internet archive (https://archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see 46241-h.htm or 46241-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46241/46241-h/46241-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/46241/46241-h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see https://archive.org/details/somenotesonearly00morrrich some notes on early woodcut books, with a chapter on illuminated manuscripts, by william morris copyright, 1902 by h. m. o'kane [illustration: from terence's eunuchus, ulm, conrad dinckmut, 1486] notes on woodcut books on the artistic qualities of the woodcut books of ulm and augsburg in the fifteenth century. the invention of printing books, and the use of wood-blocks for book ornament in place of hand-painting, though it belongs to the period of the degradation of mediæval art, gave an opportunity to the germans to regain the place which they had lost in the art of book decoration during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. this opportunity they took with vigour and success, and by means of it put forth works which showed the best and most essential qualities of their race. unhappily, even at the time of their first woodcut book, the beginning of the end was on them; about thirty years afterwards they received the renaissance with singular eagerness and rapidity, and became, from the artistic point of view, a nation of rhetorical pedants. an exception must be made, however, as to albert dürer; for, though his method was infected by the renaissance, his matchless imagination and intellect made him thoroughly gothic in spirit. amongst the printing localities of germany the two neighbouring cities of ulm and augsburg developed a school of woodcut book ornament second to none as to character, and, i think, more numerously represented than any other. i am obliged to link the two cities, because the early school at least is common to both; but the ornamented works produced by ulm are but few compared with the prolific birth of augsburg. it is a matter of course that the names of the artists who designed these wood-blocks should not have been recorded, any more than those of the numberless illuminators of the lovely written books of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; the names under which the ulm and augsburg picture-books are known are all those of their printers. of these by far the most distinguished are the kinsmen (their degree of kinship is not known), gunther zainer of augsburg and john zainer of ulm. nearly parallel with these in date are ludwig hohenwang and john bämler of augsburg, together with pflanzmann of augsburg, the printer of the first illustrated german bible. anthony sorg, a little later than these, was a printer somewhat inferior, rather a reprinter in fact, but by dint of reusing the old blocks, or getting them recut and in some cases redesigned, not always to their disadvantage, produced some very beautiful books. schoensperger, who printed right into the sixteenth century, used blocks which were ruder than the earlier ones, through carelessness, and i suppose probably because of the aim at cheapness; his books tend towards the chap-book kind. the earliest of these picture-books with a date is gunther zainer's golden legend, the first part of which was printed in 1471; but, as the most important from the artistic point of view, i should name: first, gunther zainer's speculum humanæ salvationis (undated but probably of 1471); second, john zainer's boccaccio de claris mulieribus (dated in a cut, as well as in the colophon, 1473); third, the æsop, printed by both the zainers, but i do not know by which first, as it is undated; fourth, gunther zainer's spiegel des menschlichen lebens (undated but about 1475), with which must be taken his german belial, the cuts of which are undoubtedly designed by the same artist, and cut by the same hand, that cut the best in the spiegel above mentioned; fifth, a beautiful little book, the story of sigismonda and guiscard, by gunther zainer, undated; sixth, tuberinus, die geschicht von symon, which is the story of a late german hugh of lincoln, printed by g. zainer about 1475; seventh, john bämlers das buch der natur (1475), with many full-page cuts of much interest; eighth, by the same printer, das buch von den 7 todsünden und den 7 tugenden (1474); ninth, bämler's sprenger's rosencranz bruderschaft, with only two cuts, but those most remarkable. to these may be added as transitional (in date at least), between the earlier and the later school next to be mentioned, two really characteristic books printed by sorg: (a) der seusse, a book of mystical devotion, 1482, and (b) the council of constance, printed in 1483; the latter being, as far as its cuts are concerned, mainly heraldic. at ulm, however, a later school arose after a transitional book, leonard hol's splendid ptolemy of 1482; of this school one printer's name, conrad dinckmut, includes all the most remarkable books: to wit, der seelen-wurzgarten (1483), das buch der weisheit (1485), the swabian chronicle (1486), terence's eunuchus (in german) (1486). lastly, john reger's descriptio obsidionis rhodiæ (1496) worthily closes the series of the ulm books. it should here be said that, apart from their pictures, the ulm and augsburg books are noteworthy for their border and letter decoration. the ulm printer, john zainer, in especial shone in the production of borders. his de claris mulieribus excels all the other books of the school in this matter; the initial s of both the latin and the german editions being the most elaborate and beautiful piece of its kind; and, furthermore, the german edition has a border almost equal to the s in beauty, though different in character, having the shield of scotland supported by angels in the corner. a very handsome border (or half-border rather), with a zany in the corner, used frequently in j. zainer's books [by the by, in gritsch's quadragesimale, 1475, this zany is changed into an ordinary citizen by means of an ingenious piecing of the block], e.g., in the 1473 and 1474 editions of the rationale of durandus, and, associated with an interesting historiated initial o, in alvarus, de planctu ecclesiæ, 1474. there are two or three other fine borders, such as those in steinhowel's büchlein der ordnung, and petrarch's griseldis (here shown), both of 1473, and in albertus magnus, summa de eucharistiæ sacramento, 1474. a curious alphabet of initials made up of leafage, good, but not very showy, is used in the de claris mulieribus and other books. an alphabet of large initials, the most complete example of which is to be found in leonard hol's ptolemy, is often used and is clearly founded on the pen-letters, drawn mostly in red and blue, in which the dutch 'rubrishers' excelled. [another set of initials founded on twelfth century work occurs in john zainer's folio books, and has some likeness to those used by hohenwang of augsburg in the golden bibel and elsewhere, and perhaps was suggested by these, as they are not very early (c. 1475), but they differ from hohenwang's in being generally more or less shaded, and also in not being enclosed in a square.] this big alphabet is very beautiful and seems to have been a good deal copied by other german printers, as it well deserved to be. [the initials of knoblotzer of strassburg and bernard richel of basel may be mentioned.] john reger's caoursin has fine handsome 'blooming-letters,' somewhat tending toward the french style. in augsburg gunther zainer has some initial i's of strap-work without foliation: they are finely designed, but gain considerably when, as sometimes happens, the spaces between the straps are filled in with fine pen-tracery and in yellowish brown; they were cut early in gunther's career, as one occurs in the speculum humanæ salvationis, c. 1471, and another in the calendar, printed 1471. these, as they always occur in the margin and are long, may be called border-pieces. a border occurring in eyb, ob einem manne tzu nemen ein weib is drawn very gracefully in outline, and is attached, deftly enough, to a very good s of the pen-letter type, though on a separate block; it has three shields of arms in it, one of which is the bearing of augsburg. this piece is decidedly illuminators' work as to design. gunther's margarita davidica has a border (attached to a very large p) which is much like the ulm borders in character. a genealogical tree of the house of hapsburg prefacing the spiegel des menschlichen lebens, and occupying a whole page, is comparable for beauty and elaboration to the s of john zainer above mentioned; on the whole, for beauty and richness of invention and for neatness of execution, i am inclined to give it the first place amongst all the decorative pieces of the german printers. gunther zainer's german bible of c. 1474 has a full set of pictured letters, one to every book, of very remarkable merit: the foliated forms which make the letters and enclose the figures being bold, inventive, and very well drawn. i note that these excellent designs have received much less attention than they deserve. in almost all but the earliest of gunther's books a handsome set of initials are used, a good deal like the above mentioned ulm initials, but with the foliations blunter, and blended with less of geometrical forms: the pen origin of these is also very marked. ludwig hohenwang, who printed at augsburg in the seventies, uses a noteworthy set of initials, alluded to above, that would seem to have been drawn by the designer with a twelfth century ms. before him, though, as a matter of course, the fifteenth century betrays itself in certain details, chiefly in the sharp foliations at the ends of the scrolls, etc. there is a great deal of beautiful design in these letters; but the square border round them, while revealing their origin from illuminators' work, leaves over-large whites in the backgrounds, which call out for the completion that the illuminator's colour would have given them. bämler and the later printer sorg do not use so much ornament as gunther zainer; their initials are less rich both in line and design than gunther's, and sorg's especially have a look of having run down from the earlier ones: in his seusse, however, there are some beautiful figured initials designed on somewhat the same plan as those of gunther zainer's bible. now it may surprise some of our readers, though i should hope not the greatest part of them, to hear that i claim the title of works of art, both for these picture-ornamented books as books, and also for the pictures themselves. their two main merits are first their decorative and next their story-telling quality; and it seems to me that these two qualities include what is necessary and essential in book-pictures. to be sure the principal aim of these unknown german artists was to give the essence of the story at any cost, and it may be thought that the decorative qualities of their designs were accidental, or done unconsciously at any rate. i do not altogether dispute that view; but then the accident is that of the skilful workman whose skill is largely the result of tradition; it has thereby become a habit of the hand to him to work in a decorative manner. to turn back to the books numbered above as the most important of the school, i should call john zainer's de claris mulieribus, and the æsop, and gunther zainer's spiegel des menschlichen lebens the most characteristic. of these my own choice would be the de claris mulieribus, partly perhaps because it is a very old friend of mine, and perhaps the first book that gave me a clear insight into the essential qualities of the mediæval design of that period. the subject-matter of the book also makes it one of the most interesting, giving it opportunity for setting forth the mediæval reverence for the classical period, without any of the loss of romance on the one hand, and epical sincerity and directness on the other, which the flood-tide of renaissance rhetoric presently inflicted on the world. no story-telling could be simpler and more straightforward, and less dependent on secondary help, than that of these curious, and, as people phrase it, rude cuts. and in spite (if you please it) of their rudeness, they are by no means lacking in definite beauty: the composition is good everywhere, the drapery well designed, the lines rich, which shows of course that the cutting is good. though there is no ornament save the beautiful initial s and the curious foliated initials above mentioned, the page is beautifully proportioned and stately, when, as in the copy before me, it has escaped the fury of the bookbinder. the great initial 's' i claim to be one of the very best printers' ornaments ever made, one which would not disgrace a thirteenth century ms. adam and eve are standing on a finely-designed spray of poppy-like leafage, and behind them rise up the boughs of the tree. eve reaches down an apple to adam with her right hand, and with her uplifted left takes another from the mouth of the crowned woman's head of the serpent, whose coils, after they have performed the duty of making the s, end in a foliage scroll, whose branches enclose little medallions of the seven deadly sins. all this is done with admirable invention and romantic meaning, and with very great beauty of design and a full sense of decorative necessities. as to faults in this delightful book, it must be said that it is somewhat marred by the press-work not being so good as it should have been even when printed by the weak presses of the fifteenth century; but this, though a defect, is not, i submit, an essential one. in the æsop the drawing of the designs is in a way superior to that of the last book: the line leaves nothing to be desired; it is thoroughly decorative, rather heavy, but so firm and strong, and so obviously in submission to the draughtman's hand, that it is capable of even great delicacy as well as richness. the figures both of man and beast are full of expression; the heads clean drawn and expressive also, and in many cases refined and delicate. the cuts, with few exceptions, are not bounded by a border, but amidst the great richness of line no lack of one is felt, and the designs fully sustain their decorative position as a part of the noble type of the ulm and augsburg printers; this æsop is, to my mind, incomparably the best and most expressive of the many illustrated editions of the fables printed in the fifteenth century. the designs of the other german and flemish ones were all copied from it. gunther zainer's spiegel des menschlichen lebens is again one of the most amusing of woodcut books. one may say that the book itself, one of the most popular of the middle ages, runs through all the conditions and occupations of men as then existing, from the pope and kaiser down to the field labourer, and, with full indulgence in the mediæval love of formal antithesis, contrasts the good and the evil side of them. the profuse illustrations to all this abound in excellent pieces of naïve characterisation; the designs are very well put together, and, for the most part, the figures well drawn, and draperies good and crisp, and the general effect very satisfactory as decoration. the designer in this book, however, has not been always so lucky in his cutter as those of the last two, and some of the pictures have been considerably injured in the cutting. on the other hand the lovely genealogical tree above mentioned crowns this book with abundant honour, and the best of the cuts are so good that it is hardly possible to rank it after the first two. gunther zainer's speculum humanæ salvationis and his golden legend have cuts decidedly ruder than these three books; they are simpler also, and less decorative as ornaments to the page, nevertheless they have abundant interest, and most often their essential qualities of design shine through the rudeness, which by no means excludes even grace of silhouette: one and all they are thoroughly expressive of the story they tell. the designs in these two books by the by do not seem to have been done by the same hand; but i should think that the designer of those in the golden legend drew the subjects that 'inhabit' the fine letters of gunther's german bible. both seem to me to have a kind of illuminator's character in them. the cuts to the story of simon bring us back to those of spiegel des menschlichen lebens; they are delicate and pretty, and tell the story, half so repulsive, half so touching, of 'little sir hugh,' very well. i must not pass by without a further word on sigismund and guiscard. i cannot help thinking that the cuts therein are by the same hand that drew some of those in the æsop; at any rate they have the same qualities of design, and are to my mind singularly beautiful and interesting. of the other contemporary, or nearly contemporary, printers bämler comes first in interest. his book von den 7 todsünden, etc., has cuts of much interest and invention, not unlike in character to those of gunther zainer's golden legend. his buch der natur has full-page cuts of animals, herbs, and human figures exceedingly quaint, but very well designed