Rip Van Winkle, Illustrated by Edna Cooke
Rip Van Winkle, as illustrated in color by Edna Cooke and in line by Felix O. C. Darley, was published in 1923 by the J. B. Lippincott Company of Philadelphia. The book contained four color illustrations by Cooke and six line illustrations by Darley. The cover of the book is based on one of Cooke’s color illustrations.
The four Rip Van Winkle color illustrations by Cooke included:
- He Told Them Long Stories of Ghosts, Witches, and Indians
- During the Whole Time, Rip and His Companion Had Labored on In Silence
- He Even Ventured, When No Eye Was Fixed Upon Him, To Taste the Beverage
- A Troop of Strange Children Ran at His Heels
He Told Them Long Stories of Ghosts, Witches, and Indians.
The children of the village, too, would shout with joy whenever he approached. He assisted at their sports, made their playthings, taught them to fly kites and shoot marbles, and told them long stories of ghosts, witches and Indians. Whenever he went dodging about the village, he was surrounded by a troop of them, hanging on his skirts, clambering on his back, and playing a thousand tricks on him with impunity; and not a dog would bark at him throughout the neighborhood.
During the Whole Time, Rip and His Companion Had Labored on In Silence
Passing through the ravine, they came to a hollow, like a small amphitheater, surrounded by perpendicular precipices, over the brinks of which impending trees shot their branches, so that you only caught glimpses of the azure sky and the bright evening cloud. During the whole time Rip and his companion had labored on in silence; for though the former marveled greatly what could be the object of carrying a keg of liquor up this wild mountain, yet there was something strange and incomprehensible about the unknown, that inspired awe and checked familiarity.
He Even Ventured, When No Eye Was Fixed Upon Him, To Taste the Beverage
By degrees Rip’s awe and apprehension subsided. He even ventured, when no eye was fixed upon him, to taste the beverage, which he found had much of the flavor of excellent Hollands. He was naturally a thirsty soul, and was soon tempted to repeat the draught. One taste provoked another; and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often that at length his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his gradually declines, and he fell into a deep sleep.
A Troop of Strange Children Ran at His Heels
He had now entered the skirts of the village. A troop of strange children ran at his heels, hooting after him, and pointing at his gray beard. The dogs, too, not one of which he recognized for an old acquaintance, barked at him as he passed. The very village was altered; it was larger and more populous. There were rows of houses which he had never seen before, and those which had been his familiar haunts had disappeared. Strange names were over the doors, strange faces at the windows, everything was strange. His mind now misgave him; he began to doubt whether both he and the world around him were not bewitched.
Edna Cooke Shoemaker (1889-1975) was born in Philadelphia in 1889, the daughter of George Anderson Cooke and Elizabeth (Simon) Cooke. She graduated from the Philadelphia High School for Girls in 1908 and then studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She studied under noted artists Hugh Breckenridge (1870-1937) and Henry McCarter (1864-1942).
From 1915 through the 1940s Cooke illustrated numerous children’s books as well as school text books published by the John C. Winston Company in Philadelphia and Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York. Illustrated children’s books with Cooke’s works included Mother Goose and Other Nursery Rhymes, Heidi, Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates, Tommy Tiptoe, Stories of Mrs. Moleworth, Stories by Juliana Horatia Ewing, East o’ the Sun, West o’ the Moon and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Cooke also illustrated magazine covers, advertisements and stories for leading industry publications, including the Ladies Home Journal, McCall’s magazine and The Delineator.
Cooke looked to pass on her artistic knowledge by teaching art at the Mary Lyon School in Swarthmore in the 1920s and at the Haverford School in the 1930s. She was a member of the Philadelphia Arts Alliance. During the 1940s Cooke was one of the organizers of the Rose Tree Marionettes, and from then through the 1950s she created numerous puppets for its productions.
Edna Cooke married Orlando Shoemaker (1890-1964), a mechanical engineer, in 1924. They had three children together, including Winslow Cooke, Abigail Ann Cooke and Oliver Ireton Cooke. Orlando graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1915. He served in the U. S. Army before and during World War I, including time with the U. S. Horse Cavalry on the Mexican border and later as a member of the 92nd Division, 349th Field Artillery with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He was in the front-line trenches when the Armistice was signed in 1918. He worked as an engineer for the Navy Department and for the State Highway Department. Orlando Shoemaker died in 1964.
Edna Cooke Shoemaker passed away on November 28, 1975. Funeral services were held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Cooke is buried at St. John’s Episcopal Church Cemetery in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania.
