Picture Books

John Hassall illustrated dozens of picture books for different publishers. They are done is his characteristic style with strong lines, large clear areas of colors, with a limited number of different tints, just like a trend in poster art of those times dictated. Well, tthe trend was obviously in large part made by Hassall himself.

One of the most popular series was definitely Blackie's Coloured Picture Story Readers for infants, printed on sturdy yellowish and pretty low quality paper where the printed letters can be seen through the sheet, often destroying the effect of the colored picture printed on the other side of the same sheet. But the price was low, making the books very affordable and they easily spreaded through British and later American households. Many of these books (especially collections) are reprinted today.

With properly enhanced quality they made a great gift to lovers of classic stories and great illustrations just like to a nostalgic collectors of crucial pieces from the so-called Golden Age of illustration. Originals are, of course,worth much more but a well-preserved copies are pretty hard to find. So we have to deal with what it's available.

In this place we are offering the scans of these books (enhanced with digital editing) as educating material for everybody and especially for all fans of John Hassall's work. Enjoy.