The Elves in Mischief. Antique print for children, c1915.

by Stuart Hardy, Evelyn

Elves and Insects with food, chased by Gnomes.

Wood engraving by E. Stuart Hardy for The Book of Gnomes, written by Fred E. Weatherly. First edition published in London in 1895 by Ernest Nister. This edition published in 1915 (later hand-colour). Evelyn Stuart Hardy was the pseudonym of Beatrice Evelyn Elizabeth Hardy (1865-1935), who was born in Clifton, Bristol, to a family of artists.

Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929) was a London-based barrister who worked the western circuit to Bristol, and during the first world war pleaded cases for military courts in the Salisbury Plain. Sometimes at night, between appointments, or on the train between trials, he wrote childrens stories, songs and poems - about 3,000! About half were set to music and published. His best known lyrics were for the well-known song, 'Danny Boy' and 'Roses of Picardy'. 

On the reverse of this illustration is The Fairy Ring, an illustrated poem with the gnomes mowing the grass for the fairies delicate feet. E. Stuart Hardy's illustrations for The Book of Gnomes are some of the most delightful children's illustrations ever done.

To the border of the image measures 202 x 273mm (8 x 10 3/4 inches). The paper has the usual age-discolouration (which compliments the forest settings of the illustrations), and there is a conservation-repaired tear at the upper edge of the page.