Bessie at the sea-side
A children's story from 1867 by Joanna H. Mathews, published in New York by R. Carter & Brothers, offering moral lessons for young readers. The woodcut pictures show a seaside beach with rocks, boats, and bathers, a father and children playing in the sand, and a farm barn scene with a cask and a fisherman with a girl at his cottage. A designer could take from them the simple, crowded wood-engraved compositions with strong outdoor light and dark patterns of hatching.
