Walter Crane achieved great popularity with his art nouveau textiles and wallpapers but he is better known by the public as one of the most important children’s books illustrators of the Victorian era. He is famous for a series of picture books known as “toy books”, launched in the latter half of the 19th century.
The artist was responsible for bringing affordable books with colour illustrations to a greater mass audience, providing children’s imagination with his fabulous drawings. He created designs for mass-market nursery books featuring alphabets, nursery rhymes and fairy tales that were intended to stimulate children's visual awareness during the reading and learning process.
With expressive and colourful drawings as this illustration of Aladdin’s book, Walter Crane’s work remained in the memories of many children. The National Art Library of the V&A Museum holds many such books by Walter Crane.
Aladdin, by Walter Crane (1845-1915). Illustration. London, England, 1875.