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W. Heath Robinson

William Heath Robinson (1872-1944) was the youngest of the three artist sons of a wood engraver. Born in Hornsey Rise, north London, he studied at Islington School of Art and briefly at the Royal Academy Schools. His grandfather, Thomas Robinson, had been a bookbinder working in Newcastle for the famous wood engraver, Thomas Bewick, and subsequently took up engraving and illustrating himself. It is not surprising, therefore, that all three brothers – Thomas, Charles and William – became book and magazine illustrators. William was still in his twenties when he was commissioned, with other young artists – Helen Stratton, A.D. McCormick, A. L. Davis and A. E. Norbury – to illustrate a collection of stories from The Arabian Nights, published in 1899. William's contribution was by far the largest and the best, demonstrating the beauty of line and composition that characterized his illustrations for other literary classics. But now he is chiefly remembered for his humorous drawings and the weird contraptions that gave his name to the English language for any mechanical device 'absurdly complicated in design and having a simple function'. At the Memorial Exhibition after his death, one of his few peers in comic drawing, Nicolas Bentley, compared him to Leonardo da Vinci, claiming that Heath Robinson 'had the advantage of Leonardo, in that some of his inventions did at least look as if they might have worked'.
Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
Fairy Tales

Books

Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
Fairy Tales

Reading with Purpose Summit Event

On Monday, June 10th, Penguin Random House Education and DK Learning co-hosted a Reading with Purpose Summit Event in collaboration with Molly Ness, PhD. The event took place at Penguin Random House’s NYC headquarters and included sessions featuring leading education experts and a lunchtime author panel. The in-person professional learning event was built to show

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DK Learning Phonic Books Sampler Request

Thank you for your interest in DK Learning | Phonic Books. To download the DK Learning | Phonic Books sampler with four complete readers, please click here and complete the form. Once your information is successfully submitted, a link to download the sampler will be provided on the confirmation screen.   Click here to learn

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2024 Elementary School Collection

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