Warwick Goble (22 November 1862 – 22 January 1943) was an illustrator of children's books. He specialized in Japanese and Indian themes.
Goble was born in Dalston, north London, the son of a commercial traveller,[1] and educated and trained at the City of London School and the Westminster School of Art. He worked for a printer specializing in chromolithography and contributed to the Pall Mall Gazette and the Westminster Gazette.[2]
In the 1890s, he contributed half-tone illustrations to monthly magazines such as Strand Magazine, Pearson's Magazine, and The Boy's Own Paper. In 1893, he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy.[1] In 1896, he began illustrating books.[2] In 1898, he was the first to illustrate H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, having illustrated it for Pearson's Magazine in 1897. He briefly continued with scientific romance themes.[1]
In 1909, he became resident gift book illustrator for MacMillan and produced illustrations for The Water Babies, Green Willow, and Other Japanese Fairy Tales, The Complete Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Stories from the Pentamerone, Folk Tales of Bengal, The Fairy Book, and The Book of Fairy Poetry. During World War I, he was employed in the drawing office of Woolrich Arsenal, and volunteered for service with the Red Cross in France. He worked occasionally for New York MacMillan, and produced editions of Treasure Island and Kidnapped. Goble gradually gave up illustration to pursue sculling, cycling, and travelling. He died in his Surrey home in 1943.[1]
Books illustrated include – Samuel Rutherford Crockett – Lad’s Love (Bliss Sands, 1897) H. G. Wells – The War of The Worlds (Heinemann, 1898) Mrs. Molesworth – The Grim House (Nisbet, 1899) Alexander Van Millingen – Constantinople (Black, 1906) Francis A. Gasquet – The Greater Abbeys of England (Chatto, 1908) Jane Barlow – Irish Ways (Allen, 1909) Charles Kingsley – The Water Babies (MacMillan, 1909) Grace James – Green Willow and Other Japanese Fairy Tales (MacMillan, 1910) Giambattista Basile – Stories From The Pentamerone (MacMillan, 1911) The Modern Reader’s Chaucer (MacMillan, 1912) L. B. Day – Folk Tales of Bengal (MacMillan, 1912) Dinah Craik – The Fairy Book (MacMillan, 1913) D. A. MacKenzie – Indian Myth and Legend (Gresham, 1913) Dinah Craik – John Halifax, Gentleman (OUP, 1914) C. Sourabji – Indian Tales of The Great Ones (1916) J. S. Fletcher – The Cistercians in Yorkshire (SPCK, 1919) W. G. Stables – Young Peggy McQueen (Collins) D. Owen – The Book of Fairy Poetry (Longmans, 1920) Robert Louis Stevenson – Treasure Island (MacMillan, 1923) Robert Louis Stevenson – Kidnapped (MacMillan, 1925) Washington Irving – The Alhambra (MacMillan, 1926) Elinor Whitney – Tod of The Fens Contributions include Boy’s Own Paper, Captain, Illustrated London News, Little Folks, The Minister, Pall Mall Gazette, Pearson’s Magazine, Strand Magazine, Westminster Gazette, Windsor Magazine, World Wide Magazine.