The Animal Show by Blanche Fisher Wright

The Animal Show by Blanche Fisher Wright 

C.1918

Color Lithograph

Featured here is an antique color plate titled "The Animal Show," which stands as a full-page illustration from the 1918 first edition of The Peter Patter Book: Rhymes for Children. Masterfully drawn by celebrated American illustrator Blanche Fisher Wright to visualize a nursery rhyme written by Leroy F. Jackson, the bustling composition captures a family arriving at a whimsical carnival. In the foreground, a woman wearing an elegant, tiered amber gown and a wide-brimmed hat stands beside a gentleman in a tall top hat and a young boy viewing the festive grounds from behind. The busy background brings Jackson's playful poetry to life, depicting a lion dining at a table, a tightrope acrobat riding a white horse, a monkey riding a bicycle, and a small animal drifting in a hot air balloon basket. Wright's signature style anchors the scene, utilizing clean, distinct black outlines filled with the soft, flat color tones characteristic of early 20th-century children's literature.

The piece is situated within the "Golden Age" of children's book illustration, a period when visually dominant storytelling began to replace purely text-based books. Published by Rand McNally & Co., The Peter Patter Book was designed to bring the whimsical spirit of Mother Goose into a modern American context through Jackson's rhythmic, humorous verses. Blanche Fisher Wright is best known for her landmark 1916 work The Real Mother Goose, which established the "quintessential" visual identity for nursery rhymes that persists today. This specific piece is significant as it reflects the era's shift toward high-quality, visually appealing art intended to foster emotional intelligence and imagination in young children. Wright’s ability to capture both the "innocence and mischief" of the early 1900s has made her original 1918 illustrations highly collectible artifacts of American literary history.

Dimensions: H 11 ½” x 9 ½”W

Condition: Excellent Condition