The Prize Children's Magazine - 41 High Resolution Images

The Prize children's paper and associated annuals were published from the late 19th century to the early 20th century by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.  The Wikipedia entry for Wells Gardner states that The Prize was published from 1910 to 1933, but a quick check of eBay shows that this isn't the case as I've seen issues from 1899, 1900, 1903 and more.  I was lucky enough to pick up 41 issues of the paper for a bargain price from eBay, issues from January 1915 to December 1918 with just a handful missing.

The papers typically consist of 8 pages plus the colour-printed cover, all with very small text and a smattering of line drawings.  The papers from the year were bound in annual form at the end of the year, therefore each annual had 12 colour plates from the covers of the papers.  The pages of the papers were numbered so they'd make sense when they were bound in annual form - i.e. January is numbered 1-16, and February is numbered 17-36 etc.

I must admit to having a soft spot for early colour children's illustrations such as these.  I'm not sure if it's the over-sentimental style or just the sheer innocence of the time, an innocence that's sadly lost these days; children would rather be glued to a video game today than pick fruit or fish in a rock pool.

The cover illustrations are mostly uncredited which is a shame, although I've managed to pull three names from the magazines I have - Arthur Cooke (1867-1951), William E. Evans (d.1909) and Percy Bell Hickling (1876-1951).  I have suspicions on the artists from the style for two or three others but I've no concrete evidence of this, with the lack of a signature or credit.  Nearly all show children playing, picking fruit, or helping grandparents with everyday tasks. Pets also feature, such as dogs, a donkey, a cat, mice, cows and more.  There are also two or three Christmas-themed illustrations and some snow scenes, all of which are charming.

The pictures are typically around 3200 pixels wide by 4200 tall and are all scanned at 600dpi.  There are 41 images in this collection.

The pictures are out of copyright and in the public domain, so you are free to do anything you like with these images. Have fun with them!