Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979) was a writer and illustrator.
Among the many books he illustrated was the Nurse Matilda series, written by his cousin Christianna Brand (1907-1988). The stories, which make up three books (Nurse Matilda (1964), Nurse Matilda Goes to Town (1967) and Nurse Matilda Goes to Hospital (1974)) were told to Ardizzone and Brand by their grandfather.
The Nurse Matilda series was re-issued in hardback by Bloomsbury in 2005. A movie tie-in version was also released in conjunction with the film Nanny McPhee.
The following illustrations are from the 1975 the Knight Books edition, published by Hodder and Stoughton, of Nurse Matilda Goes to Town. (Click on the thumbnails for bigger versions of the pictures):
Chapter 1, pg 7: "Once upon a time there was a mother and father called Mr and Mrs Brown and they had a huge family of children; and all the children were terribly, terribly naughty."
Chapter 2, pg 24: "She released the Baby's hand and turned to go . "I am sorry to have troubled you needlessly."
Chapter 5, pg 72: "'THE LOST TEAR,' bellowed Evangeline, and began. 'O, list to me while I do tell/ What to a girl called Maria befell./ It is a tale I fear most sad/ Because Maria turned out bad.'"
Chapter 8, pg 119: "But the gentlemen turned into big umbrellas and ran after the children and whacked them on the backs of their legs with their own much littler umbrellas."
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