The Queen of the Fishes: Plate 1

Pissarro, son of the French Impressionist artist Camille Pissarro, moved to England in 1890. By 1894 he and his wife, Esther Bensusan Pissarro, had bought a printing press and established the Eragny Press. Influenced by William Morris, they were involved in every step of the production process: designing, cutting the woodblocks, setting type, and printing. The first book published by Ergany Press, The Queen of the Fishes, is based on an old fairy tale in which a peasant boy and girl escape the hardships of their lives by fantasizing that they have been turned into a giant oak and a splendid fish, respectively.