for the most part. a half-figure of a bishop 'in pontificalibus' is particularly bold and happy. rupertus a sancto remigio's history of the crusade and the cronich von allen konigen und kaisern are finely illustrated. his rosencranz bruderschaft above mentioned has but two cuts, but they are both of them, the one as a fine decorative work, the other as a deeply felt illustration of devotional sentiment, of the highest merit. the two really noteworthy works of sorg (who, as aforesaid, was somewhat a plagiaristic publisher) are, first, the seusse, which is illustrated with bold and highly decorative cuts full of meaning and dignity, and next, the council of constance, which is the first heraldic woodcut work (it has besides the coats-of-arms, several fine full-page cuts, of which the burning of huss is one). these armorial cuts, which are full of interest as giving a vast number of curious and strange bearings, are no less so as showing what admirable decoration can be got out of heraldry when it is simply and well drawn. to conrad dinckmut of ulm, belonging to a somewhat later period than these last-named printers, belongs the glory of opposing by his fine works the coming degradation of book-ornament in germany. the seelen-wurzgarten, ornamented with seventeen full-page cuts, is injured by the too free repetition of them; they are, however, very good; the best perhaps being the nativity, which, for simplicity and beauty, is worthy of the earlier period of the middle ages. the swabian chronicle has cuts of various degrees of merit, but all interesting and full of life and spirit: a fight in the lists with axes being one of the most remarkable. das buch der weisheit (bidpay's fables) has larger cuts which certainly show no lack of courage; they are perhaps scarcely so decorative as the average of the cuts of the school, and are somewhat coarsely cut; but their frank epical character makes them worthy of all attention. but perhaps his most remarkable work is his terence's eunuchus (in german), ornamented with twenty-eight cuts illustrating the scenes. these all have backgrounds showing (mostly) the streets of a mediæval town, which clearly imply theatrical scenery; the figures of the actors are delicately drawn, and the character of the persons and their action is well given and carefully sustained throughout. the text of this book is printed in a large handsome black-letter, imported, as my friend mr. proctor informs me, from italy. the book is altogether of singular beauty and character. the caoursin (1496), the last book of any account printed at ulm, has good and spirited cuts of the events described, the best of them being the flight of turks in the mountains. one is almost tempted to think that these cuts are designed by the author of those of the mainz breidenbach of 1486, though the cutting is much inferior. all these books, it must be remembered, though they necessarily (being printed books) belong to the later middle ages, and though some of them are rather decidedly late in that epoch, are thoroughly 'gothic' as to their ornament; there is no taint of the renaissance in them. in this respect the art of book-ornament was lucky. the neo-classical rhetoric which invaded literature before the end of the fourteenth century (for even chaucer did not quite escape it) was harmless against this branch of art at least for more than another hundred years; so that even italian book-pictures are gothic in spirit, for the most part, right up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, long after the new birth had destroyed the building arts for italy: while germany, whose gothic architecture was necessarily firmer rooted in the soil, did not so much as feel the first shiver of the coming flood till suddenly, and without warning, it was upon her, and the art of the middle ages fell dead in a space of about five years, and was succeeded by a singularly stupid and brutal phase of that rhetorical and academical art, which, in all matters of ornament, has held europe captive ever since. [illustration: from john zainer's griseldis, ulm, 1473] [illustration: from gunther zainer's speculum humanæ salvationis, augsburg, c. 1471] [illustration: from gunther zainer's ingold, das golden spiel, augsburg, 1472] [illustration: from john zainer's boccaccio de claris mulieribus, ulm, 1473] [illustration: from gunther zainer's epistles and gospels, augsburg, c. 1474] [illustration: from gunther zainer's spiegel d. menschl. lebens, augsburg, c. 1475] [illustration: from gunther zainer's tuberinus, geschicht von dem heiligen kind symon, augsburg, c. 1475] [illustration: from the æsop] the woodcuts of gothic books notes on woodcut books i shall presently have the pleasure of showing you in some kind of sequence a number of illustrations taken from books of the 15th, and first years of the 16th centuries. but before i do so i wish to read to you a few remarks on the genesis and the quality of the kind of art represented by these examples, and the lessons which they teach us. since the earliest of those i have to show is probably not earlier in date than about 1420, and almost all are more than fifty years later than that, it is clear that they belong to the latest period of mediæval art, and one or two must formally be referred to the earliest days of the renaissance, though in spirit they are still gothic. in fact, it is curious to note the suddenness of the supplanting of the gothic by the neo-classical style in some instances, especially in germany: e.g., the later books published by the great nuremberg printer, koburger, in the fourteen-nineties, books like the "nuremberg chronicle," and the "schatzbehalter," show no sign of the coming change, but ten years worn, and hey, presto, not a particle of gothic ornament can be found in any german printed book, though, as i think, the figure-works of one great man, albert dürer, were gothic in essence. the most part of these books, in fact all of them in the earlier days (the exceptions being mainly certain splendidly ornamented french books, including the sumptuous books of "hours"), were meant for popular books: the great theological folios, the law books, the decretals, and such like of the earlier german printers, though miracles of typographical beauty, if ornamented at all, were ornamented by the illuminator, with the single exception of gutenberg's splendid "psalter," which gives us at once the first and best piece of ornamental colour-printing yet achieved. again, the dainty and perfect volumes of the classics produced by the earlier roman and venetian printers disdained the help of wood blocks, though they were often beautifully illuminated, and it was not till after the days of jenson, the frenchman who brought the roman letter to perfection, it was not till italian typography began to decline, that illustration by reproducible methods became usual; and we know that these illustrated books were looked upon as inferior wares, and were sold far cheaper than the unadorned pages of the great printers. it must be noted in confirmation of the view that the woodcut books were cheap books, that in most cases they were vernacular editions of books already printed in latin. the work, then, which i am about to show you has first the disadvantage of the rudeness likely to disfigure cheap forms of art in a time that lacked the resource of slippery plausibility which helps out cheap art at the present day. and secondly, the disadvantage of belonging to the old age rather than the youth or vigorous manhood of the middle ages. on the other hand, it is art, and not a mere trade "article;" and though it was produced by the dying middle ages, they were not yet dead when it was current, so that it yet retains much of the qualities of the more hopeful period; and in addition, the necessity of adapting the current design to a new material and method gave it a special life, which is full of interest and instruction for artists of all times who are able to keep their eyes open. all organic art, all art that is genuinely growing, opposed to rhetorical, retrospective, or academical art, art which has no real growth in it, has two qualities in common: the epical and the ornamental; its two functions are the telling of a story and the adornment of a space or tangible object. the labour and ingenuity necessary for the production of anything that claims our attention as a work of art are wasted, if they are employed on anything else than these two aims. mediæval art, the result of a long unbroken series of tradition, is preëminent for its grasp of these two functions, which, indeed, interpenetrate then more than in any other period. not only is all its special art obviously and simply beautiful as ornament, but its ornament also is vivified with forcible meaning, so that neither in one or the other does the life ever flag, or the sensuous pleasure of the eye ever lack. you have not got to say, now you have your story, how are you going to embellish it? nor, now you have made your beauty, what are you going to do with it? for here are the two together, inseparably a part of each other. no doubt the force of tradition, which culminated in the middle ages, had much to do with this unity of epical design and ornament. it supplied deficiencies of individual by collective imagination (compare the constantly recurring phases and lines in genuine epical or ballad poetry); it ensured the inheritance of deft craftsmanship and instinct for beauty in the succession of the generations of workmen; and it cultivated the appreciation of good work by the general public. now-a-days artists work essentially for artists, and look on the ignorant layman with contempt, which even the necessity of earning a livelihood cannot force them wholly to disguise. in the times of art, they had no one but artists to work for, since every one was a potential artist. now, in such a period, when written literature was still divine, and almost miraculous to men, it was impossible that books should fail to have a due share in the epical-ornamental art of the time. accordingly, the opportunities offered by the pages which contained the wisdom and knowledge of past and present times were cultivated to the utmost. the early middle ages, beginning with the wonderful calligraphy of the irish mss., were, above all times, the epoch of writing. the pages of almost all books, from the 8th to the 15th century, are beautiful, even without the addition of ornament. in those that are ornamented without pictures illustrative of the text, the eye is so pleasured, and the fancy so tickled by the beauty and exhaustless cheerful invention of the illuminator, that one scarcely ventures to ask that the tale embodied in the written characters should be further illustrated. but when this is done, and the book is full of pictures, which tell the written tale again with the most conscientious directness of design, and as to execution with great purity of outline and extreme delicacy of colour, we can say little more than that the only work of art which surpasses a complete mediæval book is a complete mediæval building. this must be said, with the least qualification, of the books of from about 1160 to 1300. after this date, the work loses, in purity and simplicity, more than it gains in pictorial qualities, and, at last, after the middle of the 15th century, illuminated books lose much of their individuality on the ornamental side; and, though they are still beautiful, are mostly only redeemed from commonplace when the miniatures in them are excellent. but here comes in the new element, given by the invention of printing, and the gradual shoving out of the scribe by the punch-cutter, the typefounder, and the printer. the first printed characters were as exact reproductions of the written ones as the new craftsmen could compass, even to the extent of the copying of the infernal abbreviations which had gradually crept into manuscript; but, as i have already mentioned, the producers of serious books did not at first supply the work of the illuminator by that of the woodcutter, either in picture work or ornament. in fact, the art of printing pictures from wood blocks is earlier than that of printing books, and is undoubtedly the parent of book illustration. the first woodcuts were separate pictures of religious subjects, circulated for the edification of the faithful, in existing examples generally coloured by hand, and certainly always intended to be coloured. the earliest of these may be as old as 1380, and there are many which have been dated in the first half of the 15th century; though the dates are mostly rather a matter of speculation. but the development of book illustration proper by no means puts an end to their production. many were done between 1450 and 1490, and some in the first years of the 16th century; but the earlier ones only have any special character in them. of these, some are cut rudely and some timidly also, but some are fairly well cut, and few so ill that the expression of the design is not retained. the design of most of these early works is mostly admirable, and as far removed from the commonplace as possible; many, nay most of these cuts, are fine expressions of that pietism of the middle ages which has been somewhat veiled from us by the strangeness, and even grotesqueness which has mingled with it, but the reality of which is not doubtful to those who have studied the period without prejudice. amongst these may be cited a design of christ being pressed in the wine press, probably as early as the end of the 14th century, which may stand without disadvantage beside a fine work of the 13th century. the next step towards book illustration brings us to the block-books, in which the picture-cuts are accompanied by a text, also cut on wood; the folios being printed by rubbing off on one side only. the subject of the origin of the most noteworthy of these books, the "ars moriendi," the "lord's prayer," the "song of solomon," the "biblia pauperum," the "apocalypse," and the "speculum humanæ salvationis," has been debated, along with the question of the first printer by means of movable types, with more acrimony than it would seem to need. i, not being a learned person, will not add one word to the controversy; it is enough to say that these works were done somewhere between the years 1430 and 1460, and that their style was almost entirely dominant throughout the gothic period in flanders and holland, while it had little influence on the german wood-cutters. for the rest, all these books have great merit as works of art; it would be difficult to find more direct or more poetical rendering of the events given than those of the "speculum humanæ salvationis;" or more elegant and touching designs than those in the "song of solomon." the cuts of the "biblia pauperum" are rougher, but full of vigour and power of expression. the "ars moriendi" is very well drawn and executed, but the subject is not so interesting. the "apocalypse" and "the lord's prayer" are both of them excellent, the former being scarcely inferior in design to the best of the apocalypse picture mss. of the end of the thirteenth century. we have now come to the wood-cuts which ornament the regular books of the gothic period, which began somewhat timidly. the two examples in germany and italy, not far removed from each other in date, being the "historie von joseph, daniel, judith, and esther," printed by albrecht pfister, at bamberg, in 1462; and the "meditations of turrecremata (or torquemada)," printed at rome by ulric hahn, in the year 1467, which latter, though taken by the command of the pope from the frescoes of a roman church (sta. maria sopra minerva) are as german as need be, and very rude in drawing and execution, though not without spirit. but, after this date, the school of wood-carving developed rapidly; and, on the whole, germany, which had been very backward in the art of illumination, now led the new art. the main schools were those of ulm and augsburg, of maintz, of strasburg, of basel, and of nuremberg, the latter being the later. the examples which i shall presently have the pleasure of showing you are wholly of the first and the last, as being the most representative, ulm and augsburg of the earlier style, nuremberg of the later. but i might mention, in passing, that some of the earlier basel books, notably bernard richel's "speculum humanæ salvationis," are very noteworthy; and that, in fourteen-eighties, there was a school at maintz that produced, amongst other books, a very beautiful "herbal," and breydenbach's "peregrinatio," which, amongst other merits, such as actual representations of the cities on the road to the holy land, must be said to contain the best executed woodcuts of the middle ages. of course, there were many other towns in germany which produced illustrated books, but they may be referred in character to one or other of these schools. in holland and flanders there was a noble school of woodcutting, delicately decorative in character, and very direct and expressive, being, as i said, the direct descendant of the block-books. the name of the printer who produced most