Come Hither and Frolic and Play

Known mostly for his faerie-world color work, Warwick Goble was also pretty adroit with pen and ink rendering.

Warwick Goble — The Sea-Fairies

Slow sail'd the weary mariners and saw,

Betwixt the green brink and the running foam,

Sweet faces, rounded arms, and bosoms prest

To little harps of gold; and while they mused,

Whispering to each other half in fear,

Shrill music reach'd them on the middle sea.

. . .

O hither, come hither and furl your sails,

Come hither to me and to me:

Hither, come hither and frolic and play . . .

Ruby Lore

"What princess ever puts only one ruby in her hair?"

Warwick Goble — from The Origin of Rubies

Folk Tales of Bengal — 1912

Tiffany & Co

Preliminary design for a ninety-carat star sapphire

& 39 Burmese rubies

for the World's Columbian Exposition

Tiffany & Co

Design for Edwardian ruby, diamond and platinum necklace

ca 1905

Tiffany & Co

Design for a ruby bee pin — 1889

Tiffany & Co

Design for a ruby and diamond arrow pin — ca 1880

Indian Myth & Legend

I bring you once again illustrations that transcend space and time by Warwick Goble,—these for a 1913 edition of Indian Myth and Legend by Donald MacKenzie.

Goble remains firmly within my top 5 favorite classic illustrators. Once again I have to say that the sum is greater than the parts of his work, defying logical analysis of his magical art.

Goble's Chaucer

These are the remaining illustrations of Warwick Goble that I've been posting for the beautiful 1912 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Cleopatra's Galley at the Battle of Actium

Medea

Aeneas and Achates Meeting Venus

Criseyde Leaving Troy

'There I Could See Winged Wonders Fly'

Criseyde and Her Maidens Listening to a Reading

Alceste and the God of Love

Merciless

Another of Warwick Goble's illustrations of merciless beauty, from the Chaucer book we've been quoting from, this one entitled To Merciless Beauty. Chaucer's work never looked so good.

Fairest Company of Ladies

More of the ever lovely Warwick Goble illustrations for Chaucer's Poetical Works.

'The fairest company of ladies that ever man had seen'

'Do as you list, I will be ever known your thrall'

The Parliament of Birds

The Greek Fleet

The First Meeting

Flora and Zephyr

Time for another of the beautiful Warwick Goble illustrations from the Chaucer book that I've been doling out. More to come.

'Flora and Zephyr Had Fixed Their Dwelling There'

Fairy Tale-ish

More of Warwick Goble's fairy-tale-ish illustrations for the 1912 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer.

Griselda Robed in Cloth of Gold

January Helping May into the Tree

Canacee and the Falcon

Dorigen Pledging Aurelius

The Angel Presenting the Crowns to Cecily and Valerian

Worthy of Completists

Before the holidays I began a series of posting Warwick Goble illustrations from a beautiful 1912 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer. Here are five more of the illustrations, not the best of the book, but worthy of completists, as I'm showing them in the order they appear as you would read the works.

The best are yet to come.

Virginius and Virginia

The Three Revelers and the Gold

The Knight and the Old Woman

The Knight and the Old Woman at Court

Griselda and the Duke

Zenobia

Another of Warwick Goble's beautiful illustrations for Chaucer's poetical works.

Zenobia

A Group of Gobles

A group of some more Warwick Goble illustrations for Chaucer's poetical works:

The Meeting in the Wood

Alison

'In the name of Christ,' cried this blind Briton, 'give me back my sight'

Constance and her child leaving Northumberland

'An Elf Queen will I verily love'

Emily

Another Goble illustration from a book of Chaucer poetical works.

Warwick Goble—Emily in the Garden

Goble's Chaucer

Warwick Goble is one of my top most favorite fairy tale illustrators and I am delighted with the fairy tale sensibility that he brought to The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, my edition published in 1912. It is one of my favorite illustrated books ever, and I will be posting the illustrations one at a time, in order of appearance in the book. I will only be posting one every now and then, but really, it's worth the effort to collect them all.

Warwick Goble—Theseus Returning in Triumph

Stupid of Me

Warwick Goble's fairy tale illustrations are gorgeous, pure and simple. It's stupid of me to even think of 'favorites' when it comes to classic fairy tale illustrators of the early 20th century. They are all the best, and Goble is right there among them. What a great colorist!