SOURCE: Little, Greta D., and Joel Myerson. Introduction to Three Children's Novels by Christopher Pearse Cranch, pp. ix-xxxvi. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1993.

In the following essay, Little and Myerson offer an overview of Cranch's literary career, focusing on his stories for children.

Christopher Pearse Cranch's reputation has not fared well over the years. Henry James, who knew him, called Cranch a “painter, poet, musician, mild and melancholy humourist, [who] produced pictures the American traveller sometimes acquired and left verses that the American compiler sometimes includes.”¹ And Perry Miller, in his anthology of The Transcendentalists, described Cranch as “one of the most futile and wasted talents” among the group.² If both James and Miller slight Cranch's work as a writer and artist, they both also ignore his contribution to children's literature. We hope that the republication of The Last of the Huggermuggers and Kobboltozo: A Sequel to...