books of this school was gerard leeuw (or lion), who printed first at gouda, and afterwards at antwerp. but colard mansion, of bruges, who printed few books, and was the master of caxton in the art of printing, turned out a few very fine specimens of illustrated books. one of the most remarkable illustrated works published in the low countries--which i mention for its peculiarity--is the "chevalier deliberé" (an allegorical poem on the death of charles the rash), and i regret not being able to show you a slide of it, as it could not be done satisfactorily. this book, published at schiedam in 1500, decidedly leans towards the french in style, rather than the native manner deduced from the earlier block-books. france began both printing and book illustration somewhat late, most of its important illustrated works belonging to a period between the years 1485 and 1520; but she grasped the art of book decoration with a firmness and completeness very characteristic of french genius; and also, she carried on the gothic manner later than any other nation. for decorative qualities, nothing can excel the french books, and many of the picture-cuts, besides their decorative merits, have an additional interest in the romantic quality which they introduce: they all look as if they might be illustrations to the "morte d'arthur" or tristram. in italy, from about 1480 onward, book illustrations became common, going hand-in-hand with the degradation of printing, as i said before. the two great schools in italy are those of florence and venice. i think it must be said that, on the whole, the former city bore away the bell from venice, in spite of the famous aldine "polyphilus," the cuts in which, by the way, are very unequal. there are a good many book illustrations published in italy, i should mention, like those to ulric hahn's "meditations of turrecremata," which are purely german in style; which is only to be expected from the fact of the early printers in italy being mostly germans. i am sorry to have to say it, but england cannot be said to have a school of gothic book illustration; the cuts in our early printed books are, at the best, french or flemish blocks pretty well copied. this lamentable fact is curious, considered along with what is also a fact: that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the english were, on the whole, the best book decorators. i have a few words to say yet on the practical lessons to be derived from the study of these works of art; but before i say them, i will show you, by your leave, the slides taken from examples of these woodcuts. only i must tell you first, what doubtless many of you know, that these old blocks were not produced by the graver on the end section of a piece of fine-grained wood (box now invariably), but by the knife on the plank section of pear-tree or similar wood--a much more difficult feat when the cuts were fine, as, e.g., in lützelberger's marvellous cuts of the "dance of death." [mr. morris then showed a series of lantern slides, which he described as follows:] 1. this is taken from the "ars moriendi," date about 1420. you may call it flemish or dutch, subject to raising the controversy i mentioned just now. 2. the "song of solomon," about the same date. 3. from the first illustrated book of the ulm school. the renowned and noble ladies of boccaccio. it begins with adam and eve. the initial letter is very characteristic of the ulm school of ornament. the trail of the serpent forms the s, and in the knots of the tail are little figures representing the seven deadly sins. 4. another page from the same book. "ceres and the art of agriculture." one of the great drawbacks to wood block printing in those times was the weakness of the presses. their only resource was to print with the paper very wet, and with very soft packing, so that the block went well into the paper; but many books, and this amongst others, have suffered much from this cause. 5. another page of the same book. the date is 1473. 6. this is from an augsburg book. "speculum humanæ vitæ," written by a spanish bishop, which was a great favourite in the middle ages. it gives the advantages and disadvantages of all conditions of life. this block contains a genealogical tree of the hapsburg family, and is an exceedingly beautiful piece of ornamental design, very well cut. 7. from the same book; representing not the "five alls," with which you are familiar, but the "four alls;" the gentleman, the merchant, the nobleman, and the poor man, who is the support of the whole lot, with his toes coming through his shoes. this is a fine specimen of printing of gunther zainer. the initial letters are very handsome in all these augsburg books. 8. there is a picture of the unjust lawyer, from the same book, taking money from both sides. the date of this book is about 1475. 9. from "æsop's fables," a reproduction of the "ulm æsop," by antony sorg, of augsburg (but the pictures are printed from the same blocks), the "fly on the wheel," and the "jackdaw and peacock." these designs for the æsop pictures went all through the middle ages, with very little alteration. 10. "king stork and king log," from the same book. 11. this is from the table-book of bidpay, by conrad dinckmuth, who carried on the early glories of the ulm school in a later generation; about 1486. 12. the parrot in a cage, with the ladies making a sham storm to cause the poor bird to be put to death. dinckmuth did some very remarkable work: one of the best of which was a german translation of the "eunuchus" of terence; another the "chronicle of the swabians." 13. the "schatzbehalter," published by koburger, of nuremberg, 1491. although so late, there is no trace of any classical influence in the design. the architecture, for instance, is pure late german architecture. 14. from the same book, "joshua meeting the angel," and "moses at the burning bush." 15. a page, or part of a page, from the celebrated nuremberg chronicle, printed by koburger in 1493. this is, in a way, an exception to the rule of illustrated books being in the vernacular, as it is in latin; but there is also a german edition. 16. another specimen of the same book. 17. from a curious devotional book, "der seusse," printed by antony sorg, at augsburg, about 1485. 18. another page, which shows the decorative skill with which they managed their diagram pictures. 19. an example of the flemish school, and characteristic of the design of white and black, which is so often used both by the florentine and the flemish wood-cutters. it is from a life of christ, published by gerard leeuw in 1487. 20. another page from the same book. there are certainly two artists in this book, and the one on the left appears to be the more pictorial of the two; though his designs are graceful, he is hardly as good as the rougher book illustrator. gerard leeuw had a very handsome set of initial letters, a kind of ornament which did not become common until after 1480. 21. another one from the same book. 22. from another flemish book, showing how the style runs through them all. st. george and the dragon; from "a golden legend," 1503. 23. one of french series, from a very celebrated book called "la mer des histoires." it begins the history of france a little before the deluge. it is a most beautiful book, and very large. one would think these borders were meant to be painted, as so many "books of hours" were, but i have never seen a copy which has had the borders painted, though, as a rule, when the borders are meant to be painted, it is not common to find one plain. 24. another page from the same book; but the slide does not do justice to it. i will here mention that one failing of the french publishers was to make one picture serve for several purposes. the fact is, they were more careful of decoration than illustration. 25. another french book by a french printer, the "aubre des batailles," which illustrates that curious quality of romance which you find in the french pictures. it is true that many of these cuts were not made for this book; in fact, they were done for another edition of the chevalier delibré, the flemish edition of which i have mentioned before, for some have that name on them. 26. another from the same book. 27. another good example of the french decorative style. it is from petrarch's "remedy of either fortune." this is the author presenting his book to the king, and is often used in these french books. 28. from another french book of about the same date (the beginning of the sixteenth century), "the shepherd's calendar," of which there were a great number of english editions, even as late as 1656, the cuts being imitated from these blocks. 29. a page from one of the beautiful "books of hours," which were mostly printed on vellum, every page of which is decorated more or less with this sort of picture. here is the calendar, with the signs of the zodiac, the work of the months, the saints that occur in it, and games and sports; on the other side is the sangraal. this book is throughout in the same style--wholly gothic. it was printed in 1498, and about twenty years after these service-books became very much damaged by having renaissance features introduced from german artists of the time. 30. another page from the same book. the resurrection, and the raising of lazarus are the principal subjects. 31. nominally an italian woodcut; the book was printed at milan, but this cut is probably of german design, if not execution. 32. from a very beautiful book in the florentine style. one of the peculiarities is the copious use of white out of black. 33. another from the same--"the quatre reggio," 1508. 34. another, very characteristic of the florentine style, with its beautiful landscape background. 35. this is one in which the ornament has really got into the renaissance style. it is a sort of "lucky book," with all sorts of ways of finding your fortune, discovering where your money has gone, who is your enemy, and so on. one of the peschia books, actually printed at milan, but of the venetian school. 36. from a book of the venetian style, about the same date. i show it as an example of the carefulness and beauty with which the artists of the time combined the border work with the pictures. there is something very satisfactory in the proportion of black and white in the whole page. now you have seen my examples, i want once more to impress upon you the fact that these designs, one and all, while they perform their especial function--the office of telling a tale--never forget their other function of decorating the book of which they form a part; this is the essential difference between them and modern book illustrations, which i suppose make no pretence at decorating the pages of the book, but must be looked upon as black and white pictures which it is convenient to print and bind up along with the printed matter. the question, in fact, which i want to put to you is this, whether we are to have books which are beautiful as books; books in which type, paper, woodcuts, and the due arrangement of all these are to be considered, and which are so treated as to produce a harmonious whole, something which will give a person with a sense of beauty real pleasure whenever and wherever the book is opened, even before he begins to look closely into the illustrations; or whether the beautiful and inventive illustrations are to be looked on as separate pictures imbedded in a piece of utilitarianism, which they cannot decorate because it cannot help them to do so. take, as an example of the latter, mr. fred. walker's illustrations to "philip" in the "cornhill magazine," of the days when some of us were young, since i am inclined to think that they are about the best of such illustrations. now they are part of thackeray's story, and i don't want them to be in any way less a part of it, but they are in no respect a part of the tangible printed book, and i do want them to be that. as it is, the mass of utilitarian matter in which they are imbedded is absolutely helpless and dead. why it is not even ugly--at least not vitally ugly. now the reverse is the case with the books from which i have taken the examples which you have been seeing. as things to be looked at they are beautiful, taken as a whole; they are alive all over, and not merely in a corner here and there. the illustrator has to share the success and the failure, not only of the wood-cutter, who has translated his drawing, but also of the printer and the mere ornamentalist, and the result is that you have a book which is a visible work of art. you may say that you don't care for this result, that you wish to read literature and to look at pictures; and that so long as the modern book gives you these pleasures you ask no more of it; well, i can understand that, but you must pardon me if i say that your interest in books in that case is literary only, and not artistic, and that implies, i think, a partial crippling of the faculties; a misfortune which no one should be proud of. however, it seems certain that there is growing up a taste for books which are visible works of art, and that especially in this country, where the printers, at their best, do now use letters much superior in form to those in use elsewhere, and where a great deal of work intending to ornament books reasonably is turned out; most of which, however, is deficient in some respect; which, in fact, is seldom satisfactory unless the whole page, picture, ornament, and type is reproduced literally from the handiwork of the artist, as in some of the beautiful works of mr. walter crane. but this is a thing that can rarely be done, and what we want, it seems to me, is, not that books should sometimes be beautiful, but that they should generally be beautiful; indeed, if they are not, it increases the difficulties of those who would make them sometimes beautiful immensely. at any rate, i claim that illustrated books should always be beautiful, unless, perhaps, where the illustrations are present rather for the purpose of giving information than for that of giving pleasure to the intellect through the eye; but surely, even in this latter case, they should be reasonably and decently good-looking. well, how is this beauty to be obtained? it must be by the harmonious coöperation of the craftsmen and artists who produce the book. first, the paper should be good, which is a more important point than might be thought, and one in which there is a most complete contrast between the old and the modern books; for no bad paper was made till about the middle of the sixteenth century, and the worst that was made even then was far better than what is now considered good. next, the type must be good, a matter in which there is more room for excellence than those may think who have not studied the forms of letters closely. there are other matters, however, besides the mere form of the type which are of much importance in the producing of a beautiful book, which, however, i cannot go into tonight, as it is a little beside my present subject. then, the mere ornament must be good, and even very good. i do not know anything more dispiriting than the mere platitudes of printers' ornaments--trade ornaments. it is not uncommon now-a-days to see handsome books quite spoiled by them--books in which plain, unadorned letters would have been far more ornamental. then we come to the picture woodcuts. and here i feel i shall find many of you differing from me strongly; for i am sure that such illustrations as those excellent black and white pictures of fred. walker could never make book ornaments. the artist, to produce these satisfactorily, must exercise severe self-restraint, and must never lose sight of the page of the book he is ornamenting. that ought to be obvious to you, but i am afraid it will not be. i do not think any artist will ever make a good book illustrator, unless he is keenly alive to the value of a well-drawn line, crisp and clean, suggesting a simple and beautiful silhouette. anything which obscures this, and just to the extent to which it does obscure it, takes away from the fitness of the design as a book ornament. in this art vagueness is quite inadmissible. it is better to be wrong than vague in making designs which are meant to be book ornaments. again, as the artists' designs must necessarily be reproduced for this purpose, he should never lose sight of the material he is designing for. lack of precision is fatal (to take up again what i have just advanced) in an art produced by the point of the graver on a material which offers just the amount of resistance which helps precision. and here i come to a very important part of my subject, to wit, the relation between the designer and the wood-engraver; and it is clear that if these two artists do not understand one another, the result must be failure; and this understanding can never exist if the wood-engraver has but to cut servilely what the artist draws carelessly. if any real school of wood-engraving is to exist again, the wood-cutter must be an artist translating the designer's drawing. it is quite pitiable to see the patience and ingenuity of such clever workmen, as some