Elinore Blaisdell (October 15, 1900 – 1994) was an American illustrator known for her work on Bulfinch's Mythology (1947), Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare, Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, and A. E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad (1932).

Elinore Blaisdell
Born
Eleanor Blaisdell

October 15, 1900
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 22, 1994
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation(s)Illustrator, writer, designer, editor

Early life and education

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Blaisdell was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Edward Kendall Blaisdell and Sara Elizabeth Harris Blaisdell. Her father was a lumber dealer; both of her parents died when she was young.[1][2] She was a student of Robert Brackman at the Art Students League of New York, and studied drawing with Naum Los. She attended Pratt Institute, and the Slade School of Fine Art in London.[3]

Career

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Blaisdell began making illustrations for print in her childhood; she had a drawing published on the children's page of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1911.[4] She wrote, illustrated, and edited books, mostly for young readers. From 1950 to 1979 she also designed hundreds of greeting cards, under several pseudonyms.[3] She won the Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize from the Ford Foundation in 1939, for a children's book she wrote and illustrated, Falcon Fly Back, based on her late husband's research.[5] She was a friend of writer Edith Hamilton in New York.[6]

Blaisdell moved to Bradford, Pennsylvania, in 1971, and to Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1979. In 1980 she showed eight of her paintings, mostly still lifes, at the Tremellen Gallery in Lancaster.[3]

Selected publications

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In addition to her work in books, Blaisdell made illustrations for periodicals including The American Parade.[7]

  • Falcon Fly Back (1938, writer and illustrator)[5]
  • Elizabeth: The Tudor Princess by Marian King (1940, illustrator)[8]
  • God's Troubadour by Sophie Jewett (1940, illustrator)[9][10]
  • Stories of King Arthur (1941, illustrator)[11]
  • Theodosia: Daughter of Aaron Burr by Anne Colver (1941, illustrator)[12][13]
  • Boy of the Woods: The Story of John James Audubon by Maie Lounsbury Wells and Dorothy Fox (1942, illustrator)[14]
  • The Emperor's Nephew by Marian W. Magoon (1942, illustrator)[15][16]
  • Grubby Gets Clean by Mary Ellen Vorse (1943, illustrator)[17]
  • Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb and Mary Lamb (1943, illustrator)[18]
  • Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1946 edition, illustrator)[19]
  • The Double Birthday Present by Mabel Leigh Hunt (1947, illustrator)[20][21]
  • Bulfinch's Mythology (1947, illustrator)[22]
  • Rhymes and Verses: Collected Poems for Young People by Walter de la Mare (1947, illustrator)[23][24]
  • Tales of the Undead: Vampires and Visitants (1947, editor and illustrator)[25][26]
  • The Real Book About Abraham Lincoln by Michael Gorham (1951, illustrator)[27]

