Peace on earth, good-will towards men,
Peaceful messengers are they,
Snowflakes, falling from the sky,
Sent to earth on Christmas Day.
The Christmas Carol, drawings by Ida Waugh, published in The Holly Series, by Griffiths & Farran, 1881
Ida Waugh (1846-1919) was an American illustrator of children’s books, which she produced with her lifelong companion Amy Ella Blanchard (1854-1926), who wrote the accompanying verses and stories.
This illustration has a certain refinement about it, with its delicate illuminated initials and clear, bright colours. The style is somewhat reminiscent of English Victorian illustrator Kate Greenaway (1846-1901). In fact, Greenaway’s pictures of children in quaint, historicised costumes became so popular that her work was imitated widely not only in England, but also in Germany and the United States. Waugh was hired by McLoughlin Brothers, a New York based publisher who pioneered colour printing techniques in children’s books, to create illustrations in a similar style for the American market. She produced a series of books for them in 1882, a year after The Christmas Carol was published.
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