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"THE BABY'S OPERA" AND WALTER CRANE.
Of the many great artists of England, Walter Crane is accounted among
the ablest and most gifted. As a painter on the canvas he stands high
with critics; and in this country he is most widely known by his
designs of colored picture-books for children. This is what one critic
says of him in this regard: "Walter Crane has every charm. His design
is rich, original, and full of discovery. His drawing is at once manly
and sweet, and his color is as delightful as a garden of roses in
June. And with these accomplishments he comes full-handed to the
children,--and to their parents and lovers too!--and makes us all rich
with a pleasure none of us ever knew as children, and never could have
looked to know."
After this, it is very discouraging to learn, from a letter of Mr.
Crane's to the Editor of SCRIBNER'S MONTHLY, that one may be deceived
in buying Mr. Crane's books. This is particularly the case with "The
Baby's Opera." So now we tell the readers of ST. NICHOLAS that every
true copy of "The Baby's Opera" bears on its title-page the name
of Messrs. George Routledge & Sons, the publishers, as well as Mr.
Crane's, and that of the engraver and printer, Mr. Edmund Evans. To a
purchaser, it would matter little that there were two editions of a
work as long as the unauthorized one was exactly like the original;
but Mr. Crane says that "the pirated edition grossly misrepresents
his drawings, both in style and coloring; that the arrangement of the
pages is different; and that the full-page colored plates are complete
travesties, and very coarse ones, of the originals." And it does not
at all improve the false copy that it is to be bought for less than
the true one costs. It would be bad enough merely to deprive Mr. Crane
of the profits of selling an exact imitation of his book, but it is
far worse to put a _bad_ sham before the people as the work of a true
artist. This not only lessens his gains, but also takes away from his
good name, besides spoiling the taste of the youngsters.
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