In 1877 Edmund Evans, who was a leading colour printer using coloured woodblocks, lost the services of Walter Crane as his children's book illustrator and asked Caldecott for illustrations for two Christmas books. The results were "The House that Jack Built" and "The Diverting History of John Gilpin", published in 1878. They were an immediate success; so much so that Caldecott produced two more each year for Evans until he died. Many of Evans’ original printing blocks survive and are held at St Bride Library in London. The stories and rhymes were all of Caldecott's choosing and in some cases were written or added to by himself. In another milieu Caldecott followed "The Harz Mountains" with illustrations for two books by Washington Irving, three for Juliana Ewing, another of Henry Blackburn's, one for Captain Frederick Marryat and for other authors. Among well known admirers of his work were Gauguin and Van Gogh.