Randolph Caldecott: The Man Who Could Not Stop Drawing by Leonard Marcus (review)

With an enthusiastic tone and a keen eye for fascinating and relevant details, noted literary historian Marcus chronicles the life and work of eighteenth-century illustrator Randolph Caldecott, beginning with Caldecott’s birth and then following the man through an ailing childhood, to his employment as a bank clerk in Manchester, to his networking with the British publishing world that eventually led to the publication of his works, to his ultimately untimely death. Crisp reproductions accompany the text while the thick, creamy paper lends an old-fashioned richness to the simple layout. Caldecott’s life is presented in one fluid narrative, essentially mirroring a picture book, but chapter separations and headings would have been helpful for navigating the wealth of information presented here, especially since both the accessible tone and the trim size make this appealing to younger readers who might be interested in the man behind the medal that appears on their favorite books. A timeline, source notes, and a bibliography are included.