Personal life

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She married writer Melrich "Mike" Vonelm Rosenberg in 1928. Rosenberg died in 1937, when he was 33 years old.[28] Blaisdell died in 1994, at age 94, in Lancaster.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Mrs. Edward K. Blaisdell". Brooklyn Citizen. 27 November 1903. p. 3. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Edward K. Blaisdell". The Sun. 28 February 1913. p. 9. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b c Abramson, Herbert (13 July 1980). "A Good Realist is Forever: Artist Elinore Blaisdell Rediscovered". Sunday News. p. 64. Archived from the original on 7 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Blaisdell, Eleanor (25 April 1911). "Indian Maiden". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. p. 23. Archived from the original on 6 May 2024. Retrieved 6 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "Gets $2,000 Book Award; Elinore Blaisdell Receives Prize for 'Falcon, Fly Back'". The New York Times. 14 November 1939. p. 21. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  6. ^ Houseman, Victoria (2023). American Classicist: The Life and Loves of Edith Hamilton. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 327, 367. ISBN 978-0-691-23619-3. OCLC 1342508559 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Blaisdell, Elinore (April 1926). "[Illusration for Poor Columbine by Elias Lieberman]". The American Parade. 1 (2): 155. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Hollowell, Lillian (October 1946). "Biography for Young Readers". The Elementary English Review. 23 (6): 265. ISSN 0888-1030. JSTOR 41382940.
  9. ^ Beust, Nora Ernestine; Clift, Eleanore F. (1940). A Supplement to '500 Books for Children'. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 5. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024 – via Google Books.
  10. ^ Jewett, Sophie (1940). God's Troubador; the Story of Saint Francis of Assisi. Illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. New York: T.Y. Crowell Co. OCLC 1295782. OL 20645022W – via Internet Archive.
  11. ^ Howey, Ann F.; Reimer, Stephen Ray, eds. (2006). A Bibliography of Modern Arthuriana (1500-2000). Cambridge, England: Boydell & Brewer. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-84384-068-8. OCLC 666925187 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Buell, Ellen Lewis (11 May 1941). "The New Books for Younger Readers". The New York Times Book Review. p. 10. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  13. ^ Colver, Anne (1941). Theodosia, Daughter of Aaron Burr. Illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. OCLC 617640. OL 15870862W – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ Eaton, Anne T. (19 July 1942). "The New Books for Younger Readers". The New York Times Book Review. p. 8. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  15. ^ "A Selected List of Current Books - Children's Books - Upper Grades and High School". Wisconsin Library Bulletin. Division of Library Services, Department of Public Instruction. June 1942. p. 100. Archived from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024 – via Google Books.
  16. ^ Magoon, Marian Austin (Waite) (1942). The Emperor's Nephew; A Story of Charlemagne. Illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. OCLC 7581709. OL 7661753W – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ Eaton, Anne T. (7 March 1943). "For Younger Readers". The New York Times Book Review. p. 55.
  18. ^ Eaton, Anne T. (4 April 1943). "New Books for Younger Readers". The New York Times Book Review. p. 58. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  19. ^ Clark, Beverly Lyon (2022). "Mobilizing the Little Women: Images of Transport and the Domestic". In Shealy, Daniel (ed.). Little Women at 150. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-4968-3802-5. OCLC 1289618287 – via Google Books.
  20. ^ "For Younger Readers". The New York Times Book Review. 28 September 1947. p. 27. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  21. ^ Hunt, Mabel Leigh (1947). The Double Birthday Present. Illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. OCLC 655398. OL 15399542W – via Internet Archive.
  22. ^ Bulfinch, Thomas (1947). Bulfinch's Mythology: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, Legends of Charlemagne; with dictionary index. Illustrated by Elinore Blaisdell. New York: T. Y. Crowell Co. OCLC 675811 – via Internet Archive.
  23. ^ Leeper, Angela (2006). Poetry in Literature for Youth. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-1-4616-7055-1. OCLC 62172746. OL 5714649W – via Google Books.
  24. ^ de la Mare, Walter (1988) [1947]. Rhymes and Verses: Collected Poems for Children. With drawings by Elinore Blaisdell. New York: H. Holt. ISBN 978-0-8050-0848-7. OCLC 18552438 – via Internet Archive.
  25. ^ Cazacu, Matei (2017). Dracula. BRILL. p. 275. ISBN 978-90-04-34921-6. OCLC 985654343 – via Google Books.
  26. ^ Charles, Louise (1 June 1947). "Burying-Grounds, Tombs and Ruins; 'Tales of Undead' Not for the Faint-hearted". Tulsa World. p. 55. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ Mickenberg, Julia L. (2006). Learning from the Left: Children's Literature, the Cold War, and Radical Politics in the United States. Oxford University Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-19-515280-7. OCLC 62288079 – via Google Books.
  28. ^ "Melrich V. Rosenberg; Author, a Graduate of Cornell in 1925, Dies Here at 33". The New York Times. 10 December 1937. p. 25. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  29. ^ "Elinore Blaisdell, 94, lifelong artist". Lancaster New Era. 23 November 1994. p. 23. Archived from the original on 5 May 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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