Sybil Tawse
Sybil Tawse, English artist and illustrator.
Life
Sybil Tawse was born on 26 September, 1886, the fifth child of George Tawse and Elizabeth Ann Tawse. The family lived in Bishopwearmouth in County Durham. She went to London to study at Lambeth School of Art and The Royal School of Art, where she was a King's Prize Scholar and a Silver and Bronze Medallist, exhibiting at the Royal Academy and at the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery. In London she lived on Gloucester Road, South Kensington, with her sisters Catherine and Gladys, a jeweler, then with Gladys in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, building a steady career illustrating books, designing posters, and portrait painting. Tawse never married, dying in Portsmouth on 6 February, 1971 at the age of 84.Work
Sybil Tawse contributed illustrations to a number of books, as follows:Our Own Story Book, Nister 1908, 2 colour platesNister's Holiday Annual edited by Alfred C. Playne, Nister 1909, illustrationThe Essays of Elia by Charles Lamb, Chapman & Hall 1910, 24 colour platesAunt Judith: The Story of a Loving Life by Grace Beaumont, Nelson 1910, 4 colour platesDulcie's Love Story by Evelyn Everett Green, Nelson 1910, 4 colour platesFunny Folks, Nelson 1910, 4 colour platesTales After Tea, Nelson 1912, colour frontisStories for All Times, Nister 1913, endpaper illustrationsThe Fairchild Family by Mrs Sherwood, A & C Black 1913, 8 colour platesCranford by Mrs. Gaskell, A & C Black 1914, 8 colour platesTales from the Poets arranged by W.J. Glover, A & C Black 1915, 12 colour platesThe Heroes or Greek Fairy Tales for my Children by Charles Kingsley, A & C Black 1915, 8 colour platesThe Ideal Home by Matilda Lees-Dods, The Waverley Book Company 1916, 36 colour platesStories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch, Thomas Crowell ca 1919, 8 colour platesThe Count Of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, A & C Black 1920, 8 colour platesMr. Midshipman Easy by Captain Fredrich Marryat, A & C Black 1921, 8 colour platesThat Boarding School Girl by Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Oxford UP 1925, wrap-around colour cover Miss Esperance and Mr Wycherly by L. Allen Harker, John Murray 1926, colour frontis and 44 illustrationsCatriona by R.L. Stevenson, Nelson 1926, colour frontisXmas shopping, Sybil Tawse poster for the London Underground 1927In The Swiss Mountains by Johanna Spyri, Thomas Crowell 1929, 8 colour platesSilas Marner by George Eliot, Nelson 1929, 8 illustrationsJohn Halifax Gentleman by Mrs Craik, Oxford UP 1930, colour frontis and 4 illustrationsOur Child's Red Letter Days by Marion Allbutt, Harrap 1931, 4 colour platesMother Goose, Harrap 1932, dustwrapper illustration, 12 colour plates, and about 200 illustrationsAnne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, L.C. Page 1933, 8 colour platesThe Goodieman's Whistle by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, Oxford UP 1935, 7 illustrationsPollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter, Harrap 1938, 8 colour platesGlen Robin by F.J.E. Bennett, Nelson 1941, colour frontis and 16 illustrationsRead Me a Story compiled by Frank Waters, Harrap 1974, 7 illustrations from Mother Goose Playtime Reading with Mother compiled by Frank Waters, Harrap 1979, 10 illustrations from Mother GooseBooks undated by the publisher use the year of publication shown in the British Library catalogue.