modern wood-cutters are, thrown away on the literal reproduction of mere meaningless scrawls. the want of logic in artists who will insist on such work is really appalling. it is the actual touches of the hand that give the speciality, the final finish to a work of art, which carries out in one material what is designed in another; and for the designer to ignore the instrument and material by which the touches are to be done, shows complete want of understanding of the scope of reproducible design. i cannot help thinking that it would be a good thing for artists who consider designing a part of their province (i admit there are very few such artists) to learn the art of wood-engraving, which, up to a certain point, is a far from difficult art; at any rate for those who have the kind of eyes suitable for the work. i do not mean that they should necessarily always cut their own designs, but that they should be able to cut them. they would then learn what the real capacities of the art are, and would, i should hope, give the executing artists genuine designs to execute, rather than problems to solve. i do not know if it is necessary to remind you that the difficulties in cutting a simple design on wood (and i repeat that all designs for book illustrations should be simple) are very much decreased since the fifteenth century, whereas instead of using the knife on the plank section of the wood, we now use the graver on the end section. perhaps, indeed, some of you may think this simple wood-cutting contemptible, because of its ease; but delicacy and refinement of execution are always necessary in producing a line, and this is not easy, nay it is not possible to those who have not got the due instinct for it; mere mechanical deftness is no substitute for this instinct. again, as it is necessary for the designer to have a feeling for the quality of the final execution, to sympathise with the engravers difficulties, and know why one block looks artistic and another mechanical; so it is necessary for the engraver to have some capacity for design, so that he may know what the designer wants of him, and that he may be able to translate the designer, and give him a genuine and obvious cut line in place of his pencilled or penned line without injuring in any way the due expression of the original design. lastly, what i want the artist--the great man who designs for the humble executant--to think of is, not his drawn design, which he should look upon as a thing to be thrown away when it has served its purpose, but the finished and duly printed ornament which is offered to the public. i find that the executants of my humble designs always speak of them as "sketches," however painstaking they may be in execution. this is the recognised trade term, and i quite approve of it as keeping the "great man" in his place, and showing him what his duty is, to wit, to take infinite trouble in getting the finished work turned out of hand. i lay it down as a general principle in all the arts, where one artist's design is carried out by another in a different material, that doing the work twice over is by all means to be avoided as the source of dead mechanical work. the "sketch" should be as slight as possible, i.e., as much as possible should be left to the executant. a word or two of recapitulation as to the practical side of my subject, and i have done. an illustrated book, where the illustrations are more than mere illustrations of the printed text, should be a harmonious work of art. the type, the spacing of the type, the position of the pages of print on the paper, should be considered from the artistic point of view. the illustrations should not have a mere accidental connection with the other ornament and the type, but an essential and artistic connection. they should be designed as a part of the whole, so that they would seem obviously imperfect without their surroundings. the designs must be suitable to the material and method of reproduction, and not offer to the executant artist a mere thicket of unnatural difficulties, producing no result when finished, save the exhibition of a tour de force. the executant, on his side, whether he be the original designer or someone else, must understand that his business is sympathetic translation, and not mechanical reproduction of the original drawing. this means, in other words, the designer of the picture-blocks, the designer of the ornamental blocks, the wood-engraver, and the printer, all of them thoughtful, painstaking artists, and all working in harmonious coöperation for the production of a work of art. this is the only possible way in which you can get beautiful books. some notes on the illuminated books of the middle ages. notes on illuminated books the middle ages may be called the epoch of writing par excellence. stone, bronze, wooden rune-staves, waxed tablets, papyrus, could be written upon with one instrument or another; but all these--even the last, tender and brittle as it was--were but makeshift materials for writing on; and it was not until parchment and vellum, and at last rag-paper, became common, that the true material for writing on, and the quill pen, the true instrument for writing with, were used. from that time till the period of the general use of printing must be considered the age of written books. as in other handicrafts, so also in this, the great period of genuine creation (once called the dark ages by those who had forgotten the past, and whose ideal of the future was a comfortable prison) did all that was worth doing as an art, leaving makeshifts to the period of the new birth and the intelligence of modern civilisation. byzantium was doubtless the mother of mediæval calligraphy, but the art spread speedily through the north of europe and flourished there at an early period, and it is almost startling to find it as we do in full bloom in ireland in the seventh century. no mere writing has been done before or since with such perfection as that of the early irish ecclesiastical books; and this calligraphy is interesting also, as showing the development of what is now called by printers "lower-case" letter, from the ancient majuscular characters. the writing is, i must repeat, positively beautiful in itself, thoroughly ornamental; but these books are mostly well equipped with actual ornament, as carefully executed as the writing--in fact, marvels of patient and ingenious interlacements. this ornament, however, has no relation in any genuine irish book to the traditional style of byzantium, but is rather a branch of a great and widespread school of primal decoration, which has little interest in the representation of humanity and its doings, or, indeed, in any organic life, but is contented with the convolutions of abstract lines, over which it attains to great mastery. the most obvious example of this kind of art may be found in the carvings of the maoris of new zealand; but it is common to many races at a certain stage of development. the colour of these irish ornaments is not very delightful, and no gold appears in them. [example: "the book of kells," trinity college, dublin, &c.] this irish calligraphy and illumination was taken up by the north of england monks; and from them, though in less completeness, by the carlovingian makers of books both in france and even in germany; but they were not content with the quite elementary representation of the human form current in the irish illuminations, and filled up the gap by imitating the byzantine picture-books with considerable success [examples: durham gospels, british museum, gospels at boulogne, &c.], and in time developed a beautiful style of illumination combining ornament with figure-drawing, and one seat of which in the early eleventh century was winchester. [example: charter of foundation of newminster at winchester, british museum.] gold was used with some copiousness in these latter books, but is not seen in the carefully-raised and highly-burnished condition which is so characteristic of mediæval illumination at its zenith. it should be noticed that amongst the byzantine books of the earlier period are some which on one side surpass in mere sumptuousness all books ever made; these are written in gold and silver on vellum stained purple throughout. later on again, in the semi-byzantine-anglo-saxon or carlovingian period, are left us some specimens of books written in gold and silver on white vellum. this splendour was at times resorted to (chiefly in italy) in the latter half of the fifteenth century. the just-mentioned late anglo-saxon style was the immediate forerunner of what may be called the first complete mediæval school, that of the middle of the twelfth century. here the change for the better is prodigious. apart from the actual pictures done for explanation of the text and the edification of the "faithful," these books are decorated with borders, ornamental letters, &c., in which foliage and forms human, animal, and monstrous are blended with the greatest daring and most complete mastery. the drawing is firm and precise, and it may be said also that an unerring system of beautiful colour now makes its appearance. this colour (as all schools of decorative colour not more or less effete) is founded on the juxtaposition of pure red and blue modified by delicate but clear and bright lines and "pearlings" of white, and by the use of a little green and spaces of pale pink and flesh-colour, and here and there some negative greys and ivory yellows. in most cases where the book is at all splendid, gold is very freely used, mostly in large spaces--backgrounds and the like--which, having been gilded over a solid ground with thick gold-leaf, are burnished till they look like solid plates of actual metal. the effect of this is both splendid and refined, the care with which gold is laid on, and its high finish, preventing any impression of gaudiness. the writing of this period becoming somewhat more definitely "gothic," does not fall short of (it could not surpass) that of the previous half-century. from this time a very gradual change--during which we have to note somewhat more of delicacy in drawing and refinement of colour--brings us to the first quarter of the thirteenth century; and here a sundering of the styles of the different peoples begins to be obvious. throughout the twelfth century, though there is a difference, it is easier to distinguish an english or french book from a german or italian by the writing than by the illumination; but after 1225 the first glance on opening the book will most often cry out at you, german, italian, or french-english. for the rest, the illuminations still gain beauty and delicacy, the gold is even more universally brilliant, the colour still more delicious. the sub-art of the rubricator, as distinguished from the limner and the scribe, now becomes more important, and remains so down to the end of the fifteenth century. work of great fineness and elegance, drawn mostly with pen, and always quite freely, in red and blue counterchanged, is lavished on the smaller initials and other subsidiaries of the pages, producing, with the firm black writing and the ivory tone of the vellum, a beautiful effect, even when the more solid and elaborate illumination is lacking. during this period, apart from theological and philosophical treatises, herbals, "bestiaries," &c., the book most often met with, especially when splendidly ornamented, is the psalter, as sung in churches, to which is generally added a calendar, and always a litany of the saints. this calendar, by the way, both in this and succeeding centuries, is often exceedingly interesting, from the representations given in it of domestic occupations. the great initial b (beatus vir qui non) of these books affords an opportunity to the illuminator, seldom missed, of putting forth to the full his powers of design and colour. the last quarter of the thirteenth century brings us to the climax of illumination considered apart from book-pictures. nothing can exceed the grace, elegance, and beauty of the drawing and the loveliness of the colour found at this period in the best-executed books; and it must be added that, though some work is rougher than other, at this time there would appear, judging from existing examples, to have been no bad work done. the tradition of the epoch is all-embracing and all-powerful, and yet no single volume is without a genuine individuality and life of its own. in short if all the other art of the middle ages had disappeared, they might still claim to be considered a great period of art on the strength of their ornamental books. in the latter part of the thirteenth century we note a complete differentiation between the work of the countries of europe. there are now three great schools: the french-flemish-english, the italian, and the german. of these the first is of the most, the last of the least, importance. as to the relations between england and france, it must be said that, though there is a difference between them, it is somewhat subtle, and may be put thus: of some books you may say, this is french; of others, this is english; but of the greater part you can say nothing more than, this belongs to the french-english school. of those that can be differentiated with something like certainty, it may be said that the french excel specially in a dainty and orderly elegance, the english specially in love of life and nature, and there is more of rude humour in them than in their french contemporaries; but he must be at once a fastidious and an absolute man who could say the french is better than the english or the english than the french. the norwich psalter, in the bodleian library; the arundel, queen mary's, and tennison psalters, in the british museum, are among the finest of these english books: nothing can surpass their fertility of invention, splendour of execution, and beauty of colour. this end of the thirteenth century went on producing splendid psalters at a great rate; but between 1260 and 1300 or 1320 the greatest industry of the scribe was exercised in the writing of bibles, especially pocket volumes. these last, it is clear, were produced in enormous quantities, for in spite of the ravages of time many thousands of them still exist. they are, one and all, beautifully written in hands necessarily very minute, and mostly very prettily illuminated with tiny figure-subjects in the initials of each book. for a short period at the end of this and the beginning of the next century many copies of the apocalypse were produced, illustrated copiously with pictures, which give us examples of serious gothic designs at its best, and seem to show us what wall-pictures of the period might have been in the north of europe. the fourteenth century, the great mother of change, was as busy in making ornamental books as in other artistic work. when we are once fairly in the century a great change is apparent again in the style. it is not quite true to say that it is more redundant than its predecessor, but it has more mechanical redundancy. the backgrounds to the pictures are more elaborated; sometimes diapered blue and red, sometimes gold most beautifully chased with dots and lines. the borders cover the page more; buds turn into open leaves; often abundance of birds and animals appear in the borders, naturalistically treated (and very well drawn); there is more freedom, and yet less individuality in this work; in short the style, though it has lost nothing (in its best works) of elegance and daintiness--qualities so desirable in an ornamental book--has lost somewhat of manliness and precision; and this goes on increasing till, towards the end of the century, we feel that we have before us work that is in peril of an essential change for the worse. [in france "bibles historiaux," i.e., partial translations of the bible, very copiously pictured, were one of the most noteworthy productions of the latter half of the century. the bible taken in the tent of the french king at the battle of poitiers, now in the british museum, is a fine example.] the differentiation, too, betwixt the countries increases; before the century is quite over, england falls back in the race [though we have in the british museum some magnificent examples of english illumination of the end of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth centuries, e.g., "the salisbury book;" a huge bible (harl. i., e. ix.) ornamented in a style very peculiarly english. the wyclifite translation of the bible at the museum is a good specimen of this style], and french-flanders and burgundy come forward, while italy has her face turned toward renaissance, and germany too often shows a tendency toward coarseness and incompleteness, which had to be redeemed in the long last by the honesty of invention and fitness of purpose of her woodcut ornaments to books. many most beautiful books, however, were turned out, not only throughout the fourteenth, but even in the first half of the fifteenth century. ["the hours of the duke of berry" (bibliothèque nationale, paris), and the "bedford hours," in the british museum, both french, are exceedingly splendid examples of this