Anne Anderson was one of the very first illustrators I discovered early on in my public domain journey. I loved her cheerful colours and picture style that gives a gentle nod to the Art Nouveau revolution that was happening around her early in her career.
The Mammoth Wonder Book
I only ever had one book that had pictures in it by her, and somehow that got cleared out in a house move a few years ago. During a rummage round a second-hand shop a few months ago, I came across another book containing her illustrations, TheMammoth Wonder Book. It was pretty hard to look at the books in that particular shop as they'd put up other shelves containing general bric-a-brac in front of them so that only the top few rows of books were visible. A violation of my human rights as a book-lover but I'll calm down soon!
Anne Anderson's Mammoth Wonder Book (1935)
Anyway... The Mammoth Wonder Book was a bit more than I wanted to pay so it stayed in the shop that time, until today that is. I have a thing in my head that says if I'm meant to visit a particular shop, there'll be a parking space outside. If there's not, I'll drive right on by. Today, on another errand, I realised I was going past the shop of the hidden books and lo and behold, there was a big space outside to park in. Meant to be, clearly.
All Books Half Price!
Upon entering the shop there was a sign saying that 'smalls' were 20% off today - ah, Anne Anderson is going to be mine I thought. I tracked it down and asked the lady behind the counter if books were included in 'smalls'. No she said, but all books were half price at the moment.... I couldn't believe my luck!
So here she is, Anne Anderson at her finest. There are some great illustrations here, including The Griffin, Hiawatha (showing a sturgeon about to eat the hero), Bluebell Wood (with pixies) and more. 'The Presents of the Little Folk' features cute pixies dancing in a circle - love the colours of this one. And then there's the almost comical bulging-eyed fish from 'The Fisherman and his Wife' - just love it.
You can visit our Mammoth Wonder Book page to read more about Anne Anderson and download the images
I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I have!
Download Pictures from the Mammoth Wonder Book
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{"posts":[{"id":"gid://shopify/Article/668305752394","title":"Warwick Goble, War of the Worlds and the Goble Family Tree","imageUrl":"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0776/7965/7290/articles/SEOon_warwick-goble-war-of-the-worlds-1898_a2b1d1f2-e813-41cd-856f-2521e8e78c12-218744.jpg?v=1745945829&width=400","imageAlt":"Warwick Goble - War of the Worlds","handle":"warwick-goble-war-of-the-worlds","blogTitle":"Picture Trove Blog","blogHandle":"picture-trove-blog","publishedAt":"2025-02-04T12:57:00Z","summary":"For our new website I've revisited Warwick Goble and his work. Did you know he was the first illustrator of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds?","postUrl":"https://publicdomainimagelibrary.com/blogs/picture-trove-blog/warwick-goble-war-of-the-worlds"},{"id":"gid://shopify/Article/1001947070794","title":"Ladybird Books and P.B. Hickling","imageUrl":"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0776/7965/7290/articles/SEOon_Ladybird_books_Featured_Image_3f1b06fa-a893-4e25-93c8-0275114fbd0a-6905553.jpg?v=1773523627&width=400","imageAlt":"Ladybird books and P.B. Hickling","handle":"ladybird-books","blogTitle":"Picture Trove Blog","blogHandle":"picture-trove-blog","publishedAt":"2026-03-12T22:07:04Z","summary":"I never really imagined that Ladybird books could be a source of public domain illustrations until I came across an old one in a charity thrift shop whilst on a day out in the city of Norwich UK yesterday.","postUrl":"https://publicdomainimagelibrary.com/blogs/picture-trove-blog/ladybird-books"},{"id":"gid://shopify/Article/670352965962","title":"Discovering Warwick Goble and The Book of Fairy Poetry: A Timeless Journey into Enchanted Realms","imageUrl":"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0776/7965/7290/articles/SEOon_Featured_Image_3fe4e6eb-2f43-4a63-8fa9-f744be2e6652-5080713.jpg?v=1756311348&width=400","imageAlt":"Warwick Goble's \"The Book of Fairy Poetry\"","handle":"warwick-goble-fairy-poetry","blogTitle":"Picture Trove Blog","blogHandle":"picture-trove-blog","publishedAt":"2025-08-27T13:57:42Z","summary":"\"The Book of Fairy Poetry\", illustrated by Warwick Goble, is more than a century old yet continues enthralling readers of all ages with its spellbinding artwork and verses.","postUrl":"https://publicdomainimagelibrary.com/blogs/picture-trove-blog/warwick-goble-fairy-poetry"}],"isRemoveBranding":true,"heading":"Related posts","typeSearch":"post","device":"desktop","isShowExcerpt":true,"isShowPublishedDate":false,"hidden":false,"locked":false,"isBlankLink":false,"blockName":"Related posts","currentLocale":"en","cssContent":"","id":"Avada-Tool__RelatedBlogs-2"}
I never really imagined that Ladybird books could be a source of public domain illustrations until I came across an old one in a charity thrift shop whilst on a day out in the city of Norwich UK yesterday.
"The Book of Fairy Poetry", illustrated by Warwick Goble, is more than a century old yet continues enthralling readers of all ages with its spellbinding artwork and verses.
