Mac Harshberger illustrations from "Madrigal and Minstrelsy" (1927)

"Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead"

In her Author's Comment prefacing
"Madrigals and Minstrelsy" (published  in 1927)
Juliet Raphael states:

"In this book I have endeavored to translate the words of the poets into music...

"... The music has been done only as a setting for the words -- sung or chanted. To those who love poetry, and love to hear it read, chanted, or sung, this book is offered."

Illustrations accompanying the poems are by Frank Macoy "Mac" Harshberger

 (1900 – 1975).
Born in Tacoma, Washington, Harshberger studied art in Paris in 1921, settled in New York in the '20s where he taught for many years at the
Pratt Institute.

Though he worked in many styles and media in his career, some of his more striking images are his stylish black & white illustrations, sort of an American Art Deco equivalent to
Aubrey Beardsley. 

The cover image at right ▶

illustrates "Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Please click on images to enlarge, and click on any image caption titles to read that poem online.

frontispiece: "An Arab Love Song" by Francis Thompson

 "Laughing Song" by William Blake 

"Song" by Christina Rossetti

"The Fifteen Acres" by James Stephens

"A Woman's Last Word" by Robert Browning

"Music, When Soft Voices Die" by Percy Bysshe Shelley

"Matin Song" by Thomas Heywood

"Little Lamb" by William Blake

Sonnet XXIX by William Shakespeare

"The Song" by James Stephens

"The Fiddler of Dooney " by William Butler Yeats

"Night" by William Blake

"Give A Man A Horse" (a.k.a. "Gifts") by James Thomson

"Up-Hill" by Christina Rossetti

"Nurse's Song" by William Blake

"When You Are Old" by William Butler Yeats

◀At left, Mac Harshberger in 1926.
(image from Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie)

There's more to be found regarding
Mac Harshberger elsewhere around the net.
Here's a few places to start looking:

- a mini-biography at Victoria Chick.
- a portfolio and some background at Thomas Reynolds Gallery.
- some illustrations from Tristan and Isolde at Art Reference Blog.

If you have more information or images to share regarding Mac Harshberger, I'd love to hear from you!
Please feel free to leave comments.

Thanks to the following sites for the poetry links:

- Poetry Foundation
- Bartleby.com
- allpoetry
- Poetry Archive
- About.Com: Classic Lit
- EnglishVerse.com

Images from Barbara G. Walker's "Knitting From The Top", 1st edition, 1972

The reference guide "Knitting From The Top" instructs knitters to do just that. Somewhat counter to the traditional Western method, constructing garments starting from the top down can allow you to check the fit and length as you go.
Werner P. Brodde's photographs of these stunning and colorful creations were a part of the first edition published in 1972, but are not included in editions still in print. So feast your eyes!

◀ Barbara G. Walker has been an idol and guru to knitter's worldwide for decades, the first of her many comprehensive collections of knitting patterns appearing in 1968. But that's only part of her impressive list of achievements in a variety of fields.

Born in Philadelphia in 1930, she studied journalism at the University of Pennsylvania and later worked for the Washington Star in
Washington, D.C. It was there in the 1970s that she became interested in feminism, while working with a local hotline that helped battered women and pregnant teens.

After relocating to Morristown, New Jersey, she became a teacher of the Martha Graham dance technique.
The first of her many notable and respected books on feminism, spirituality and myth was published in the
mid-1980s, as was the Barbara Walker Tarot Deck, for which she supplied the illustrations.

Other books by Barbara G. Walker include:

-A Treasury of Knitting Patterns

-A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns

-A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns

-The Book of Sacred Stones: Fact and Fallacy in the Crystal World

-The Secrets of the Tarot: Origins, History, and Symbolism

-Feminist Fairy Tales

-Barbara Walker's Learn-to-Knit Afghan Book

-The Craft of Cable-Stitch Knitting

-The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects

-The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets

-The Crone: Woman of Age, Wisdom, and Power

-Restoring the Goddess: Equal Rites for Modern Women


Some further information about Barbara G. Walker can be found online at Wikipedia, Philosopedia.org, and NOW-NJ.

See also:
- The Walker Treasury Project - - A knitter's collaborative photo-blog "...gathering high-quality, color photos of all the patterns in all the Treasury books and putting them on the internet as a visual aide to this wonderful collection".
- "Barbara G. Walker, The Skeptical Feminist" , an interview from 2009 posted at Skepchick.org.