' Colour work had
advanced to such a stage that I knew from the beautiful
reproductions in Arthur Rackham's `Rheingold and Valkyrie' and
several other books on the market, that time so spent would not
be lost. Mr. Doubleday had assured me personally that I might
count on exact reproduction, and such details of type and paper
as I chose to select. I used the easel made for me when a girl,
under the supervision of my father, and I threw my whole heart
into the work of copying each line and delicate shading on those
wonderful wings, `all diamonded with panes of quaint device,
innumerable stains and splendid dyes,' as one poet describes
them. There were times, when in working a mist of colour over
another background, I cut a brush down to three hairs. Some of
these illustrations I sent back six and seven times, to be worked
over before the illustration plates were exact duplicates of the
originals, and my heart ached for the engravers, who must have
had Job-like patience; but it did not ache enough to stop me
until I felt the reproduction exact. This book tells its own
story of long and patient waiting for a specimen, of watching, of
disappointments, and triumphs. I love it especially among my
book children because it represents my highest ideals in the
making of a nature book, and I can take any skeptic afield and
prove the truth of the natural history it contains.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67