Scribner's, fiction number. August

Born in Louisiana, Blanche studied in London and Paris before returning to America in 1893, settling in Chicago and opening her own studio. Two years later she began designing and illustrating children's books, including The True Mother Goose (1895), The Voyage of the Mayflower (1897) and How the Dutch came to Manhattan (1897). At the same time she illustrated books by other authors, sometimes working on three or four works at a time. In 1900 Blanche travelled extensively in Europe and North Africa with her husband, Francis Miltoun, also a writer. This trip was the beginning of their joint project, a series of travel guides, fully illustrated by McManus. Between trips, the couple lived in Paris, where Blanche continued to work as an illustrator for American publishers. Little is known of the subsequent lives of Blanche and her husband. She was buried in New Orleans in June 1935.