period.] the first harbinger of the great change that was to come over the making of books i take to be the production in italy of most beautifully-written copies of the latin classics. these are often very highly ornamented; and at first not only do they imitate (very naturally) the severe hands of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but even (though a long way off) the interlacing ornament of that period. in these books the writing, it must be said, is in its kind far more beautiful than the ornament. there were so many written and pictured books produced in the fifteenth century that space quite fails me to write of them as their great merits deserve. in the middle of the century an invention, in itself trifling, was forced upon europe by the growing demand for more and cheaper books. gutenberg somehow got hold of punches, matrices, the adjustable mould, and so of cast movable type; schoeffer, mentelin, and the rest of them caught up the art with the energy and skill so characteristic of the mediæval craftsman. the new german art spread like wildfire into every country of europe; and in a few years written books had become mere toys for the immensely rich. yet the scribe, the rubricator, and the illuminator died hard. decorated written books were produced in great numbers after printing had become common; by far the greater number of these were books of hours, very highly ornamented and much pictured. their style is as definite as any of the former ones, but it has now gone off the road of logical consistency; for divorce has taken place between the picture-work and the ornament. often the pictures are exquisitely-finished miniatures belonging to the best schools of painting of the day; but often also they are clearly the work of men employed to fill up a space, and having no interest in their work save livelihood. the ornament never fell quite so low as that, though as ornament it is not very "distinguished," and often, especially in the latest books, scarcely adds to the effect on the page of the miniature to which it is a subsidiary. but besides these late-written books, in the first years of printing, the rubricator was generally, and the illuminator not seldom, employed on printed books themselves. in the early days of printing the big initials were almost always left for the rubricator to paint in in red and blue, and were often decorated with pretty scroll-work by him; and sometimes one or more pages of the book were surrounded with ornament in gold and colours, and the initials elaborately finished in the same way. the most complete examples of this latter work subsidiary to the printed page are found in early books printed in italy, especially in the splendid editions of the classics which came from the presses of the roman and venetian printers. by about 1530 all book illumination of any value was over, and thus disappeared an art which may be called peculiar to the middle ages, and which commonly shows mediæval craftsmanship at its best, partly because of the excellence of the work itself, and partly because that work can only suffer from destruction and defacement, and cannot, like mediæval buildings, be subjected to the crueller ravages of "restoration." here end the notes on early wood-cut books by william morris. of this book there have been printed one hundred and twenty copies by clarke conwell at the elston press: finished this twentieth day of february, mdccccii. sold by clarke conwell at the elston press, pelham road, new rochelle, new york * * * * * * transcriber's note: minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed. price 50 cents _special_ winter number _of_ the international studio _children's books and their illustrators._ _by_ gleeson white [illustration] the international studio =john lane=, 140 fifth avenue, _new york_ scribner's new books for the young =mrs. burnett's famous juveniles= =with all the original illustrations by reginald b. birch. 5 vols. each 12mo $1.25.= a writer in the _boston post_ has said of mrs. burnett: "she has a beauty of imagination and a spiritual insight into the meditations of childhood which are within the grasp of no other writer for children,"--and these five volumes would indeed be difficult to match in child literature. the new edition is from new plates, with all the original illustrations by reginald b. birch, is bound in a handsome new cover. "little lord fauntleroy," "two little pilgrims' progress," "piccino and other child stories," "giovanni and the other," "sara crewe," and "little saint elizabeth and other stories" (in one volume). =three new volumes by g. a. henty= =illustrated by walter paget and w. a. margetson. each 12mo $1.50=. it would be a bitter year for the boys if mr. henty were to fail them with a fresh assortment of his enthralling tales of adventure, for, as the london _academy_ has said, in this kind of story telling, "he stands in the very first rank." "with frederick the great" is a tale of the seven years' war, and has twelve full-page illustrations by wal. paget; "a march on london" details some stirring scenes of the times when wat tyler's motley crew took possession of that city, and the illustrations are drawn by w. a. margetson, while wal. paget has supplied the pictures for "with moore at corunna," in which the boy hero serves through the peninsular war. (each 12mo, $1.50.) =will shakespeare's little lad by imogen clarke= =with 8 full-page illustrations by reginald b. birch. 12mo $1.50.= "the author has caught the true spirit of shakespeare's time, and paints his home surroundings with a loving, tender grace," says the boston _herald_. =an old-field school girl by marion harland= (illustrated, 12mo, $1.25.) "as pretty a story for girls as has been published in a long time," says the _buffalo express_, and the _chicago tribune_ is even more appreciative: "compared with the average books of its class 'an old-field school girl,' becomes a classic." =lullaby land= =verses by eugene field with 200 fanciful illustrations by charles robinson. (uniform with stevenson's "a child's garden") 12mo $1.50.= "a collection of those dearly loved 'songs of childhood' by eugene field, which have touched many hearts, both old and young, and will continue to do so as long as little children remain the joy of our homes. it was a happy thought of the publisher to choose another such child lover and sympathizer as kenneth grahame to write the preface to the new edition, and charles robinson to make the many quaint and most amusing illustrations."--_the evangelist._ =with crockett and bowie by kirk munroe= =with 8 full-page illustrations by victor s. perard. 12mo $1.50.= this "tale of texas; or, fighting for the lone star flag," completes the author's _white conqueror series_. the minneapolis _tribune_ says: "it is a breezy and invigorating tale. the characters, although drawn from real life, are surrounded by an atmosphere of romance and adventure which gives them the added fascination of being creatures of fiction, and yet there is no straining for effect." =the naval cadet= =with 6 full-page illustrations by william rainey, r. i. crown 8vo $1.25.= a story of adventure on land and sea, by gordon stables. a stirring tale of seafaring and sea-fighting on the coasts of africa, south america, australia, new guinea, etc., closing with a dramatic picture of the combat between the chinese and japanese fleets at yalu. =the stevenson song book= =with decorative borders. 4to $2.00.= in this large and handsome quarto, twenty of the most lyrical poems from robert louis stevenson's "child's garden of verse", have been set to music by such composers as reginald dekoven, arthur foote, c. w. chadwick, dr. c. villers stanford, etc. the volume is uniform with and a fitting companion to the popular "field-de-koven song book." =twelve naval captains by molly elliot seawell= =with 12 full-page portraits. 12mo $1.25.= miss seawell here tells the notable exploits of twelve heroes of our early navy: john paul jones, richard dale, william bainbridge, richard somers, edward preble, thomas truxton, stephen decatur, james lawrance, isaac hull, o. h. perry, charles stewart, thomas macdonough. the book is illustrated attractively and makes a stirring and thrilling volume. =the knights of the round table= =with 25 illustrations by s. r. benliegh. 12mo $1.50.= "king arthur's knights and their connection with the mystic grail is here the subject of mr. william henry frost's translation into child language. many volumes have been prepared telling these wonderful legendary stories to young people, but few are so admirably written as this work," says the _boston advertiser_. =the last cruise of the mohawk by w. j. henderson= =illustrated by harry c. edwards. 12mo $1.25.= the _observer_ says: "this is an exciting story that boys of today will appreciate thoroughly and devour greedily," and the _rochester democrat_ calls it "an interesting and thrilling story." =the king of the broncos by charles f. lummis= =illustrated by victor s. perard. 12mo $1.25.= the title story and the other tales of new mexico, which mr. lummis has here supplied for the younger generation, have all his usual fascination. he knows how to tell his thrilling stories in a way that is irresistible? to boy readers. =the border wars of new england= =with 58 illustrations and map. 12mo $1.25.= mr. samuel adams drake is an expert at making history real and vital to children. the _boston advertiser_ says: "this is not a school book, yet it is exceedingly well adapted to use in schools, and at the same time will enrich and adorn the library of every american who is so fortunate or so judicious as to place it on his shelves." =the golden galleon by robert leighton= =with 8 full-page illustrations by william rainey, r. i. 12mo $1.50.= "a narrative of the adventures of master gilbert o'glander, and of how in the year 1591 he fought under the gallant sir richard grenville in the great sea-fight off flores, on board her majesty's ship, _the revenge_." the new york _observer_ has said: "mr. leighton as a writer for boys needs no praise as his books place him in the front rank." =lords of the world= =with 12 full-page illustrations by ralph peacock. 12mo. $1.00.= a story of the fall of carthage and corinth. by alfred j. church. in his own special field the author has few rivals. he has a capacity for making antiquity assume reality which is fascinating in the extreme. =adventures in toyland= =with 8 colored plates and 72 other illustrations by alice b. woodward. square 8vo. $2.00.= by edith king hall. a clever and fascinating volume which will surely take a high place among this season's "juveniles." charles scribner's sons, 153-157 fifth ave, n.y. [illustration: "the heir to fairy-land" from a water-colour by robert halls] the international studio special winter-number 1897-8 children's books and their illustrators. by gleeson white. [illustration: the "monkey-book" a favourite in the nursery (_by permission of james h. stone, esq., j.p._)] there are some themes that by their very wealth of suggestion appal the most ready writer. the emotions which they arouse, the mass of pleasant anecdote they recall, the ghosts of far-off delights they summon, are either too obvious to be worth the trouble of description or too evanescent to be expressed in dull prose. swift, we are told (perhaps a little too frequently), could write beautifully of a broomstick; which may strike a common person as a marvel of dexterity. after a while, the journalist is apt to find that it is the perfect theme which proves to be the hardest to treat adequately. clothe a broomstick with fancies, even of the flimsiest tissue paper, and you get something more or less like a fairy-king's sceptre; but take the pompadour's fan, or the haunting effect of twilight over the meadows, and all you can do in words seems but to hide its original beauties. we know that mr. austin dobson was able to add graceful wreaths even to the fan of the pompadour, and that another writer is able to impart to the misty twilight not only the eerie fantasies it shows the careless observer, but also a host of others that only a poet feels, and that only a poet knows how to prison within his cage of printed syllables. indeed, of the theme of the present discourse has not the wonder-working robert louis stevenson sung of "picture books in winter" and "the land of story books," so truly and clearly that it is dangerous for lesser folk to attempt essays in their praise? all that artists have done to amuse the august monarch "king baby" (who, pictured by mr. robert halls, is fitly enthroned here by way of frontispiece) during the playtime of his immaturity is too big a subject for our space, and can but be indicated in rough outline here. [illustration: "robinson crusoe." the wreck from an eighteenth-century chap-book] luckily, a serious study of the evolution of the child's book already exists. since the bulk of this number was in type, i lighted by chance upon "the child and his book," by mrs. e. m. field, a most admirable volume which traces its subject from times before the norman conquest to this century. therein we find full accounts of mss. designed for teaching purposes, of early printed manuals, and of the mass of literature intended to impress "the fear of the lord and of the broomstick." did space allow, the present chronicle might be enlivened with many an excerpt which she has culled from out-of-the-way sources. but the temptation to quote must be controlled. it is only fair to add that in that work there is a very excellent chapter to "some illustrators of children's books," although its main purpose is the text of the books. one branch has found its specialist and its exhaustive monograph, in mr. andrew tuer's sumptuous volumes devoted to "the horn book." [illustration: "crusoe and xury escaping" from an eighteenth-century chap-book] perhaps there is no pleasure the modern "grown-up" person envies the youngsters of the hour as he envies them the shoals of delightful books which publishers prepare for the christmas tables of lucky children. if he be old enough to remember mrs. trimmer's "history of the robins," "the fairchild family," or that poly-technically inspired romance, the "swiss family robinson," he feels that a certain half-hearted approval of more dreary volumes is possibly due to the glamour which middle age casts upon the past. it is said that even barbauld's "evenings at home" and "sandford and merton" (the anecdotes only, i imagine) have been found toothsome dainties by unjaded youthful appetites; but when he compares these with the books of the last twenty years, he wishes he could become a child again to enjoy their sweets to the full. [illustration: _"crusoe sets sail on his eventful voyage" from an eighteenth-century chap-book_] now nine-tenths of this improvement is due to artist and publisher; although it is obvious that illustrations imply something to illustrate, and, as a rule (not by any means without exception), the better the text the better the pictures. years before good picture-books there were good stories, and these, whether they be the classics of the nursery, the laureates of its rhyme, the unknown author of its sagas, the born story-tellers--whether they date from prehistoric cave-dwellers, or are of our own age, like charles kingsley or lewis carroll--supply the text to spur on the artist to his best achievements. [illustration: "the true tale of robin hood." from an eighteenth-century chap-book] it is mainly a labour of love to infuse pictures intended for childish eyes with qualities that pertain to art. we like to believe that walter crane, caldecott, kate greenaway and the rest receive ample appreciation from the small people. that they do in some cases is certain; but it is also quite as evident that the veriest daub, if its subject be attractive, is enjoyed no less thoroughly. there are prigs of course, the children of the "prignorant," who babble of botticelli, and profess to disdain any picture not conceived with "high art" mannerism. yet even these will forget their pretence, and roar over a _comic cuts_ found on the seat of a railway carriage, or stand delighted before some unspeakable poster of a melodrama. it is well to face the plain fact that the most popular illustrated books which please the children are not always those which satisfy the critical adult. as a rule it is the "grown-ups" who buy; therefore with no wish to be-little the advance in nursery taste, one must own that at present its improvement is chiefly owing to the active energies of those who give, and is only passively tolerated by those who accept. children awaking to the marvel that recreates a familiar object by a few lines and blotches on a piece of paper, are not unduly exigent. their own primitive diagrams, like a badly drawn euclidean problem, satisfy their idea of studies from the life. their schemes of colour are limited to harmonies in crimson lake, cobalt and gamboge, their skies are very blue, their grass arsenically green, and their perspective as erratic as that of the chinese. [illustration: "two children in the wood." from an eighteenth century chap-book] [illustration: "sir richard whittington." from an eighteenth-century chap-book] in fact, unpopular though it may be to project such a theory, one fancies that the real educational power of the picture-book is upon the elders, and thus, that it undoubtedly helps to raise the standard of domestic taste in art. but, on the other hand, whether his art is adequately appreciated or not, what an unprejudiced and wholly spontaneous acclaim awaits the artist who gives his best to the little ones! they do not place his work in portfolios or locked glass cases; they thumb it to death, surely the happiest of all fates for any printed book. to see his volumes worn out by too eager votaries; what could an author or artist wish for more? the extraordinary devotion to a volume of natural history, which after generations of use has become more like a mop-head than a book, may be seen in the reproduction of a "monkey-book" here illustrated; this curious result being caused by sheer affectionate thumbing of its leaves, until the dog-ears and rumpled pages turned the cube to a globular mass, since flattened by being packed away. so children love picture-books, not as bibliophiles would consider wisely, but too well. [illustration: "an american man and woman in their proper habits." illustration from "a museum for young gentlemen and ladies" (s. crowder. 