Susie Barstow Skelding

Susie Barstow Skelding was the daughter of Ann Marie Barstow and James Augustus Skelding and the niece of the landscape painter Susie M.

[1] In the 1880s, she produced several series of books in which her full-color illustrations of flowers accompanied her selections of poetry by various authors, including John Greenleaf Whittier, Julia Ward Howe, Alice Wellington Rollins, Helen Hunt Jackson, Celia Thaxter, James G. Percival, William Dean Howells, Mary Mapes Dodge, and Elaine Goodale.

[2][3] In some cases, the books' color plates included handwritten poems framed by Skelding's floral designs.

A number of the books she produced, such as Songsters of the Branches, were ribbon-bound.

[4] Skelding also chose the poems for a series of books featuring birds; these were illustrated by the artist Fidelia Bridges.

Cover of Susie Barstow Skelding, Flowers from Hill and Dale , 1883.
Susie Barstow Skelding's color plate of violets and white clover framing a handwritten poem by Mary Mapes Dodge ; from her 1883 book Flowers from Hill and Dale .
Color plate of poppies and wheat from Susie Barstow Skelding, Flowers from Hill and Dale , 1883.