William Heath Robinson was born into a family of artists, and is now remembered as ‘The Gadget King’. His father and two brothers all worked as illustrators, though Heath Robinson himself did not immediately follow. He first trained at the Royal Academy Schools in London as a landscape painter, but quickly realised that this would not support his lifestyle and subsequently sought work as an illustrator. The talented artist quickly received significant commissions to illustrate the publication of the Danish Fairy Tales and Legends of Hans Christian Andersen, various tales of Shakespeare and volume of the famed Arabian Nights. He worked for a time for the Sketch and Tatler publications providing cartoons. Illustration became a personal passion to Heath Robinson. Throughout the course of his professional career the artist wrote and illustrated his own books for children.