Classic Book Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

November 17, 2022

Classic Book Illustrations by N.C. Wyeth

New to our collection of rare books are two illustrated Scribner’s classics- Westward Ho! and The Last of the Mohicans- both illustrated by American painter Newell Convers Wyeth. 

The publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons first commissioned Wyeth to illustrate Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island in 1911.  The 17 paintings that make up Treasure Island’s illustration set are celebrated in American book illustration, combining realistic action and a heightened contrast between light and shadow to enrich the story well beyond the text.

Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, at the Great Republic

These pictures made the Wyeth-illustrated edition of Treasure Island a favorite of generations of readers. So well received was his first book, that Wyeth illustrated a whole range of "boy's adventure books" for the Scribner's Classics series, including Kidnapped, Robin Hood, Westward Ho!, The Mysterious Island, The Boy's King Arthur, The Last of the Mohicans, and twenty other titles.  

Wyeth became known for a superb sense of color and his complex compositions. He had a talent for accentuating the palpable, dramatic tension inherent in the stories. Each of his Scribner’s Classics books featured full-color paste down illustrations on the front board and as many as nine or ten additional full-color illustrations throughout the story. The sheer size and scale of his book art, unusual in illustrations of the period, contributed to their heroic quality. “Wyeth's valiant and heroic characters created prototypes of our American heroes, which have lasted to set the standard for movie, television, and computer game heroes.” (National Museum of American Illustration). 

Because of his talent, the Scribner's Classics have never waned in popularity and the books he illustrated are coveted by collectors to this day.

"Uncas Slays a Deer" Illustration from James Fenimore Cooper’s The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757.

"John Oxenham" Illustration from Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley, Illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, 1924






Also in Blog

The Beautiful and the Damned: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Beautiful and the Damned: Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald

September 20, 2023

The Beautiful and the Damned, published in 1922 by F. Scott Fitzgerald, presents the reader with a fictionalized telling of the perpetually problematic relationship between Zelda and Frances Scott Key Fitzgerald.  The novel is not only a landmark in the career of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but a glimpse into past high-societies wrapped up in a rebound cover of blue leather and hand-worked gilding. 

View full article →

JFK and James Bond
JFK and James Bond

August 29, 2023

President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Ian Fleming’s spy novels, and helped propel him to fame in the American market.

View full article →

California in Three Maps
California in Three Maps

August 23, 2023

California has a very interesting mapping history. During and after the Mexican-American War, efforts to map California increased. Once gold was discovered in 1848, cartographers, geographers, and business men hurried to survey the land, lay claim to it, and, ultimately, market it to Americans heading west. When California joined the Union as the thirty-first state in 1851, interest in plotting California's landscapes skyrocketed in tandem with its population. Explore the history of California with these three maps from our collection. 

View full article →