Warwick Goble, an illustrator of children's books, is not as well known as his contemporaries Rackham and Dulac, nevertheless he contributed his own mastery of watercolour to the golden age of illustration.Born in November 1862 in Dalston, North London, Goble was educated at the City of London School and Westminster School of Art. Initially he worked for a printer who specialized in chromolithography and made numerous contributions to the illustrated newspapers and magazines of the day such as the Pall Mall Gazette, Strand Magazine and The Boy's Own Paper.
By the 1890s Goble was exhibiting at the Royal Academy but it was not until later in the decade that his attentions turned to illustrating books, The Oracle of Baal published in 1896 being one of his earliest works. Goble was the first person to illustrate H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds in 1898.
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At the beginning of the 20th Century a strong market had sprung up for illustrated children's stories, particularly fairy tales and fantasy. Publishers were inundated with demands for colour plate books. With his watercolour skills and interest in Japanese and Indian themes, Warwick Goble was perfectly suited to the task of producing these wonderful colour plates. As such his output increased and in 1909 he became the resident illustrator for MacMillan. One of the first books he worked on was The Water Babies (1909), closely followed by Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales (1910). These were some of the most lavishly illustrated book of the day.
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During the First World War, Goble was employed in the drawing office of Woolrich Arsenal and volunteered for the Red Cross. Later in his life he occasionally worked for MacMillan and produced illustrations for editions of Treasure Island and Kidnapped but he gradually gave up his illustrating work to focus on his other interests. He died in his Surrey home in January 1943.
St Mary's Books is pleased to offer a collection of Goble's works for sale.
