Helen Haywood Explained

Helen Riviere Haywood (December 28, 1907 – 1995) was an English artist and writer, known for her illustrations of children's books and her fore-edge and binding paintings. She was the daughter of Mabel Riviere Calklin (b.1875) and her father was Arthur Haywood. She was the great-granddaughter of the noted British binder, Robert Riviere (d.1882).^[1]

Early life

Haywood was born in England in 1907,^[2] but was taken as a child to Chile, where her father, an engineer, worked on the trans-Andean railway. She remained in Chile until she was approximately 15 years old. Her experiences were recounted in an unpublished novel, Childhood in Chile.

Career

Her books were published by Thomas Nelson Ltd through the 1950s and 1960s. She created a series of books based around the character Peter Tiggywig and friends.

Other work includes Master Mouse the Madcap (1958), and Animal Playtime and Animal Worktime which appeared in the Look with Mother series, and a paperback series for children published by Nelson including 'Aesop's Fables'(1965) 'Brer Rabbit' and the 'Water Babies' (abridged)

Miss Haywood was a keen student of science and an amateur naturalist and anthropologist. Many of the books she illustrated for the publisher Hutchinson & Co., London, were keenly observed and scrupulously accurate depictions of plants, birds and animals. When commissioned to do illustrations for a children's book on dinosaurs, her research into the skin colors she subsequently chose for her dinosaur illustrations was cited by the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Haywood was also an important practitioner of fore-edge painting, where a watercolor painting is applied to the fanned edge of an older book ^{[1] [3]} and binding paintings.^[4] She became acquainted with the art forms through an uncle who was associated with the Bayntun-Riviere Bindery of Bath. She did several fore-edge and double fore-edge paintings on commission every year from the 1930s to the 1940s for often for Inman's Books, an antiquarian book dealer in New York City. She probably stopped painting for-edge paintings in the late 1940s, putting the majority of her art work in her publishing of illustrated children's books.^[1] She died in Bournemouth, England in 1995.

Selected works

Illustrated by Helen Haywood

Written by Isobel St Vincent

• Wanda the Panda (1939)^{[5] [6]}
• Woodland Verse (1940)^{[7] [8]}
• Figgles Frog Sees Life (1940)^[9]
• Sandy's Seven Tails (1943)^[10]
• All A-Growing: the adventures of two young gardeners (1943)^[10]
• The Helen Haywood Colour Book (1944)^[11]
• British Butterflies and Moths (1952)^[12]

Written by Geoffrey Ford

• Hedgehog's Holiday (1938) ^[13]

Written by others

• Ducks, geese, and swans, by Oscar J. Merne (1974)^[14]
• The Tortoise and the Ducks and other Aesop Fables (1963)

Written and illustrated by Helen Haywood

• The mouse that ran (1926)^{[15] [16]}
• The Happy Tree (1951)^[17]
• Peter Tiggywig Grows Up (1955)
• Peter Tiggywig Goes Camping (1955)
• Peter Tiggywig Runs Away (1956)
• Peter Tiggywig's Wonderful Train (1957)
• Peter Tiggywig At School (1958)
• Peter Tiggywig At The Fair (1958)
• Peter Tiggywig's Toy-shop (1958)
• Peter Tiggywig At Sea (1959)
• Peter Tiggywig At The Picnic (1960, 1961) *Peter Tiggywig's Birthday Party (1961)
• The New Noah's Ark of Rare Animals (1964)^[18]
• The days of the dinosaurs (1964, 1965)^[19]

Notes and References

1. Weber, Jeff, Annotated Dictionary of Fore-edge Painting Artists & Binders, Los Angeles, 2010, pp. pp.169-174.
2. Connelly, William. "The Life and Work of Helen Haywood (1907-1995)." IBIS Journal 3 - Diverse Talents (2009): 98-143.
3. Web site: Rare Books: Burke Fore-edge . Columbus College of Art and Design . 16 February 2019.
4. Web site: Gertz . Stephen J. . The Binding Paintings of Helen R. Haywood . Booktryst . 16 February 2019 . 3 October 2012.
5. News: Critic . Some New Books - Interesting Reading for West-Country Folk . 15 February 2019 . Exeter and Plymouth Gazette . 8 December 1939 . 5.
6. News: Books as Yuletide Gifts . 15 February 2019 . Belfast News-Letter . 9 December 1939 . 10.
7. News: Christmas Books . 14 February 2019 . The Age . 22 November 1940 . Melbourne, Australia . 13.
8. News: Orient and Occident . 16 February 2019 . The Scotsman . 5 December 1940 . 2.
9. News: Realms of Fancy . 14 February 2019 . The Scotsman . 5 December 1940 . 4.
10. News: For Younger Readers - Forest Folk; Nature Study . 16 February 2019 . The Scotsman . 25 November 1943 . 7.
11. News: Stories and Pictures . 14 February 2019 . The Scotsman . 23 November 1944 . 6.
12. News: For Younger Children . 14 February 2019 . The Guardian . 24 June 1952 . London, England . 3.
13. Reviews of Hedgehog's Holiday:
    • News: Farjeon . Eleanor . Authors v. Artists . 14 February 2019 . The Observer . 4 December 1938 . London, England . 18 .
    • News: Sharp . Evelyn . Best of Both Worlds . 14 February 2019 . The Guardian (Supplement to the Manchester Guardian) . 9 December 1938 . XIV .
14. News: Culpepper . Donnell . All Outdoors - Good season seen for chukar, quail . 15 February 2019 . The Independent . 24 October 1974 . Longbeach, California . C8.
15. News: Bookman . Christmas Reading - More Children's Books . 15 February 2019 . Sheffield Independent . 13 December 1926 . 7.
16. News: Children's Books . 14 February 2019 . Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer . 1 December 1926 . 5.
17. News: O'Brien . E.D. . Books of the Day For the Christmas Holidays . 14 February 2019 . Illustrated London News . 8 December 1951 . 41.
18. Edgar . Lois . Reviewed Work: The New Noah's Ark of Rare Animals. by Helen Haywood . The Quarterly Review of Biology . September 1966 . 41 . 3 . 308 . The University of Chicago Press. 2819943 . 10.1086/405065 .
19. News: Lewis . Naomi . Books for Children . 14 February 2019 . The Observer Weekend Review . 18 April 1965 . London, England . 26.