Kate Greenaway

Preface APART from her work, full record of which is made in the following pages, there was in the life of Kate Greenaway one outstanding feature-her friendship with John Ruskin. To this, without the permission of the great critics legal representatives, no sort of justice could have been done. It is therefore our first duty and pleasure to put on record our great indebtedness to Mrs. Arthur Severn, Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, K.C., and Mr. George Allen, for their liberality in allowing us to make copious extracts from Ruskins side of the vigorous correspondence which was carried on between him and Kate Greenaway for so many years this generous permission is only accompanied by the provison that, in accordance with the undertaking announced by the editors and publisher of the Library Edition of Ruskins complete work, all of his published letters shall ultimately be included in that noble issue. These letters have here been printed with the strictest adherence to Ruskins peculiar method of punctuation-long and short dashes in place of commas, semicolons, and the like. From Kate Greenaways side of the correspondence abundant drafts have also been made, for they reveal the writers character and method of thought better than any independent estimate could do. That no violence has been done to her native modesty is proved by the following letter Kate Greenaway kindly communicated to us by Mrs. Severn. It was written at the time when the preparation of the ultimate of under discussior I feel it is very kind of you to consider my wishes abour the letters, as I know of course you could do as you wished about them. In the later letters.....