About the Home Page Illustrations

Jessie Willcox Smith is a beloved United States children's book illustrator who lived from 1863 to 1935, during the Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration.  Using her painting, "To Auntie," now in the public domain, was irresistible to me, as the eldest of 9 children.  Here we see 9 happy children, and a kitten, celebrating a loving moment with their aunt in a garden.  This illustrative logo theme was actually selected by my mother, Ann Giovanna Deveny, my first and best teacher.  She said, "I remember you surrounded by your brothers and sisters, reading to them and sharing your creativity with them."

Stevenson, Robert Louis.  A Child's Garden of Verses.  Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith.  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1905.  p. 100