William Stobbs (27 June 1914 in

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

– 6 April 2000) was a British

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

. From 1950 to 1958, he served as the head of the design department at the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades. He later moved to Kent, England where he became principal of

Maidstone College of Art The Kent Institute of Art & Design (KIAD, often ) was an art school based across three campuses in the county of Kent, in the United Kingdom. It was formed by the amalgamation of three independent colleges: Canterbury College of Art, Maidstone Col ...

. Stobbs won the 1959

Kate Greenaway Medal The Kate Greenaway Medal is a British literary award that annually recognises "distinguished illustration in a book for children". It is conferred upon the illustrator by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) ...

from the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge management, knowle ...

, recognising the year's best children's book illustration by a

British subject The term "British subject" has several different meanings depending on the time period. Before 1949, it referred to almost all subjects of the British Empire (including the United Kingdom, Dominions, and colonies, but excluding protectorates ...

. Two books were cited (a practice repeated only for 1975 and 1982), ''Kashtanka'' and ''A Bundle of Ballads'', both published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

. ''Kashtanka'' is an edition of the 1887 story by

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

. The city dog Kashtanka is frightened by an army marching band and runs away, gets lost, gets taken in by a stranger. ''A Bundle of Ballads'' is an edition of

Child Ballads The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''T ...

compiled by

Ruth Manning-Sanders Ruth Manning-Sanders (21 August 1886 – 12 October 1988) was an English poet and author born in Wales, known for a series of children's books for which she collected and related fairy tales worldwide. She published over 90 books in her lifetime ...

. Stobbs also illustrated '' Gianni and the Ogre'' ( Methuen, 1970), a collection of 18 Mediterranean

fairy tales A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

selected and retold by Manning-Sanders, one of her numerous anthologies, as well as the young adult historical fiction ''

Rebellion in the West Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

'' (Oliver and Boyd, 1962) by Mary Drewery. Most of his works most widely held in WorldCat participating libraries were written by Ronald Syme: juvenile biographies of Magellan, De Soto, Balboa, da Gama, Hudson, Cartier, Vespucci, Raleigh, Pizarro, John Smith of Virginia, Captain John Paul Jones, Columbus, Captain Cook, Verrazano, Cabot, Bolivar, Cortes, La Salle, Champlain, Marquette and Joliet, and Drake. Nevertheless, WorldCat identifies Stobbs with the genres

folktale A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally. Folktale may also refer to: Categories of stories * Folkloric tale from oral tradition * Fable (written form of the a ...

and

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

, which recognises his editions of tales from Perrault or the Brothers Grimm or traditional English tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs; and his illustrations of modern retellings of international tales. His single most widely held work is ''Poems from Ireland'' (New York: Crowell, 1972), ten centuries of Irish poetry anthologised by William Cole. Some of his papers ar
collected at the University of Minnesota.

References

External links

* English children's writers English illustrators British children's book illustrators Kate Greenaway Medal winners 1914 births 2000 deaths Place of death missing {{UK-illustrator-stub