Our Cover Illustrator
Byam Shaw, born in Madras 28 January 1872, son of the Registrar of the HighCourt of Madras, displayed an early artistic promise which was recognised by Millaiswho recommended him to art school. The major influence on him always remainedthe Pre-Raphaelites.
He was successful in a wide range of media but later in his life, as his popularitywaned, he earned his living as a teacher. He also helped, in 1910, to found whatbecame known as the Byam Shaw School of Art. In 1999 this became part of theCentral Saint Martins College of Art, within which it still retains its independent andtraditional approach to drawing and painting.
The front cover is a Byam Shaw illustration for "I saw three ships" for Old KingCole's Book of Nursery Rhymes published in 1901.
In answer to the question
"And what do you think was in them then"
we learn that
"Three pretty girls were in them then"
and that
"One could whistle and another could sing,
and the other could play on the violin -
Such joy was there at my wedding,
New Year's Day in the morning."