Harry came to London from New Zealand in 1901. He was 23 years old and determined to make his mark on the then-flourishing magazine and book market. He didn't. For two years he struggled, studied and sold the occasional spot drawing. It wasn't until the editor of Little Folks magazine gave him a commission to illustrate a story with an animal that he found his calling. Suddenly he could do no wrong. By 1903 he was illustrating books for the editor of Little Folks, writing and illustrating his own books, and in demand by nearly every publisher in London. One of the earliest I've seen is Fairy Tales by Dumas from 1904 (see image at left), where his inspiration seems clearly from
W. Heath Robinson.

Animals, animals, animals. Books, magazines, annuals. From 1903 to 1942, Rountree's pens and brushes gave life to every species from dormice to dinosaurs. His 1908 Alice in Wonderland, with 90+ color plates, is considered to be both his masterpiece and one of the definitive versions of the Carroll classic. He returned to the tale later in his career.

At right is one of the coloured plates from the Ward, Lock edition of Aesop's Fables, a book he was destined to illustrate. One book that should have been, but never came about, was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. When the story was first published in The Strand magazine as a serial in 1912, Rountree was called upon to illustrate the installments. In the U.S., the task was given to Joseph Clement Coll (for The Sunday Magazine). Coll's illustrations graced the book and Rountree's have languished in literary limbo. A recent book by Roy Pilot and Alvin Rodin, The Annotated Lost World (1996 Wessex Press) have resurrected Rountree's illustrations for posterity. A sample is at left.

I literally stumbled onto Rountree early in my collecting career (I guess I can now officially call it a "career," can't I?). While browsing through the shelves of an old book store, I came across a 1910 book about a mountain range in Italy, both book and mountains called The Dolomites. The watercolour paintings that illustrated the travelogue were both stunning and charming. I bought the book because I loved the images and it wasn't until ten or so years later that Bud explained to me who Rountree was and showed me the books he'd collected. At left is one of the 18 plates in The Dolomites and a perfect example of why you should just buy the books you like and not worry about what you know about the illustrator or how good of an investment you're making. Buy from the heart and you'll always be happy with your purchases.

[That's another reason why we accept returns on any purchase for any reason. Sometimes you get a book through the mail and it doesn't touch your heart. It's just not quite what you like and if you'd seen it prior to purchase you would probably have passed. We understand that feeling and are happy to take any purchase back within two weeks of your receipt. Images can be magic or they can be just there. We want you to enjoy your purchases as much as we enjoy Harry Rountree.]

Another 1910 treasure (recently reprinted) is The Golf Courses of the British Isles, with 64 color plates by Rountree. An avid golfer, he teamed up with Bernard Darwin on text to play through the links in England, Ireland and Scotland. A treasure that sells in the many thousands of dollars to golf aficionados, this 1988 Storey reprint will have to suffice for we Rountree appreciators. Most of his color work was in watercolour and as you can see from the samples here, they need no adjectives from me. The frontispiece to Caesar, at left, was done in 1930 and has a haunting power reminiscent of some of Frazetta's work.

Active through most of his career in magazines, especially those for children, Rountree created thousands of illustrations of an uncompromising quality. Even his little marginal vignettes were often priceless. Some titles that featured his work: Punch, The Strand, Cassell's, Pearson's, The Sketch, The Illustrated London News, Playtime, Little Folks, and many others.

Authors whose work he's illustrated include the aforementioned Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Enid Blyton, S.H. Hamer (the editor of Little Folks who first hired him), Joel Chandler Harris, Edith Nesbit, Albert Bigelow Paine, Frank R. Stockton, H.G. Wells, and dozens by Harry and/or his wife Lynda.

Rountree died in 1950.

Information supplied by: http://www.bpib.com/rountree.htm