Two volumes of Monarchs of Merrie England were published in 1907. Each volume had 10 colour plates by W Heath Robinson (WHR) and humorous verses by Roland Carse. A much abbreviated edition followed in 1910 comprising 4 card covered volumes, each with 2 colour plates. Which is what we are showing here. WHR’s lively illustrations are full of movement and incisive drawing and form a perfect accompaniment to Carse’s rhyming couplets. At this point in his career, WHR was mostly employed illustrating more prestigious colour-plate gift books and critical voices have overlooked Monarchs of Merrie England in favour of Bill the Minder, Twelfth Night and Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales. Printers Thomas Forman of Nottingham extended the life of these illustrations in the form of postcards that were marketed to small traders to publicise their services.
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