Lee, Manning De Villeneuve

Inscribed verso, “And Ever So Often We’d See The Black Fang Of Rocks.” Illustration from Corkscrew magazine, June 1934. Partial label from Pennsylvania Academy Exhibition.

Manning de Villeneuve Lee was an artist and illustrator born in Summerville, South Carolina. Lee studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He illustrated more than 200 books, beginning his career with recognition as a child of six, when he won the Charleston Exposition Medal in 1901.

From 1922, he was a professional artist. His paintings can be found in many private and public collections in the United States and abroad. He often collaborated with his first wife, Eunice Celeste Sandoval, who wrote books under the pen name of Tina Lee.

Lee’s illustration work often appeared in magazines, and he illustrated more than two-hundred books. He specialized in historical subjects and books for young people, including Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped, Rupert S. Holland’s Historic Ships and Andrew Lang’s Blue Fairy Book.

He also did fashion drawings, layouts for commercial products such as Lux soap, and for periodicals such as Country Gentleman, American Boy and Jack and Jill.

Among his publishing clients were Curtis Publications, Doubleday and Company and Rand McNally.