Blomstersiffror Adelborg 16 - Drawing. Public domain image.

Adelborg quickly became known as a children's book illustrator, writing and illustrating over a dozen books between 1885 and 1920 and illustrating another dozen books for other authors. One of her best-known books was an alphabet of flowers, Prinsarnes blomsteralfabet (The Princes' Flower Alphabet, 1892) that was strongly influenced by the work of Walter Crane. The title referred to the fact that at the time there were three young princes in the Swedish royal household. Another successful and much reprinted book was Pelle Snygg och barnen i Snaskeby (1896; in English as Clean Peter and the Children of Grubbylea, 1901). These and other of her early works led to Adelborg being called "the creator of the Swedish picture book for children". Her style has been compared to that of both Crane and Elsa Beskow. She also designed wallpaper patterns and home furnishings. In 1911, she designed the poster for the first major exhibition of women artists held in Sweden. Adelborg was very interested in handicrafts and in 1899 became a member of the executive board of the newly formed Swedish Handicraft Association. In 1903, she moved to Gagnef, where she founded a school for lace-making and a local "Memory House" (Minesstugan) housing local crafts and historical artefacts. She died in Gagnef in 1936. Her work is held by the Ottilia Adelborg Museum in Gagnef, by the Zorn Museum, and by the National Museum in Stockholm.