1790)] to delight one of the least of these, to add a new joy to the crowded miracles of childhood, were no less worth doing than to leave a sistine chapel to astound a somewhat bored procession of tourists, or to have written a classic that sells by thousands and is possessed unread by all save an infinitesimal percentage of its owners. when randolph caldecott died, a minor poet, unconsciously paraphrasing garrick's epitaph, wrote: "for loss of him the laughter of the children will grow less." i quote the line from memory, perhaps incorrectly; if so, its author will, i feel sure, forgive the unintentional mangling. did the laughter of the children grow less? happily one can be quite sure it did not. so long as any inept draughtsman can scrawl a few lines which they accept as a symbol of an engine, an elephant or a pussy cat, so long will the great army of invaders who are our predestined conquerors be content to laugh anew at the request of any one, be he good or mediocre, who caters for them. it is a pleasant and yet a saddening thought to remember that we were once recruits of this omnipotent army that wins always our lands and our treasures. now, when grown up, whether we are millionaires or paupers, they have taken fortress by fortress with the treasures therein, our picture-books of one sort are theirs, and one must yield presently to the babies as they grow up, even our criticism, for they will make their own standards of worth and unworthiness despite all our efforts to control their verdict. if we are conscious of being "up-to-date" in 1900, we may be quite sure that by 1925 we shall be ousted by a newer generation, and by 2000 forgotten. long before even that, the children we now try to amuse or to educate, to defend at all costs, or to pray for as we never prayed before--they will be the masters. it is, then, not an ignoble thing to do one's very best to give our coming rulers a taste of the kingdom of art, to let them unconsciously discover that there is something outside common facts, intangible and not to be reduced to any rule, which may be a lasting pleasure to those who care to study it. it is evident, as one glances back over the centuries, that the child occupies a new place in the world to-day. excepting possibly certain royal infants, we do not find that great artists of the past addressed themselves to children. are there any children's books illustrated by dã¼rer, burgmair, altdorfer, jost amman, or the little masters of germany? among the florentine woodcuts do we find any designed for children? did rembrandt etch for them, or jacob beham prepare plates for their amusement? so far as i have searched, no single instance has rewarded me. it is true that the _naã¯vetã©_ of much early work tempts one to believe that it was designed for babies. but the context shows that it was the unlettered adult, not the juvenile, who was addressed. as the designs, obviously prepared for children, begin to appear, they are almost entirely educational and by no means the work of the best artists of the period. even when they come to be numerous, their object is seldom to amuse; they are didactic, and as a rule convey solemn warnings. the idea of a draughtsman of note setting himself deliberately to please a child would have been inconceivable not so many years ago. to be seen and not heard was the utmost demanded of the little ones even as late as the beginning of this century, when illustrated books designed especially for their instruction were not infrequent. [illustration: "the walls of babylon." illustration from "a museum for young gentlemen and ladies" (s. crowder. 1790)] as mr. theodore watts-dunton pointed out in his charming essay, "the new hero," which appeared in the _english illustrated magazine_ (dec. 1883), the child was neglected even by the art of literature until shakespeare furnished portraits at once vivid, engaging, and true in arthur and in mamillus. in the same essay he goes on to say of the child--the new hero: "and in art, painters and designers are vying with the poets and with each other in accommodating their work to his well-known matter-of-fact tastes and love of simple directness. having discovered that the new hero's ideal of pictorial representation is of that high dramatic and businesslike kind exemplified in the bayeux tapestry, mr. caldecott, mr. walter crane, miss kate greenaway, miss dorothy tennant, have each tried to surpass the other in appealing to the new hero's love of real business in art--treating him, indeed, as though he were hoteã¯, the japanese god of enjoyment--giving him as much colour, as much dramatic action, and as little perspective as is possible to man's finite capacity in this line. some generous art critics have even gone so far indeed as to credit an entire artistic movement, that of pre-raphaelism, with a benevolent desire to accommodate art to the new hero's peculiar ideas upon perspective. but this is a 'soft impeachment' born of that loving kindness for which art-critics have always been famous." [illustration: "mercury and the woodman." illustration from "bewick's select fables." by thomas bewick (1784)] [illustration: "the brother and sister." illustration from "bewick's select fables." by thomas bewick (1784)] [illustration: "little anthony." illustration from "the looking-glass of the mind." by thomas bewick (1792)] [illustration: "little adolphus." illustration from "the looking-glass of the mind." by thomas bewick (1792)] it would be out of place here to project any theory to account for this more recent homage paid to children, but it is quite certain that a similar number of the studio could scarce have been compiled a century ago, for there was practically no material for it. in fact the tastes of children as a factor to be considered in life are well-nigh as modern as steam or the electric light, and far less ancient than printing with movable types, which of itself seems the second great event in the history of humanity, the use of fire being the first. to leave generalities and come to particulars, as we dip into the stores of earlier centuries the broadsheets reveal almost nothing _intended_ for children--the many robin hood ballads, for example, are decidedly meant for grown-up people; and so in the eighteenth century we find its chap-books of "guy, earl of warwick," "sir bevis, of southampton," "valentine and orson," are still addressed to the adult; while it is more than doubtful whether even the earliest editions in chap-book form of "tom thumb," and "whittington" and the rest, now the property of the nursery, were really published for little ones. that they were the "light reading" of adults, the equivalent of to-day's _ally sloper_ or the penny dreadful, is much more probable. no doubt children who came across them had a surreptitious treat, even as urchins of both sexes now pounce with avidity upon stray copies of the ultra-popular and so-called comic papers. but you could not call _ally sloper_, that punchinello of the victorian era--who has received the honour of an elaborate article in the _nineteenth century_--a child's hero, nor is his humour of a sort always that childhood should understand--"unsweetened gin," the "broker's man," and similar subjects, for example. it is quite possible that respectable people did not care for their babies to read the chap-books of the eighteenth century any more than they like them now to study "halfpenny comics"; and that they were, in short, kitchen literature, and not infantile. even if the intellectual standard of those days was on a par in both domains, it does not prove that the reading of the kitchen and nursery was interchangeable. before noticing any pictures in detail from old sources or new, it is well to explain that as a rule only those showing some attempt to adapt the drawing to a child's taste have been selected. mere dull transcripts of facts please children no less; but here space forbids their inclusion. otherwise nearly all modern illustration would come into our scope. a search through the famous roxburghe collection of broadsheets discovered nothing that could be fairly regarded as a child's publication. the chap-books of the eighteenth century have been adequately discussed in mr. john ashton's admirable monograph, and from them a few "cuts" are here reproduced. of course, if one takes the standard of education of these days as the test, many of those curious publications would appear to be addressed to intelligence of the most juvenile sort. yet the themes as a rule show unmistakably that children of a larger growth were catered for, as, for instance, "joseph and his brethren," "the holy disciple," "the wandering jew," and those earlier pamphlets which are reprints or new versions of books printed by wynkyn de worde, pynson, and others of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. [illustration: _henry quitting school._ illustration from "sketches of juvenile characters" (e. wallis. 1818)] in one, "the witch of the woodlands," appears a picture of little people dancing in a fairy ring, which might be supposed at first sight to be an illustration of a nursery tale, but the text describing a witch's sabbath, rapidly dispels the idea. nor does a version of the popular faust legend--"dr. john faustus"--appear to be edifying for young people. this and "friar bacon" are of the class which lingered the longest--the magical and oracular literature. even to-day it is quite possible that dream-books and prophetical pamphlets enjoy a large sale; but a few years ago many were to be found in the catalogues of publishers who catered for the million. it is not very long ago that the company of stationers omitted hieroglyphics of coming events from its almanacs. many fairy stories which to-day are repeated for the amusement of children were regarded as part of this literature--the traditional folk-lore which often enough survives many changes of the religious faith of a nation, and outlasts much civilisation. others were originally political satires, or social pasquinades; indeed not a few nursery rhymes mask allusions to important historical incidents. the chap-book form of publication is well adapted for the preservation of half-discredited beliefs, of charms and prophecies, incantations and cures. in "valentine and orson," of which a fragment is extant of a version printed by wynkyn de worde, we have unquestionably the real fairy story. this class of story, however, was not addressed directly to children until within the last hundred years. that many of the cuts used in these chap-books afterwards found their way into little coarsely printed duodecimos of eight or sixteen pages designed for children is no doubt a fact. indeed the wanderings of these blocks, and the various uses to which they were applied, is far too vast a theme to touch upon here. for this peripatetic habit of old wood-cuts was not even confined to the land of their production; after doing duty in one country, they were ready for fresh service in another. often in the chap-books we meet with the same block as an illustration of totally different scenes. [illustration: title-page of "the paths of learning" (harris and son. 1820)] [illustration: page from "the paths of learning" (harris and son. 1820)] the cut for the title-page of robin hood is a fair example of its kind. the norfolk gentleman's "last will and testament" turns out to be a rambling rhymed version of the two children in the wood. in the first of its illustrations we see the dying parents commending their babes to the cruel world. the next is a subject taken from these lines: "away then went these prity babes rejoycing at that tide, rejoycing with a merry mind they should on cock-horse ride." and in the last, here reproduced, we see them when "their prity lips with blackberries were all besmeared and dyed, and when they saw the darksome night, they sat them down and cried." but here it is more probable that it was the tragedy which attracted readers, as the _police news_ attracts to-day, and that it became a child's favourite by the accident of the robins burying the babes. the example from the "history of sir richard whittington" needs no comment. a very condensed version of "robinson crusoe" has blocks of distinct, if archaic, interest. the three here given show a certain sense of decorative treatment (probably the result of the artist's inability to be realistic), which is distinctly amusing. one might select hundreds of woodcuts of this type, but those here reproduced will serve as well as a thousand to indicate their general style. some few of these books have contributed to later nursery folk-lore, as, for example, the well known "jack horner," which is an extract from a coarse account of the adventures of a dwarf. one quality that is shared by all these earlier pictures is their artlessness and often their absolute ugliness. quaint is the highest adjective that fits them. in books of the later period not a few blocks of earlier date and of really fine design reappear; but in the chap-books quite 'prentice hands would seem to have been employed, and the result therefore is only interesting for its age and rarity. so far these pictures need no comment, they foreshadow nothing and are derived from nothing, so far as their design is concerned. such interest as they have is quite unconcerned with art in any way; they are not even sufficiently misdirected to act as warnings, but are merely clumsy. [illustration: illustration from "german popular stories." by g. cruikshank (charles tilt. 1824)] [illustration: illustration from "german popular stories." by g. cruikshank (charles tilt. 1824)] children's books, as every collector knows, are among the most short-lived of all volumes. this is more especially true of those with illustrations, for their extra attractiveness serves but to degrade a comely book into a dog-eared and untidy thing, with leaves sere and yellow, and with no autumnal grace to mellow their decay. long before this period, however, the nursery artist has marked them for his own, and with crimson lake and prussian blue stained their pictures in all too permanent pigments, that in some cases resist every chemical the amateur applies with the vain hope of effacing the superfluous colour. of course the disappearance of the vast majority of books for children (dating from 1760 to 1830, and even later) is no loss to art, although among them are some few which are interesting as the 'prentice work of illustrators who became famous. but these are the exceptions. thanks to the kindness of mr. james stone, of birmingham, who has a large and most interesting collection of the most ephemeral of all sorts--the little penny and twopenny pamphlets--it has been possible to refer at first hand to hundreds, of them. yet, despite their interest as curiosities, their art need not detain us here. the pictures are mostly trivial or dull, and look like the products of very poorly equipped draughtsmen and cheap engravers. some, in pamphlet shape, contain nursery rhymes and little stories, others are devoted to the alphabet and arithmetic. amongst them are many printed on card, shaped like the cover of a bank-book. these were called battledores, but as mr. tuer has dealt with this class in "the horn book" so thoroughly, it would be mere waste of time to discuss them here. mr. elkin mathews also permitted me to run through his interesting collection, and among them were many noted elsewhere in these pages, but the rest, so far as the pictures are concerned, do not call for detailed notice. they do, indeed, contain pictures of children--but mere "factual" scenes, as a rule--without any real fun or real imagination. those who wish to look up early examples will find a large and entertaining variety among "the pearson collection" in the national art library at south kensington museum. turning to quite another class, we find "a museum for young gentlemen and ladies" (collins: salisbury), a typical volume of its kind. its preface begins: "i am very much concerned when i see young gentlemen of fortune and quality so wholly set upon pleasure and diversions.... the greater part of our british youth lose their figure and grow out of fashion by the time they are twenty-five. as soon as the natural gaiety and amiableness of the young man wears off they have nothing left to recommend, but _lie by_ the rest of their lives among the lumber and refuse of their species"--a promising start for a moral lecture, which goes on to implore those who are in the flower of their youth to "labour at those accomplishments which may set off their persons when their bloom is gone." the compensations for old age appear to be, according to this author, a little knowledge of grammar, history, astronomy, geography, weights and measures, the seven wonders of the world, burning mountains, and dying words of great men. but its delightful text must not detain us here. a series of "cuts" of national costumes with which it is embellished deserves to be described in detail. _an american man and woman in their proper habits_, reproduced on page 6, will give a better idea of their style than any words. the blocks evidently date many years earlier than the thirteenth edition here referred to, which is about 1790. indeed, those of the seven wonders are distinctly interesting. [illustration: illustration from "the little princess." by j. c. horsley, r.a. (joseph cundall. 