The person behind those lovely pictures

I was raised on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Princess and Secret Garden books — but not just any versions.  The ones that I read and re-read zealously, and that I still own, are the ones with the beautiful Tasha Tudor drawings (versions that, interestingly enough, are not available through Amazon).  I also have on a shelf somewhere Corgiville Fair, a book that Tasha Tudor both wrote and illustrated.  It’s charming on its own merits but is especially appealing to corgi owners (and I used to be one).

Aside from loving Tudor’s illustrations, I never knew or even thought much about her.  It turns out, though, that there was much more to the lady than just being an illustrator — as I discovered reading the obituary following her death at 92.  This was a lady who was so immersed in the 19th Century dream that, despite living her entire life in the 20th century, she set about replicating the 1900s on a day to day basis:

Two of Ms. Tudor’s books were named Caldecott Honor Books: “Mother Goose” (1944) and “1 Is One” (1956). Ms. Tudor was just awarded the Regina Medal by the Catholic Library Association.

But it was her uncompromising immersion in another, less comfortable century that most fascinated people. She wore kerchiefs, hand-knitted sweaters, fitted bodices and flowing skirts, and often went barefoot. She reared her four children in a home without electricity or running water until her youngest turned 5. She raised her own farm animals; turned flax she had grown into clothing; and lived by homespun wisdom: sow root crops on a waning moon, above-ground plants on a waxing one.

You can read more about this fascinating and talented lady here.  And consider that she lived to be 92, maybe we all ought to think about those hand-knitted sweaters and bare feet!