List of illustrations and transcript of 'The Elves and the Shoemaker'

The Art Fund, possibly since the 1960s; Gift of the Art Fund 2010

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: All written only on Recto, black in, artist's hand: Page 1: ““The Elves and the Shoemaker” / List of Illustration. / Cover in colour. / Illustrated titlepage / 1 Coloured illustration – Frontispiece – Customer buys shoes. / 2 Shoemaker at work / 3 “ goes peaceably to bed. / 4 “ saying his prayers / 5 “ startled at seeing shoes / 6 “ Examining workmanship / 7 “ brings home more leather. / 8 Coloured illustration – shoemaker carrying home a goose. / 9 customer trying on shoes. / 10 Buyers coming in / 11 Shoemaker and wife at fireside / 12 Coloured illustration – Shoemaker and wife watching elves. / 13 Shoemaker yawning in bed / 14 Elves at work / 15 “ regarding their work / 16 Lady customer / 17 Coloured illustration – Shoemaker and wife examining clothes / and shoes for Elves. / 18 Laying out clothes for elves / 19 Elf brushing shoe / 20 Elves looking into shop / 21 “Elves bustling away as quick as lightning” / 22 Coloured illustration – Elves dressing. / 23 Elves springing about / 24 Shoemaker and wife at door / 25 Shoemaker looking out of window / 26. Coloured illustration – Elves going out of the town. / 27 Shoemaker and wife coming from church / 28 Finis. Elves singing.” Page 2: upper right corner, circled: “1”; whole sheet: “The Elves and / The Shoemaker. / Once there lived a shoemaker who was / very industrious and very honest. Still he / could not earn enough to live upon, and at / last he had nothing left except just leather / enough to make one pair of shoes. One / evening he cut out the shoes, ready to sew / next day, meaning to get up early in / the morning to work. His conscience was / clear and his heart light amidst his / troubles; so he went to bed peaceably, / left all his cares to heaven and fell asleep. / In the morning after he had said his / prayers, he set himself down to his / work, when to his surprise there stood the shoes all ready made upon the table. / The good shoemaker knew not what to / think of this strange event. He looked carefully at the workmanship; there was / not one false stitch and all was so neat / and true that the work was a complete / masterpiece. / That same day a customer came in and / the shoes pleased him so much that he / willingly paid a price higher than usual” [continued on next sheet]. Page 3: upper right corner, circled: “2”; whole sheet, continued from previous page: “for them; and the shoemaker bought leather / enough with the money to make two pairs / more. In the evening he cut out the work / and went to bed early that he might get / up and begin in good time next day, but / he was saved all trouble for when he went / to his work next morning everything was / finished and ready to his hand. Buyers / came in presently, who paid him handsomely / for the goods, so that he bought leather / enough, that day, for four pairs more. / He cut out his work again at night and / found it finished in the morning as / before. And so it went on for some time, / what was got ready in the evening was / always finished by daybreak, and the / good man soon became thriving and / prosperous again. / One evening about Christmas time / as he and his wife were sitting over the / fire chatting together, he said to her, “I / should like to sit up and watch tonight / that we may see who it is that comes / and does my work for me.” The wife / liked the thought; so they left a light / burning, and hid themselves in the” [continued on next sheet]. Page 4: upper right corner, circled: “3”; whole sheet, continued from previous page: “corner of the room behind a curtain that was hung up there and watched what / should happen. / As soon as it was midnight, there / came two little naked elves; and they sat / themselves upon the shoemaker’s bench, took / up all the work that was cut out, and began / to ply with their little fingers, stitching / and napping and tapping away about a / rate, that the shoemaker was all / amazement, and could not take his eyes / off for a moment. And on they went, till / the job was quite finished, and the shoes / stood ready for use upon the table. This / was long before daylight; and then / they bustled away as quick as lightning. / The next day the wife said to the / shoemaker, “Those little wights have made / us rich, and we ought to be thankful to / them and do them a good office in / return! I am quite vexed to see them / run about as they do; they have / nothing upon their backs to keep / out the cold. I’ll tell you what, I will / make each of them a shirt, and a / coat and waistcoat, and a pair of / pantaloons into the bargain, do you” [continued on next sheet]. Page 4: upper right corner, circled: “4”; whole sheet, continued from previous page: “make each of them a little pair of shoes.” / The thought pleased the good shoemaker / very much; and one evening, when all the / things were ready, they laid them on the / table instead of the work that they used / to cut out, and then went and hid / themselves to watch what the little elves / would do. About midnight they came in / and were about to sit down to their work / as usual; but when they saw the clothes / lying for them, they laughed and were / greatly delighted. Then they dressed them- / selves in the twinkling of an eye, and / danced and capered and sprang / about as merry as could be, till at / last they danced out of the door over the green; and the shoemaker / saw them no more. But everything / went well with him from that time / forward, as long as he lived. / Finis”.

Collector's mark: none.

Stamp: Recto: upper right, black ink, brackets and "recd" added in brown ink: "20 MAR 81".