Not currently on display at the V&A

Simple Simon

Illustration
ca.1898 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Ernest Nister (1842-1909) began his publishing career in 1885 when he acquired a lithographic workshop in Nürnberg and printed books for London publishers. In 1888 he became a publisher in his own right with offices at 24 St. Bride Street, London. He appointed the writer and editor, Robert Ellice Mack, as director.

Nister specialised in high quality colour printing for children in the last quarter of the 19th century. Movable books with various mechanisms became his speciality after 1890 (when be published his first stand-up book) but he also produced numerous picture books, annuals, poetry, nursery rhymes, calendars and greetings cards. He worked with a core of writers, including Clifton Bingham and Robert Ellice Mack, and illustrators, in particular Eveline Lance, Harriett M. Bennett, Edith A. Cubitt and Rosa Petherick.

E. Heatly's illustration appears in several of Ernest Nister's publications, including Mother Goose Jingles (no. 759) and The Favourite Nursery Rhymes (no. 912a), both published ca.1898. It illustrates the fourth verse of the popular nursery rhyme, Simple Simon:

Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
'Let me taste your ware'.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
'Show me first your penny';
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
'Indeed I have not any'.

Simple Simon went a-fishing
For to catch a whale;
All the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look
If plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Title<u>Simple Simon</u> (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour on card
Brief description
Watercolour drawing by E. Heatly, 1898; commissioned by Ernest Nister.
Physical description
Watercolour drawing on card of a little boy sitting on a stool wearing a jester's hat and a blue dress fishing in a bucket of water. The boy holds a fishing rod made from a stick with a piece of string attached. A little dog sits behind the bucket. Mounted on card.
Dimensions
  • Mount height: 307mm
  • Mount width: 260mm
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • Bookplate on verso reads: 'From the Library of Anne Renier and F.G. Renier'
  • Initialled in ink by Anne Renier on verso: 'AR'
  • Inscribed in blue crayon on verso; '47', 'P' and '12/12'
  • Inscribed in pencil on verso: 'Heatly'
  • Initialled in ink on verso: 'E.H.'
  • White label with decorative blue border pasted on top right corner verso, inscribed '7155'
  • Inscribed in ink on verso: 'XVII'
  • Inscribed in blue crayon on mount top: 'P'
Credit line
Donated by Anne Renier and F.G. Renier.
Object history
Drawn by E. Heatly ca.1898. Bequeathed to the V&A in 1970 by Anne and Fernand G. Renier as part of the Renier Collection.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Ernest Nister (1842-1909) began his publishing career in 1885 when he acquired a lithographic workshop in Nürnberg and printed books for London publishers. In 1888 he became a publisher in his own right with offices at 24 St. Bride Street, London. He appointed the writer and editor, Robert Ellice Mack, as director.

Nister specialised in high quality colour printing for children in the last quarter of the 19th century. Movable books with various mechanisms became his speciality after 1890 (when be published his first stand-up book) but he also produced numerous picture books, annuals, poetry, nursery rhymes, calendars and greetings cards. He worked with a core of writers, including Clifton Bingham and Robert Ellice Mack, and illustrators, in particular Eveline Lance, Harriett M. Bennett, Edith A. Cubitt and Rosa Petherick.

E. Heatly's illustration appears in several of Ernest Nister's publications, including Mother Goose Jingles (no. 759) and The Favourite Nursery Rhymes (no. 912a), both published ca.1898. It illustrates the fourth verse of the popular nursery rhyme, Simple Simon:

Simple Simon met a pieman
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
'Let me taste your ware'.

Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
'Show me first your penny';
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
'Indeed I have not any'.

Simple Simon went a-fishing
For to catch a whale;
All the water he had got
Was in his mother's pail.

Simple Simon went to look
If plums grew on a thistle;
He pricked his fingers very much,
Which made poor Simon whistle.
Other number
Nister - Previous Renier Collection pressmark
Collection
Library number
RENIER.299

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Record createdFebruary 26, 2008
Record URL
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