Japanese Fairytales / Indian and Bengali Folk Stories
The Lure of the East : British OrientalismHis watercolors were the perfect vehicle for the new illustrated books of the early 20th century. He was exhibiting at the Royal Academy as early as 1893, so this appears to have been his focus. It wasn't until 1896, at the age of 34, that he began dabbling at illustrating books. One of his earliest books was The Oracle of Baal in 1896 but he wasn't ready to set the publishing world on fire just yet. His third book was H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds in 1898. A smattering of books appeared over the next decade but by 1909, the publishers were immersed in a public demand for colour plate books spurred by the wonderful efforts of Rackham and Dulac. But as soon as he started illustrating indian and japanese fairytales, he immediately caught the eye of the publishing world...