Maastricht University’s Special Collections hold 56 richly illustrated fairy tale books from the so-called Golden Age of Illustration, which occurred between the 1880s and the 1930s. The Golden Age of Illustration, which largely cantered in England, came about through a confluence of social and economic factors, including increased literacy, more people with expendable income, and improvements in lithography that allowed for the production of cheaper, yet higher-quality, full-color illustrated books. Maastricht University’s Golden Age of Illustration Collection belonged to Dutch graphic designer, illustrator, cartoonist, art teacher, author, book cover designer, and art collector Bernard Reith (1894-1974).
