The Caldecott Medal, bestowed annually since 1938 upon the "most distinguished American picture book for children in the United States," has helped make Randolph Caldecott's name synonymous with children's book illustrations of excellence. Frederick G. Melcher and the American Library Association chose to commemorate Caldecott through this singular honor for his remarkable books of illustrated nursery rhymes, folktales, and comic poems. Published from 1876 to 1885, these works indelibly mark the genesis of the modern picture book.

Caldecott's sixteen picture books reflect a delight in English village life, rural traditions, nature, and unpredictability. They also reveal a severe economy of style, as well as an understanding of color as a means to express character and as a purely decorative element in the high Victorian mode. Caldecott's genius for storytelling was preeminent among nineteenth-century illustrators. Combining a gift of insight with a gift for invention--by which he would take the most dramatic...