Material received from Evaline Ness between 1973 and 1976.
Non-circulating; available for research.
This 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.
Evaline Michelow Ness was born on April 24, 1911 in Union City, Ohio. She studied at Ball State Teachers College from 1931 to 1932, before deciding to pursue a career in art. She studied at the Chicago Art Institute from 1933 to 1935, intending to become a fashion artist. In 1938 she married Elliot Ness, a well known member of the F. B. I., and moved to Washington D. C. where she attended the Corcoran Art School for two years. From 1951 to 1952 she studied abroad at the Academia di Belle Arte in Rome. In 1960 Ness illustrated her first book for children, The Bridge by Charlton Osborn. Over the next few years, she illustrated a great many book jackets and picture books. Josephina February (1963) was the first book she both wrote and illustrated. It grew out of a year's stay in Haiti and was selected as a Notable Book by the American Library Association and an Honor Book by the New York Herald Tribune. Because printer's ink is flat, Ness' constant concern was how to get texture into that flatness. The primary challenge in illustrating children's books, she believed, was how to maintain freedom within limitation. Some of the techniques she has used to combat these limitations include woodcut, serigraphy, rubber-roller technique, ink splattering, and sometimes spitting.
In 1967 Ness received the Caldecott Medal for Sam, Bangs & Moonshine, which she wrote and illustrated. Two of the books she illustrated, A Pocketful of Cricket and Tom Tit Tot, were chosen Caldecott Honor Books in 1965 and 1966 respectively. Evaline Ness died in New York on August 12, 1986.
Sources:
The collection contains material from four books published between 1965 and 1973. The material is arranged alphabetically by title; for each title materials are arranged in the probable order in which they were created.
For Joey and the Birthday Present (1971), the story of a friendship between a brown field mouse and a pet white mouse, the collection includes a dummy, a complete set of color separations and materials for the dust jacket. Tom Tit Tot: An English Folk Tale (1965) is the tale of a woman who must guess the name of the small creature who helps her deceive her husband. If she fails, she must become the creature's bride. For this title the collection contains a dust jacket and a loose, unbound copy. When a young, inexperienced wizard comes to town, it isn't long before the people learn about the potent magic found in The Wizard's Tears (1975). For this title the collection has a dummy, galleys, a paste-up, jacket copy, a complete set of color separations, and a dust jacket. In The Woman of the Wood (1973), the woodcarver carves a woman out of a tree, the tailor clothes her, the teacher teaches her to speak and think, and then each man claims she belongs to him. For this title the collection includes a dummy, a complete set of color separations, and material for the dust jacket.
The Algernon Black Papers (DG0093) contains a typescript, edited and marked for the typesetter, for The Woman of the Wood. See also The Maxine Kumin Papers (DG0573).
Box/Folder
JOEY AND THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT by Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton,
illustrated by Evaline Ness (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971).
1/1 Dummy with text paste-ups, graphite and colored pencil illustrations
with paper cut-outs.
1/2-1/8 Color separations with woodblock print and text paste-ups,
1/2 pp. 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-7;
1/3 pp. 8-9, 10-11, 12-13;
1/4 pp. 14-15, 16-17, 18-19;
1/5 pp. 20-21, 22-23, 24-25;
1/6 pp. 26-27, 28-29, 30-31;
1/7 pp. 32-33, 34-35;
1/8 pp. 36-37, 38-39.
1/9 Dust jacket materials: paste-ups and color separations, 10 items.
TOM TIT TOT: AN ENGLISH FOLK TALE by Virginia Haviland,
illustrated by Evaline Ness (New York: Scribner, 1965).
1/10 Proof, unbound, with dust jacket.
THE WIZARD'S TEARS by Maxine Kumin and Anne Sexton,
illustrated by Evaline Ness (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975).
1/11 Dummy with text paste-ups and crayon, colored pencil and watercolor
illustrations.
1/12 Galleys, 6 pp.
1/13 Paste-up, text only, and jacket copy.
2/1-2/9 Color separations, with paper paste-ups,
2/1 pp. 2-3 (title page), 6-7, 8-9;
2/2 pp. 10-11, 12-13, 14-15;
2/3 pp. 16-17, 18-19, 20-21;
2/4 pp. 22-23, 24-25, 26-27;
2/5 pp. 28-29, 30-31, 32-33;
2/6 pp. 34-35, 36-37, 38-39;
2/7 pp. 40-41, 42-43;
2/8 pp. 44-45, 46-47;
2/9 dust jacket.
THE WOMAN OF THE WOOD by Algernon D. Black, illustrated by
Evaline Ness (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973).
2/10 Dummy with text paste-ups and colored pencil and watercolor
illustrations.
2/11-2/15 Color separations with text paste-ups,
2/11 pp. 2-3 (title page), 6-7, 8-9;
2/12 pp. 10-11, 12-13, 14-15;
2/13 pp. 16-17, 18-19, 20-21;
2/14 pp. 22-23, 24-25, 26-27;
2/15 pp. 28-29, 30-31.
2/16 Proof, pp. 6-7.
2/17 Dust jacket material: paste-up and color separations.
Processed: June 1991
Revised: June 2001
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