Rand McNally's Windermere Series

AbeBooks: Rand McNally's Windermere Series: Published by Rand McNally over three decades, the Windermere series featured classic stories combined with beautiful color plate illustrations. Launched in the wake of advances in printing technology, Rand McNally created a series boasting high quality color illustrations at prices that were affordable to young and old.


The first Windermere volume issued was Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. It was published in December 1912 and retailed for $1.20 - less than half the price of its main competitor, Scribner’s Illustrated Classics. The Windermere edition was a success and Rand McNally continued to issue further volumes over the next three decades. The backbone of the publications were the illustrations and there were a number of artists who contributed, including Hope Dunlap, Paul Bransom and Frank Lloyd Wright’s sister Maginel Wright Enright. However, the majority of the books featured artwork by noted children’s artist Milo Winter.