Painter, Illustrator. Randolph Caldecott was a prominent 19th Century British artist and illustrator, who was known for his classic Victorian illustrations in novels, travel books, and children's books. His illustrations were considered more robust in color than those of professional rival Kate Greenaway. Born the third child of thirteen children of an accountant, he was taught mathematics early as well as beginning to draw. Caldecott contracted rheumatic fever which permanently affected his heart and later in life, caused him to travel from England's cold, damp winters to warmer climates. He left school at age fifteen for a bank position and advanced steadily, moving to another bank. In 1861 his drawings of the fire at the Queen Railway Hotel in Chester with his written account of the event were published in the "Illustrated London News." He began attending night school classes at the Manchester School of Art and was published in Manchester publications as well as a few in London. As a measure of his professional success, one of his paintings was exhibited in the Royal Manchester Institute by 1869. In 1870 his drawings were being published regularly in the magazine "London Society," and by 1872 he left his banking position to become a full-time artist. He was commissioned by "London Society" to illustrate and write articles on a traveling holiday in the Hartz Mountains in Germany. He was publishing illustrations in other magazines including "Punch and Graphic." While in London, he became colleagues of other illustrators including another professional rival Walter Crane. In 1880 he published a four-colored-picture book with a poem, "The Three Jovial Huntsman" and a fourteen-page book "A Frog He Would A-wooing Go." For eight years, he illustrated two children's toy books every Christmas until his death. He had a contract with his publisher to receive one-shilling royalties from each book, whereas Crane, who originally had the project, was paid a set price. By 1884, sales of Caldecott's "Nursery Rhymes" had reached 867,000 copies. After being published in various other languages, he was considered internationally famous. In 1880 he married Marian Brind. He published illustrations in two of Washington Irving's less-known books including the colorful cover of the novel "Bracebridge Hall." Besides his illustrations, he exhibited oil and watercolor paintings in the Royal Academy and galleries. While on a trip with his wife to the United States, he became ill and died during an unusual cold winter in St. Augustine, Florida. Since 1938, the Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. On March 20, 2005 a historical plaque was laid on his gravesite by Friends of the Library of St. Johns County and the Randolph Caldecott Society of America "As a tribute to his life and art, this burial site is designated a Literary Landmark by Friends of Libraries U.S.A." Besides his gravesite in St. Augustine, he has commemorative cenotaphs to him placed in England at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, in his family's plot in Overleigh Old Cemetery, and inside Chester Cathedral.