Anne Anderson's Mammoth Wonder Book

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.

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, The Mammoth 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.

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 the 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!

Mammoth Wonder Book, The 1935 - Anne Anderson (1874-1952) - 16 images

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