"I was working at Muriel Karasik in the mid-1980s, a marvelous 20th century decorative arts gallery on Madison Avenue, when we started thinking about an illustrator to work with on our holiday card. I immediately suggested the one whom I would always associate with New York City and Christmas, Hilary Knight, whose Eloise at Christmastime was my favorite childhood book. I didn't know Hilary personally, but in those days you only needed to open up a phone book to find someone. I called Hilary up and invited him to the gallery. He did draw our holiday card that year, and after that we remained friends. When I opened The Jewelry Library in 2018, Hilary came to visit and told me the story of how he'd made and sold his own jewelry line in the early 1940s, when he was 16 years old. Influenced by the fanciful designs of Steven Arpad which were sold at Bonwit Teller, Hilary sequinned earrings and brooches, hair combs and ribbons, and sold them to stores across the country."

Hilary has gifted The Jewelry Library “young Hilary’s” sketchbook of jewelry and accessory designs, along with some of the samples he’d made and given to his mother, the illustrator Katherine Sturges Dodge, which we are pleased to present on view at TJL.