soper. Eileen was a gifted child and her drawing talent was nurtured by her artist father George Soper (1870 – 1942) [see AskART]. When Eileen was three the family moved to Harner [Harmer] Green in Hertfordshire and this was where Eileen and her sister Eva spent most of their lives. After the death of her father in 1942 Eileen christened the house Wildings.By the age of fourteen, four of Eileen's prints were hung in a gallery in Los Angeles and two of these were later hung in The Royal Academy in London. She commenced her career as a book illustrator in 1941 when the Publishers Macmillan suggested her name to Enid Blyton initially to illustrate a series of Nature Readers. But it was after she illustrated Five on a Treasure Island that things really took off and over the next 25 years she illustrated some 35 books for Enid Blyton including all 21 of the Famous Five books. Eileen and Enid never met and it was reported by Eileen's friends that she considered the illustrations for Blyton's books a chore. She complained that the author demanded "footling changes" in drawings that were already adequate.Eileen dreamed of writing her own books and in 1947 her first book - Happy Rabbit (a tale about a rabbit building a house, getting married and having a family) was published by Macmillan. Her second children's book The Rainbow's Secret, later re-titled Dormouse Awake was published in 1948, and this was followed in 1949 by Sail Away Shrew. She was unable to get her next few children's books published and so decided to try her hand at poetry. This was not a successful venture and only one of her poetry books Songs on the Wind was published. After her father's death, Eileen retreated to the garden at Wildings where she greatly enjoyed watching the birds and encouraging them to feed from her hand. In 1951 she was lucky enough to see a badger, and this changed the course of her life. By the winter of 1953, she had made enough sketches and notes to produce a book about badgers. The book was published under the title When Badgers Wake and contained over 150 of Eileen's sketches. She then went on to illustrate another six wildlife books including Muntjac which took nearly eight years to complete.

Price: 122 USD

Location: Reading, Pennsylvania

End Time: 2025-02-04T05:36:11.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.99 USD