Bill the Minder by Robinson, William Heath - 1912

1912. Watercolor on paper, signed "W. Heath Robinson" (lower left). 14-3/4 x 11-1/8 in. Matted and framed. Watercolor on paper, signed "W. Heath Robinson" (lower left). 14-3/4 x 11-1/8 in. A fine example of Robinson's work. "In Bill the Minder Heath Robinson really found himself. The story is a simple tale or a series of tales about the wanderings of the King of Troy and a boot-cleaner called Bill, who became the Minder (today he would be called a baby-sitter) to the bad-tempered family of a bad-tempered mushroom-gatherer named Crispin. Like most of Heath Robinson's characters, Bill was a solemn little person who took his minding very seriously, even to the extent of studying at the British Museum and in the Minding Room of the Patents Museum at South Kensington. Soon he fame as a Minder spread and he found himself minding a large flock of children. One day they were out in the fields, being minded by Bill, they found an eccentric old man in a haystack. It was the King of Troy, who had been banished from his country. With Bill's assistance, the children set out on a journey, and through a series of adventures they restore this unworldly old gentleman to his throne. In the process they meet some very droll characters. These are the substance of some of Heath Robinson's wittiest drawings" (Lewis, p. 102). Literature: Robinson, Bill the Minder (Constable & Co., 1912), frontispiece; Larkin, Fantastic Paintings of Charles & WIlliam Heath Robinson, plate 6; Lewis, Heath Robinson Artist and Comic Genuis (Constable, 1973)