May | 2020 | Janet Dodrill's Blog

The Rhyme of a Run, Schmitz-Horning Co.

May 30, 2020

By Janet Dodrill

A 1907 nursery rhyme book, named The Rhyme of a Run (Published by Blackie & Sons Ltd., London), featured lovely illustrations by Florence S. Harrison of England. She was a prominent art nouveau-style children’s book illustrator of the times.

Schmitz-Horning Company (1905-1964) of Cleveland, Ohio offered the illustrations (copyrighted 1911), along with other well-know, nursery rhymes of the time, in high quality color lithographic wall murals in an early catalog of wallpaper and friezes.

These are beautifully-rendered and printed lithographs and they were published with agreement with the H.M. Caldwell Co. (1896-1914), a publishing company in New York and Boston. I do not know if which skilled Schmitz-Horning artist reproduced the illustrations onto lithographic plates.

Luckily, we had this shown below set in the family. They were used by a cousin who used them when she taught in the classroom. She had them laminated which helped to preserve them. It is the only know set in our (Schmitz) family.

The catalog description reads:
The Rhyme of a Run (Copyrighted 1911)

A series of six panels from The Rhyme of a Run. A fascinating decoration for the nursery, showing the downfall of the little boy that stole the plums.

Published by special arrangement with the H.M. Caldwell Co.

Six panels to the set, each eleven by twenty-eight inches. Sold only by the set.

The book, The Rhyme of a Run, which contains the complete set of these rhymes illustrated in colors, can be obtained from your local bookseller or from the publishers, the H.M. Caldwell Co., New York and Boston.

the-rhyme-of-a-run-schmitz-horning-co-catalog-page

Schmitz-Horning Co. Panoramic Friezes Wall Decorations catalog, page 34. Published by special arrangement with the H.M. Caldwell Co., 1911, New York and Boston