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| Creator: | William Roger Snow (pseudonym Richard André) | ||
| Title: | Richard André Papers | ||
| Dates: | 1885 | ||
| Quantity: | .60 cubic feet (1 box) | ||
| Identification: | DG0028 | ||
| Abstract: | The Richard André Papers consist of an 1885 watercolor illustration from an unknown children's book. English artist William Roger Snow (1834-1907) published under the names Clifford Merton and Richard André. He was a prolific and well-known Victorian-era writer and illustrator, producing more than one hundred books in the 1880s alone. |
English artist William Roger Snow was born the eldest son of a distinguished family in Mayfair, London, on March 6, 1834. He entered Cambridge University in 1854 but unknown minor infractions forced him to leave the university within the year. Upon inheriting his fortune in 1855 at the age of twenty-one, Snow promptly spent the whole of it and apparently had no recourse but to join the army. Snow made the army his career, distinguishing himself over the next twenty years in detachments to the Crimea, Hong Kong, Great Britain, Canada, and Ireland. Influenced by his stay in Hong Kong he published his first work, Sketches of Chinese Life & Character (1860). He also exhibited paintings during the 1860s and by the early 1870s began publishing volumes of one-act plays. His growing involvement with the theatre, however, led to an adulterous affair with a Dublin actress that ended in scandal and legal action when their respective spouses discovered their infidelities. Snow's army career was ruined in 1875 when he abandoned his wife and duties and disappeared rather than be transferred by the embarrassed British military.
For the next several years Snow lived in England under the alias Clifford Merton. He produced a prolific amount of work during this time, both as an author and illustrator of adult and children's literature. The majority of his works were published under the Dean & Son imprint, although many were issued anonymously. Sometime between 1880 and 1881 his formerly abandoned wife discovered his identity as Clifford Merton. After further scandal and subsequent divorce, Snow/Merton once again disappeared and changed his name to Richard André. As Richard André he soon became professionally partnered with Juliana Ewing, with whom he enjoyed great success as an illustrator. His reputation continued to flourish after her death in 1885, and during the decade he produced as many as one hundred books. In addition to writing and illustrating his own books, André eventually branched out into the photography and printing industry and became a successful businessman. He retired from his business in the mid-1890s, having remarried and become a pillar of respectability in his Hertfordshire community. André died of heart failure in 1907, at seventy-five years of age.
Sources:
Compiled from sources within the Richard André
Papers
The Secret Lives of Richard André, (1834-1907):
A Lecture Given at the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books, November
2, 1989, by Thomas E. Blom (Toronto: Toronto Public Library, 1990)
The Richard André Papers consist of a single 1885 watercolor illustration of a bear on hind paws threatening a boy perched on a rock ledge. Although the publication in which this illustration appeared is unknown, it almost certainly is a drawing for a children's book.
Series and Subseries |
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| A. Illustration (1885) | ||
Noncirculating; available for research.
The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.
(Identify the item), Richard André Papers, de Grummond Children's Literature Collection, University of Southern Mississippi Libraries, (cite the box/folder number).
These papers were purchased by the de Grummond Children's Literature Collection of the University of Southern Mississippi Libraries from Justin G. Schiller, Ltd. in August 1973.
Processed by C. Alder, May 2003. Encoded into EAD Version 1.0 by Danielle L. Bishop. This finding aid is the product of a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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A. Illustration |
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| 1/1 | Watercolor illustration of a bear on hind paws threatening a boy perched on a rock ledge, 1885, (1 item) | ||||||||||||
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