The Amateur Circus at Nutley by Peter Newall 1894

Peter Sheaf Hersey Newell (March 5, 1862 – January 15, 1924) was an American artist and writer. He created picture books and illustrated new editions of many children's books. A native of

McDonough County, Illinois McDonough County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 32,612. Its county seat is Macomb. The Macomb, IL Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of McDonough County. History McDo ...

, Newell built a reputation in the 1880s and 1890s for his humorous drawings and poems, which appeared in ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'', ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'', ''

Scribner's Magazine ''Scribner's Magazine'' was an American periodical published by the publishing house of Charles Scribner's Sons from January 1887 to May 1939. ''Scribner's Magazine'' was the second magazine out of the Scribner's firm, after the publication of ' ...

'', ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'', ''

Judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

'', and other publications. He later wrote and illustrated several popular children's books, such as ''Topsys and Turvys'' (1893), a collection of poems and images which could be viewed upside-down or right-side-up; ''The Hole Book'' (1908), which had a literal hole at the center of each page to indicate the path of a bullet; and ''The Slant Book'' (1910), which took the shape of a

rhomboid Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled. A parallelogram with sides of equal length (equilateral) is a rhombus but not a rhomboid. ...

and told the story of a baby carriage careening down a hill.Dennis Wepman "Newell, Peter" ''American National Biography Online''. February 2000. Retrieved on July 6, 2009. Newell often illustrated the works of other authors, such as

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

Stephen Crane Stephen Crane (November 1, 1871 – June 5, 1900) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer. Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism an ...

John Kendrick Bangs John Kendrick Bangs (May 27, 1862 – January 21, 1922) was an American author, humorist, editor and satirist. Biography He was born in Yonkers, New York. His father Francis N. Bangs was a lawyer in New York City, as was his brother, Francis S ...

, and

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

. He also created a comic strip serial, ''The Naps of Polly Sleepyhead'', which debuted in the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

'' in 1905. He died in

Little Neck, New York Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

in 1924. Newell's great granddaughter, Laura Lydecker, was also an artist and children's book illustrator. Lydecker illustrated editions of

Wind in the Willows ''The Wind in the Willows'' is a children's novel by the British novelist Kenneth Grahame, first published in 1908. It details the story of Mole, Ratty, and Badger as they try to help Mr. Toad, after he becomes obsessed with motorcars and gets ...

and The Country Mouse and the City Mouse.

References

External links

* * *
Peter Newell's Books
at nonsenselit.org
''The Rocket Book''
From the Collections at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

* * Peter Newell Family Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. * Peter Newell Collection. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. 1862 births 1924 deaths American cartoonists American children's writers People from McDonough County, Illinois American children's book illustrators {{US-comics-creator-stub