If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 483

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas postcard greeting illustrated by Millicent Sowerby, 1920

 

A while back Bob and I discovered a small, family-owned shop called Laughing Elephant.  They have their own printing press and make reproductions of vintage postcards, books, prints, and stickers.  The postcards shared this week for Christmas are from their shop and their collection of vintage illustrations. 

 

The card above shows children playing with toys on Christmas morning and was illustrated by Amy Millicent Sowerby known professionally as Millicent Sowerby.  A painter and illustrator, she was born in Gateshead, England in 1878, the fourth of six children.  Her father, John G. Sowerby, was also an artist.  Although Millicent took some art classes, she was largely self-taught.  She worked with watercolors and oils doing landscapes before becoming interested in children’s illustration.  “Postcards for the Little Ones,” was one of her post card series and sold thousands of copies. 

 

Sowerby was one of the first women to illustrate an edition of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  Her illustrations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses received an excellent review.  She also illustrated three books written by her sister Githa.

 

Millicent continued to paint into her 80s.  She never married and died in 1967. 

 

 

 

Christmas postcard illustrated by Millicent Sowerby, 1920

 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millicent_Sowerby