Florence Kate Upton - Golliwogg Books
In the late 19th Century Florence Upton worked alongside her mother Bertha Upton to illustrate the Golliwogg books. Born in 1873 into a creative household, when her father died the family began to struggle financially. What originated as an exercise designed to bring in extra money for Florence to afford art school soon became a popular series, with the ‘Golliwogg’ becoming an iconic character.
Completely black with clown red lips, eyes ringed in white and frizzy woolly hair, the Golliwogg was made into dolls and often used by manufactures as a mascot or motif due to its popularity with children. Her inspiration for the character came from an old rag doll of her grandmothers and her intention was to show it as a children’s hero, brave and loveable in her stories, completely irrespective of its colour. Although later golliwogg, or ‘wog’ was used as a derogatory term, and it started to become controversial because of attached connotations, in Upton’s original works it was always portrayed as a jovial gallant figure. It was only after the Golliwogg had become such a household name due to numerous other companies’ usage that slowly its portrayal changed. The Golliwogg became a more menacing, sinister character featured in later authors works, and people started to use the term offensively. Anti-racists and minority groups used it as a key example of racism despite the fact that this was never the original intention and people began to forget the magic and children’s innocence behind the original stories.
The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls was the title of the first book published in 1895, swiftly followed by 12 sequels up until 1909.The Golliwogg travels the world with his companions the dolls and has many adventures along the way. Florence Upton was a marvellous illustrator, and these relatively short books captured children’s imaginations with large full page colour illustrations. The covers are no exception, Golliwog books easily identifiable by the bright pictorial boards.
Here at St Marys Books we have a large collection of Golliwogg books, including a first edition of The Two Dutch Dolls signed by Florence Upton, and Golliwog in The African Jungle, with the very scarcely seen dustcover. Capture childhood memories and enjoy the Golliwogg fictional character as it was originally intended in one of these rare books.
Please use the link below to see our complete collection, or email us at info@stmarysbooks.com if there is a specific title you are after.
http://www.stmarysbooks.com/catalogue/472/florence+upton+golliwogg+books/
