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Watchwords of Liberty
A collection of American quotations drawn from famous events and moments in American history
128 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1957
About the author
Robert Lawson
119 books80 followersBorn in New York City, Lawson spent his early life in Montclair, New Jersey. Following high school, he studied art for three years under illustrator Howard Giles (an advocate of dynamic symmetry as conceived by Jay Hambidge) at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (now Parsons School of Design), marrying fellow artist and illustrator Marie Abrams in 1922. His career as an illustrator began in 1914, when his illustration for a poem about the invasion of Belgium was published in Harper's Weekly. He went on to publish in other magazines, including the Ladies Home Journal, Everybody's Magazine, Century Magazine, Vogue, and Designer.
During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camouflage Corps), in connection with which he served in France with other artists, such as Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, William Twigg-Smith and Kerr Eby. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that Lawson had a remarkable "sense of fantasy and humor", which made him especially valuable when the camoufleurs put on musical shows for the children of the French women who worked with them on camouflage
After the war, Lawson resumed his work as an artist, and in 1922, illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat. Subsequently he illustrated dozens of children's books by other authors, including such well-known titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (which later became an animated film by the Walt Disney Studios) and Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. In total, he illustrated as many as forty books by other authors, and another seventeen books that he himself was author of, including Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos and Rabbit Hill. His work was widely admired, and he became the first, and so far only, person to be given both the Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1941) and the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945). Ben and Me earned a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961.
Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children's fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person's life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd's Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate's ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.
In the early 1930s, Lawson became interested in etching. One of the resulting prints was awarded the John Taylor Arms Prize by the Society of American Etchers.
Lawson died in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in a house that he referred to as Rabbit Hill, since it had been the setting for his book of the same name. He was 64. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An annual conference is held in his honor in Westport.
The Robert Lawson Papers are in the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collections.
During World War I, Lawson was a member of the first U.S. Army camouflage unit (called the American Camouflage Corps), in connection with which he served in France with other artists, such as Barry Faulkner, Sherry Edmundson Fry, William Twigg-Smith and Kerr Eby. In his autobiography, Faulkner recalls that Lawson had a remarkable "sense of fantasy and humor", which made him especially valuable when the camoufleurs put on musical shows for the children of the French women who worked with them on camouflage
After the war, Lawson resumed his work as an artist, and in 1922, illustrated his first children's book, The Wonderful Adventures of Little Prince Toofat. Subsequently he illustrated dozens of children's books by other authors, including such well-known titles as The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf (which later became an animated film by the Walt Disney Studios) and Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. In total, he illustrated as many as forty books by other authors, and another seventeen books that he himself was author of, including Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin By His Good Mouse Amos and Rabbit Hill. His work was widely admired, and he became the first, and so far only, person to be given both the Caldecott Medal (They Were Strong and Good, 1941) and the Newbery Medal (Rabbit Hill, 1945). Ben and Me earned a Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1961.
Lawson was a witty and inventive author, and his children's fiction is no less engaging for grown-ups. One of his inventive themes was the idea of a person's life as seen through the eyes of a companion animal, an approach that he first realized in Ben and Me. Some of his later books employed the same device (which was compatible with his style of illustration) to other figures, such as Christopher Columbus (I Discover Columbus) and Paul Revere (Mr. Revere and I). Captain Kidd's Cat, which he both wrote and illustrated, is narrated by the feline in the title, named McDermot, who tells the story of the famous pirate's ill-starred voyage, in the process of which he is shown to have been a brave, upright, honest, hen-pecked man betrayed by his friends and calumniated by posterity. His artistic witticism and creativity can be seen in The Story of Ferdinand the Bull, where he illustrates a cork tree as a tree that bears corks as fruits, ready to be picked and placed into bottles.
In the early 1930s, Lawson became interested in etching. One of the resulting prints was awarded the John Taylor Arms Prize by the Society of American Etchers.
Lawson died in 1957 at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in a house that he referred to as Rabbit Hill, since it had been the setting for his book of the same name. He was 64. He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. An annual conference is held in his honor in Westport.
The Robert Lawson Papers are in the University of Minnesota Children's Literature Research Collections.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 10, 2019
While I enjoyed this olio of quotes from American history illustrated and chosen by Robert Lawson, I kept thinking of Abigail Adams' letter to her husband where she wrote: "Remember the ladies." Adams and the founding fathers failed to heed her advice - the word "woman" appears no where in either the declaration of independence or in the bill of rights - and here, there isn't a single quote from a woman. Someone - maybe Maira Kalman? Should update this with some wise words from Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eleanor Roosevelt and the like.
December 10, 2020
A great selection, though dated. Beautifully illustrated.
June 25, 2010
Natalie and I found this at Lorem Ipshum today and decided it had to leave the store with us. There are plans in the works to scan and blow up the cover to hang in our apartment.
This book, originally published in 1943, was intended for young readers, and purports to contain a collection of famous American quotes from “times of war and times of peace.” I suppose that is technically true since there are a smattering of words marking great technological achievements, but more than 90% of the book is comprised of things said before, during, or after some violent battle.
It was a quick and interesting read, if not for the actual content which is mostly all common knowledge, then definitely for a look at the perspective on the content from more than half a century ago. For the most part, the sentiments contained in its pages have survived, although you do occasionally come across an uncomfortable passage such as, “Perhaps a hundred and fifty years of standing on their own feet, loosed from the apron strings of government, of carving a new country from the wilderness, of fighting nature, wild beast and painted savage, had given these forebears of ours a new conception of the dignity of man.” There is a picture of a pilgrim holding a gun and a book on the spine of the cover, but the book looks suspiciously like a blanket… perhaps infested with syphilis.
The book holds the most interest for me in its graphic attributes; its cover, its illustrations, and its various types and font faces.
This book, originally published in 1943, was intended for young readers, and purports to contain a collection of famous American quotes from “times of war and times of peace.” I suppose that is technically true since there are a smattering of words marking great technological achievements, but more than 90% of the book is comprised of things said before, during, or after some violent battle.
It was a quick and interesting read, if not for the actual content which is mostly all common knowledge, then definitely for a look at the perspective on the content from more than half a century ago. For the most part, the sentiments contained in its pages have survived, although you do occasionally come across an uncomfortable passage such as, “Perhaps a hundred and fifty years of standing on their own feet, loosed from the apron strings of government, of carving a new country from the wilderness, of fighting nature, wild beast and painted savage, had given these forebears of ours a new conception of the dignity of man.” There is a picture of a pilgrim holding a gun and a book on the spine of the cover, but the book looks suspiciously like a blanket… perhaps infested with syphilis.
The book holds the most interest for me in its graphic attributes; its cover, its illustrations, and its various types and font faces.
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August 9, 2020I was presented with an edition of this book not listed: published by Scholastic Book Services by arrangement with Little, Brown and Company. First printing of 1965. The cover is red, white, and blue: an eagle with a shield and distinctly patriotic.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews