Boys and Girls of Bookland by Nora Archibald Smith, illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith
This book, published in 1923 by David McKay Company, Philadelphia, features eleven classic stories for children and youth. Nora Archibald Smith rewrote them as condensed versions presented on about eight to ten pages only.
Each of the selected works is based on a character (boys and girls from the title of the book) and these characters are portrayed by then maybe the most famous illustrator Jessie Willcox Smith.
Some of the illustrations were previously done for other projects and publishers gave permission to republish them in this book but now they are all in Public Domain.
The idea of the book is to promote reading among younger and older audiences, which was cordially supported by Cosmopolitan Book Corporation.
The contents (with original authors in parenthesis):
David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
Jackanapes (Juliana Horatia Ewing)
Tiny Tim (Charles Dickens - Christmas Carol)
Hans Brinker (Mary Maes Dodge - Silver Skates)
Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll)
The Little Lame Prince (Dinah Craik)
Heidi, the Alpine Rose (Johanna Spyri)
Mowgli (Rudyard Kipling - The Jungle Book)
Little Nell (Charles Dickens - The Old Curiosity Shop)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Kate Douglas Wiggin)
David Copperfield
David Copperfield and his Mother (this illustration was positioned as a so-called frontispiece in the book, just before the title page)
Little Women
Little Women (while Miss Smith illustrated the book by Louisa May Alcott with a very similar composition used as the frontispiece, this illustration was originally published as the title of the Good Housekeeping Magazine in February 1923)
Jackanapes
Jackanapes (Miss Smith illustrated numerous books, but I couldn't find any written by Juliana Horatia Ewing, so it seems this picture was done specially for this project)
Tiny Tim
Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim (this illustration was also used as a cover for Good Housekeeping Magazine, published in December 1922)
Hans Brinker
Hans Brinker and His Sister Gretel (it looks like that picture was created for the book Boys and Girls of Bookland)
Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (another illustration by Miss Smith, done only for this book)
The Little Lame Prince
The Little Lame Prince (again, illustration for this project, now, of course in high demand as a poster, a postcard, etc.)
Heidi, the Alpine Rose
Heidi (Jessie Willcox Smith illustrated book Heidi, which was published in 1922 for the very same publisher as this book, but this specific picture was made for the cover of Good Housekeeping Magazine, published in August 1923)
Mowgli
Mowgli (this illustration is the only scene from The Jungle Book, pictured by Miss Smith, so it was done for Boys and Girls of Bookland)
Little Nell
Little Nell and Her Grandfather (another original creation by Jessie Willcox Smith, this time for the portrait of the character from The Old Curiosity Shop by Dickens, the third illustration for one of his classics)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (Miss Smith made only this illustration for Kate Douglas Wiggin's bestseller and it was done especially for the book by Nora Archibald Smith)
Please note, how skillfully Jessie Willcox Smith uses her color palette. Her red colors, for instance, are always present in strategic positions to enliven the scenes, yet never dominating them.
She was a master of mixed media, always using everything, from charcoal to aquarelles and oils to achieve the effect she believed it should be created. Her process of work always started with a selection of paper or canvas, where she looked for a suitable pattern of fibers to incorporate into the background of the picture.