1843)] [illustration: i had a little nut-tree, nothing would it bear, but a silver nutmeg and a golden pear. the king of spain's daughter, came to visit me,- and all because of my little nut-tree. illustration from "child's play." by e. v. b. (now published by sampson low)] here and there we meet with one interesting as art. "an ancestral history of king arthur" (h. roberts, blue boar, holborn, 1782), shown in the pearson collection at south kensington, has an admirable frontispiece; and one or two others would be worth reproduction did space permit. although the dates overlap, the next division of the subject may be taken as ranging from the publication of "goody two shoes--otherwise called mrs. margaret two-shoes"--to the "bewick books." of the latter the most interesting is unquestionably "a pretty book of pictures for little masters and misses, or tommy trip's history of beasts and birds," with a familiar description of each in verse and prose, to which is prefixed "a history of little tom trip himself, of his dog towler, and of coryleg the great giant," written for john newbery, the philanthropic bookseller of st. paul's churchyard. "the fifteenth edition embellished with charming engravings upon wood, from the original blocks engraved by thomas bewick for t. saint of newcastle in 1779"--to quote the full title from the edition reprinted by edwin pearson in 1867. this edition contains a preface tracing the history of the blocks, which are said to be bewick's first efforts to depict beasts and birds, undertaken at the request of the new castle printer, to illustrate a new edition of "tommy trip." as at this time copyright was unknown, and newcastle or glasgow pirated a london success (as new york did but lately), we must not be surprised to find that the text is said to be a reprint of a "newbery" publication. but as saint was called the newbery of the north, possibly the bewick edition was authorised. one or two of the rhymes which have been attributed to oliver goldsmith deserve quotation. appended to a cut of _the bison_ we find the following delightful lines: "the bison, tho' neither engaging nor young, like a flatt'rer can lick you to death with his tongue." the astounding legend of the bison's long tongue, with which he captures a man who has ventured too close, is dilated upon in the accompanying prose. that goldsmith used "teeth" when he meant "tusks" solely for the sake of rhyme is a depressing fact made clear by the next verse: "the elephant with trunk and teeth threatens his foe with instant death, and should these not his ends avail his crushing feet will seldom fail." nor are the rhymes as they stand peculiarly happy; certainly in the following example it requires an effort to make "throw" and "now" pair off harmoniously. "the fierce, fell tiger will, they say, seize any man that's in the way, and o'er his back the victim throw, as you your satchel may do now." yet one more deserves to be remembered if but for its decorative spelling: "the cuccoo comes to chear the spring, and early every morn does sing; the nightingale, secure and snug, the evening charms with jug, jug, jug." [illustration: illustration from "the honey stew" by harrison weir (jeremiah how. 1846)] but these doggerel rhymes are not quite representative of the book, as the well-known "three children sliding on the ice upon a summer's day" appears herein. the "cuts" are distinctively notable, especially the crocodile (which contradicts the letterpress, that says "it turns about with difficulty"), the chameleon, the bison, and the tiger. bewick's "select fables of ã�sop and others" (newcastle: t. saint, 1784) deserves fuller notice, but ã�sop, though a not unpopular book for children, is hardly a children's book. with "the looking glass for the mind" (1792) we have the adaptation of a popular french work, "l'ami des enfans" (1749), with cuts by bewick, which, if not equal to his best, are more interesting from our point of view, as they are obviously designed for young people. the letterpress is full of "useful lessons for my youthful readers," with morals provokingly insisted upon. "goody two shoes" was also published by newbery of st. paul's churchyard--the pioneer of children's literature. his business--which afterwards became messrs. griffith and farran--has been the subject of several monographs and magazine articles by mr. charles welsh, a former partner of that firm. the two monographs were privately printed for issue to members of the sette of odde volumes. the first of these is entitled "on some books for children of the last century, with a few words on the philanthropic publisher of st. paul's churchyard. a paper read at a meeting of the sette of odde volumes, friday, january 8, 1886." herein we find a very sympathetic account of john newbery and gossip of the clever and distinguished men who assisted him in the production of children's books, of which charles knight said, "there is nothing more remarkable in them than their originality. there have been attempts to imitate its simplicity, its homeliness; great authors have tried their hands at imitating its clever adaptation to the youthful intellect, but they have failed"--a verdict which, if true of authors when charles knight uttered it, is hardly true of the present time. after goldsmith, charles lamb, to whom "goody two shoes" is now attributed, was, perhaps, the most famous contributor to newbery's publications; his "beauty and the beast" and "prince dorus" have been republished in facsimile lately by messrs. field and tuer. from the _london chronicle_, december 19 to january 1, 1765, mr. welsh reprinted the following advertisement: [illustration: "blue beard." illustration from "comic nursery tales." by a. crowquill (g. routledge. 1845)] [illustration: "robinson crusoe." illustration from "comic nursery tales." by a. crowquill (g. routledge. 1845)] "the philosophers, politicians, necromancers, and the learned in every faculty are desired to observe that on january 1, being new year's day (oh that we may all lead new lives!), mr. newbery intends to publish the following important volumes, bound and gilt, and hereby invites all his little friends who are good to call for them at the bible and sun in st. paul's churchyard, but those who are naughty to have none." the paper read by mr. welsh scarcely fulfils the whole promise of its title, for in place of giving anecdotes of newbery he refers his listeners to his own volume, "a bookseller of the last century," for fuller details; but what he said in praise of the excellent printing and binding of newbery's books is well merited. they are, nearly all, comely productions, some with really artistic illustrations, and all marked with care and intelligence which had not hitherto been bestowed on publications intended for juveniles. it is true that most are distinguished for "calculating morality" as the _athenã¦um_ called it, in re-estimating their merits nearly a century later. it was a period when the advantages of dull moralising were over-prized, when people professed to believe that you could admonish children to a state of perfection which, in their didactic addresses to the small folk, they professed to obey themselves. it was, not to put too fine a point on it, an age of solemn hypocrisy, not perhaps so insincere in intention as in phrase; but, all the same, it repels the more tolerant mood of to-day. whether or not it be wise to confess to the same frailties and let children know the weaknesses of their elders, it is certainly more honest; and the danger is now rather lest the undue humility of experience should lead children to believe that they are better than their fathers. probably the honest sympathy now shown to childish ideals is not likely to be misinterpreted, for children are often shrewd judges, and can detect the false from the true, in morals if not in art. by 1800 literature for children had become an established fact. large numbers of publications were ostentatiously addressed to their amusement; but nearly all hid a bitter if wholesome powder in a very small portion of jam. books of educational purport, like "a father's legacy to his daughter," with reprints of classics that are heavily weighted with morals--dr. johnson's "rasselas" and "ã�sop's fables," for instance--are in the majority. "robinson crusoe" is indeed among them, and bunyan's "pilgrim's progress," both, be it noted, books annexed by the young, not designed for them. [illustration: illustration from "robinson crusoe." by charles keene (james burns. 1847)] the titles of a few odd books which possess more than usually interesting features may be jotted down. of these, "little thumb and the ogre" (r. dutton, 1788), with illustrations by william blake, is easily first in interest, if not in other respects. others include "the cries of london" (1775), "sindbad the sailor" (newbery, 1798), "valentine and orson" (mary rhynd, clerkenwell, 1804), "fun at the fair" (with spirited cuts printed in red), and watts's "divine and moral songs," and "an abridged new testament," with still more effective designs also in red (lumsden, glasgow), "gulliver's travels" (greatly abridged, 1815), "mother gum" (1805), "anecdotes of a little family" (1795), "mirth without mischief," "king pippin," "the daisy" (cautionary stories in verse), and the "cowslip," its companion (with delightfully prim little rhymes that have been reprinted lately). the thirty illustrations in each are by samuel williams, an artist who yet awaits his due appreciation. a large number of classics of their kind, "the adventures of philip quarll," "gulliver's travels," blake's "songs of innocence," charles lamb's "stories from shakespeare," mrs. sherwood's "henry and his bearer," and a host of other religious stories, cannot even be enumerated. but even were it possible to compile a full list of children's books, it would be of little service, for the popular books are in no danger of being forgotten, and the unpopular, as a rule, have vanished out of existence, and except by pure accident could not be found for love or money. [illustration: illustration from "comic nursery tales" (g. routledge. 1846)] with the publications of newbery and harris, early in the nineteenth century, we encounter examples more nearly typical of the child's book as we regard it to-day. among them harris's "cabinet" is noticeable. the first four volumes, "the butterfly's ball," "the peacock at home," "the lion's masquerade," and "the elephant's ball," were reprinted a few years ago, with the original illustrations by mulready carefully reproduced. a coloured series of sixty-two books, priced at one shilling and sixpence each (harris), was extremely popular. with the "paths of learning strewed with flowers, or english grammar illustrated" (1820), we encounter a work not without elegance. its designs, as we see by the examples reproduced on page 9, are the obvious prototype of miss greenaway, the model that inspired her to those dainty trifles which conquered even so stern a critic of modern illustration as mr. ruskin. on its cover--a forbidding wrapper devoid of ornament--and repeated within a wreath of roses inside, this preamble occurs: "the purpose of this little book is to obviate the reluctance children evince to the irksome and insipid task of learning the names and meanings of the component parts of grammar. our intention is to entwine roses with instruction, and however humble our endeavour may appear, let it be recollected that the efforts of a mouse set the lion free from his toils." this oddly phrased explanation is typical of the affected geniality of the governess. indeed, it might have been penned by an assistant to miss pinkerton, "the semiramis of hammersmith"; if not by that friend of dr. johnson, the correspondent of mrs. chapone herself, in a moment of gracious effort to bring her intellect down to the level of her pupils. to us, this hollow gaiety sounds almost cruel. in those days children were always regarded as if, to quote mark twain, "every one being born with an equal amount of original sin, the pressure on the square inch must needs be greater in a baby." poor little original sinners, how very scurvily the world of books and picture-makers treated you less than a century ago! life for you then was a perpetual reformatory, a place beset with penalties, and echoing with reproofs. even the literature planned to amuse your leisure was stuck full of maxims and morals; the most piquant story was but a prelude to an awful warning; pictures of animals, places, and rivers failed to conceal undisguised lessons. the one impression that is left by a study of these books is the lack of confidence in their own dignity which papas and mammas betrayed in the early victorian era. this seems past all doubt when you realise that the common effort of all these pictures and prose is to glorify the impeccable parent, and teach his or her offspring to grovel silently before the stern law-givers who ruled the home. [illustration: title-page from "the scouring of the white horse." by richard doyle (macmillan and co. 1858)] of course it was not really so, literature had but lately come to a great middle class who had not learned to be easy; and as worthy folk who talked colloquially wrote in stilted parody of dr. johnson's stately periods, so the uncouth address in print to the populace of the nursery was doubtless forgotten in daily intercourse. but the conventions were preserved, and honest fun or full-bodied romance that loves to depict gnomes and hob-goblins, giants and dwarfs in a world of adventure and mystery, was unpopular. children's books were illustrated entirely by the wonders of the creation, or the still greater wonders of so-called polite society. never in them, except introduced purposely as an "awful example," do you meet an untidy, careless, normal child. even the beggars are prim, and the beasts and birds distinctly genteel in their habits. fairyland was shut to the little ones, who were turned out of their own domain. it seems quite likely that this continued until the german _mã¤rchen_ (the literary products of germany were much in favour at this period) reopened the wonderland of the other world about the time that charles dickens helped to throw the door still wider. discovering that the child possessed the right to be amused, the imagination of poets and artists addressed itself at last to the most appreciative of all audiences, a world of newcomers, with insatiable appetites for wonders real and imaginary. [illustration: illustration (reduced) from "misunderstood" by george du maurier (richard bentley and son. 1874)] but for many years before the victorian period folklore was left to the peasants, or at least kept out of reach of children of the higher classes. no doubt old nurses prattled it to their charges, perhaps weak-minded mothers occasionally repeated the ancient legends, but the printing-press set its face against fancy, and offered facts in its stead. in the list of sixty-two books before mentioned, if we except a few nursery jingles such as "mother hubbard" and "cock robin," we find but two real fairy stories, "cinderella," "puss-in-boots," and three old-world narratives of adventure, "whittington and his cat," "the seven champions of christendom," and "valentine and orson." the rest are "peter piper's practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation," "the monthly monitor," "tommy trip's museum of beasts," "the perambulations of a mouse," and so on, with a few things like "the house that jack built," and "a, apple pie," that are but daily facts put into story shape. now it is clear that the artists inspired by fifty of these had no chance of displaying their imagination, and every opportunity of pointing a moral; and it is painful to be obliged to own that they succeeded beyond belief in their efforts to be dull. of like sort are "a visit to the bazaar" (harris, 1814), and "the dandies' ball" (1820). [illustration: illustration from "the princess and the goblin." (strahan. 1871. now published by blackie and son)] nor must we forget a work very popular at this period, "keeper in search of his master," although its illustrations are not its chief point. according to a very interesting preface mr. andrew tuer contributed to "the leadenhall series of reprints of forgotten books for children in 1813," "dame wiggins of lee" was first issued by a. k. newman and co. of the minerva press. this book is perhaps better known than any of its date owing to mr. ruskin's reprint with additional verses by himself, and new designs by miss kate greenaway supplementing the original cuts, which were re-engraved in facsimile by mr. hooper. mr. tuer attributes the design of these latter to r. stennet (or sinnet?), who illustrated also "deborah dent and her donkey" and "madame figs' gala." newman issued many of these books, in conjunction with messrs. dean and mundy, the direct ancestors of the firm of dean and son, still flourishing, and still engaged in providing cheap and attractive books for children. "the gaping wide-mouthed waddling frog" is another book of about this period, which mr. tuer included in his reprints. among the many illustrated volumes which bear the imprint of a. k. newman, and dean and mundy, are "a, apple pie," "aldiborontiphoskyphorniostikos," "the house that jack built," "the parent's offering for a good child" (a very pompous and irritating series of dialogues), and others that are even more directly educational. in all these the engravings are in fairly correct outline, coloured with four to six washes of showy crimson lake, ultramarine, pale green, pale sepia, and gamboge. [illustration: illustration from "gutta percha willie." by arthur hughes (strahan. 1870. now published by blackie and son)] [illustration: illustration from "at the back of the north wind." by arthur hughes (strahan. 1869. now published by blackie and son)] even the dreary text need not have made the illustrators quite so dull, as we know that randolph caldecott would have made an illustrated "bradshaw" amusing; but most of his earlier predecessors show no less power in making anything they touched "un-funny." nor as art do their pictures interest you any more than as anecdotes. of course the cost of coloured engravings prohibited their lavish use. all were tinted by hand, sometimes with the help of stencil plates, but more often by brush. the print colourers, we are told, lived chiefly in the pentonville district, or in some of the poorer streets near leicester square. a few survivors are still to be found; but the introduction first of lithography, and later of photographic processes, has killed the industry, and even the most fanatical apostle of the old crafts cannot wish the "hand-painter" back again. the outlines were either cut on wood, as in the early days of printing until the present, or else engraved on metal. in each case all colour was painted afterwards, and in scarce a single instance (not even in the rowlandson caricatures or patriotic pieces) is there any attempt to obtain an harmonious scheme such as is often found in the tinted mezzo-tints of the same period. [illustration: illustration from "at the back of the north wind." by arthur hughes (strahan. 1869. now published by blackie and son)] of works primarily intended for little people, an "hieroglyphical bible" for the amusement and instruction of the younger generation (1814) may be noted. this was a mixture of picture-puns and broken words, after the fashion of the dreary puzzles still published in snippet weeklies. it is a melancholy attempt to turn bible texts to picture puzzles, a book permitted by the unco' guid to children on wet sunday afternoons, as some younger members of large families, whose elder brothers' books yet lingered forty or even fifty years after publication, are able to endorse with vivid and depressed remembrance. foxe's "book of martyrs" and bunyan's "pilgrim's progress" are of the same type, and calculated to fill a nervous child with grim terrors, not lightened by watts's "divine and moral songs," that gloated on the dreadful hell to which sinful children were doomed, "with devils in darkness, fire and chains." but this painful side of the subject is not to be discussed here. luckily the artists--except in the "grown-up" books referred to--disdained to enforce the terrors of dr. watts, and pictured less horrible themes. with cruikshank we encounter almost the first glimpse of the modern ideal. his "grimm's fairy tales" are delightful in themselves, and marvellous in comparison with all before, and no little after. [illustration: illustration from "the little wonder horn." by j. mahoney (h. s. king and co. 1872. griffith and farran. 1887)] these famous illustrations to the first selection of grimm's "german popular stories" appeared in 1824, followed by a second series in 1826. coming across this work after many days spent in hunting up children's books of the period, the designs flashed upon one as masterpieces, and for the first time seemed to justify the great popularity of cruikshank. for their vigour and brilliant invention, their _diablerie_ and true local colour, are amazing when contrasted with what had been previously. wearied of the excessive eulogy bestowed upon cruikshank's illustrations to dickens, and unable to accept the artist as an illustrator of real characters in fiction, when he studies his elfish and other-worldly personages, the most grudging critic must needs yield a full tribute of praise. the volumes (published by charles tilt, of 82 fleet street) are extremely rare; for many years past the sale-room has recorded fancy prices for all cruikshank's illustrations, so that a lover of modern art has been jealous to note the amount paid for by many extremely poor pictures by this artist, when even original drawings for the masterpieces by later illustrators went for a song. in mr. temple scott's indispensable "book sales of 1896" we find the two volumes (1823-6) fetched â£12 12_s._ [illustration: "in nooks with books" an auto-lithograph by r. anning bell.] these must not be confounded with cruikshank's "fairy library" (1847-64), a series of small books in paper wrappers, now exceedingly rare, which are more distinctly prepared for juvenile readers. the illustrations to these do not rise above the level of their day, as did the earlier ones. but this is owing largely to the fact that the standard had risen far above its old average in the thirty years that had elapsed. amid the mass of volumes illustrated by cruikshank comparatively few are for juveniles; some of these are: "grimm's gammer grethel"; "peter schlemihl" (1824); "christmas recreation" (1825); "hans of iceland" (1825); "german popular stories" (1823); "robinson crusoe" (1831); "the brownies" (1870); "loblie-by-the-fire" (1874); "tom thumb" (1830); and "john gilpin" (1828). [illustration: illustration from "speaking likenesses." by arthur hughes (macmillan and co. 1874)] the works of richard doyle (1824-1883) enjoy in a lesser degree the sort of inflated popularity which has gathered around those of cruikshank. with much spirit and pleasant invention, doyle lacked academic skill, and often betrays considerable weakness, not merely in composition, but in invention. yet the qualities which won him reputation are by no means despicable. he evidently felt the charm of fairyland, and peopled it with droll little folk who are neither too human nor too unreal to be attractive. he joined the staff of _punch_ when but nineteen, and soon, by his political cartoons, and his famous "manners and customs of y^e english drawn from y^e quick," became an established favourite. his design for the cover of _punch_ is one of his happiest inventions. so highly has he been esteemed that the national gallery possesses one of his pictures, _the triumphant entry; a fairy pageant_. children's books with his illustrations are numerous; perhaps the most important are "the enchanted crow" (1871), "feast of dwarfs" (1871), "fortune's favourite" (1871), "the fairy ring" (1845), "in fairyland" (1870), "merry pictures" (1857), "princess nobody" (1884), "mark lemon's fairy tales" (1868), "a juvenile calendar" (1855), "fairy tales from all nations" (1849), "snow white and rosy red" (1871), ruskin's "the king of the golden river" (1884), hughes's "scouring of the white horse" (1859), "jack the giant killer" (1888), "home for the holidays" (1887), "the whyte fairy book" (1893). the three last are, of course, posthumous publications. still confining ourselves to the pre-victorian period, although the works in question were popular several decades later, we find "sandford and merton" (first published in 1783, and constantly reprinted), "the swiss family robinson," the beginning of "peter parley's annals," and a vast number of other books with the same pseudonym appended, and a host of didactic works, a large number of which contained pictures of animals and other natural objects, more or less well drawn. but the pictures in these are not of any great consequence, merely reflecting the average taste of the day, and very seldom designed from a child's point of view. [illustration: illustration from "undine." by sir john tenniel (james burns. 1845)] this very inadequate sketch of the books before 1837 is not curtailed for want of material, but because, despite the enormous amount, very few show attempts to please the child; to warn, to exhort, or to educate are their chief aims. occasionally a bewick or an artist of real power is met with, but the bulk is not only dull, but of small artistic value. that the artist's name is rarely given must not be taken as a sign that only inept draughtsmen were employed, for in works of real importance up to and even beyond this date we often find his share ignored. after a time the engraver claims to be considered, and by degrees the designer is also recognised; yet for the most part illustration was looked upon merely as "jam" to conceal the pill. the old puritan conception of art as vanity had something to do with this, no doubt; for adults often demand that their children shall obey a sterner rule of life than that which they accept themselves. [illustration: illustration from "elliott's nursery rhymes" by w. j. wiegand (novello, 1870)] before passing on, it is as well to summarise this preamble and to discover how far children's books had improved when her majesty came to the throne. the old woodcut, rough and ill-drawn, had been succeeded by the masterpieces of bewick, and the respectable if dull achievements of his followers. in the better class of books were excellent designs by artists of some repute fairly well engraved. colouring by hand, in a primitive fashion, was applied to these prints and to impressions from copperplates. a certain prettiness was the highest aim of most of the latter, and very few were designed only to amuse a child. it seems as if all concerned were bent on unbending themselves, careful to offer grains of truth to young minds with an occasional terrible falsity of their attitude; indeed, its satire and profound analysis make it superfluous to reopen the subject. as one might expect, the literature, "genteel" and dull, naturally desired pictures in the same key. the art of even the better class of children's books was satisfied if it succeeded in being "genteel," or, as miss limpenny would say, "cumeelfo." its ideal reached no higher, and sometimes stopped very far below that modest standard. this is the best (with the few exceptions already noted) one can say of pre-victorian illustration for children. [illustration: illustration from "elliott's nursery rhymes" by h. stacy marks, r.a. (novello. 1870)] if there is one opinion deeply rooted in the minds of the comparatively few britons who care for art, it is a distrust of "the cole gang of south kensington;" and yet if there be one fact which confronts any student of the present revival of the applied arts, it is that sooner or later you come to its first experiments inspired or actually undertaken by sir henry cole. under the pseudonym of "felix summerley" we find that the originator of a hundred revivals of the applied arts, projected and issued a series of children's books which even to-day are decidedly worth praise. it is the fashion to trace everything to mr. william morris, but in illustrations for children as in a hundred others "felix summerley" was setting the ball rolling when morris and the members of the famous firm were schoolboys. [illustration: illustration from "the water babies" by sir r. noel paton (macmillan and co. 1863)] to quote from his own words: "during this period (_i.e._, about 1844), my young children becoming numerous, their wants induced me to publish a rather long series of books, which constituted 'summerley's home treasury,' and i had the great pleasure of obtaining the welcome assistance of some of the first artists of the time in illustrating them--mulready, r.a., cope, r.a., horsley, r.a., redgrave, r.a., webster, r.a., linnell and his three sons, john, james, and william, h. j. townsend, and others.... the preparation of these books gave me practical knowledge in the technicalities of the arts of type-printing, lithography, copper and steel-plate engraving and printing, and bookbinding in all its varieties in metal, wood, leather, &c." copies of the books in question appear to be very rare. it is doubtful if the omnivorous british museum has swallowed a complete set; certainly at the art library of south kensington museum, where, if anywhere, we might expect to find sir henry cole completely represented, many gaps occur. how far mr. joseph cundall, the publisher, should be awarded a share of the credit for the enterprise is not apparent, but his publications and writings, together with the books issued later by cundall and addey, are all marked with the new spirit, which so far as one can discover was working in many minds at this time, and manifested itself most conspicuously through the pre-raphaelites and their allies. this all took place, it must be remembered, long before 1851. we forget often that if that exhibition has any important place in the art history of great britain, it does but prove that much preliminary work had been already accomplished. you cannot exhibit what does not exist; you cannot even call into being "exhibition specimens" at a few months notice, if something of the same sort, worked for ordinary commerce, has not already been in progress for years previously. [illustration: illustration from "the royal umbrella." by linley sambourne (griffith and farran. 1880)] [illustration: illustration from "on a pincushion." by william de morgan (seeley, jackson and halliday. 1877)] almost every book referred to has been examined anew for the purposes of this article. as a whole they might fail to impress a critic not peculiarly interested in the matter. but if he tries to project himself to the period that produced them, and realises fully the enormous importance of first efforts, he will not estimate grudgingly their intrinsic value, but be inclined to credit them with the good things they never dreamed of, as well as those they tried to realise and often failed to achieve. here, without any prejudice for or against the south kensington movement, it is but common justice to record sir henry cole's share in the improvement of children's books; and later on his efforts on behalf of process engraving must also not be forgotten. to return to the books in question, some extracts from the original prospectus, which speaks of them as "purposed to cultivate the affections, fancy, imagination, and taste of children," are worth quotation: "the character of most children's books published during the last quarter of a century, is fairly typified in the name of peter parley, which the writers of some hundreds of them have assumed. the books themselves have been addressed after a narrow fashion, almost entirely to the cultivation of the understanding of children. the many tales sung or said from time to time immemorial, which appealed to the other, and certainly not less important elements of a little child's mind, its fancy, imagination, sympathies, affections, are almost all gone out of memory, and are scarcely to be obtained. 'little red riding hood,' and other fairy tales hallowed to children's use, are now turned into ribaldry as satires for men; as for the creation of a new fairy tale or touching ballad, such a thing is unheard of. that the influence of all this is hurtful to children, the conductor of this series firmly believes. he has practical experience of it every day in his own family, and he doubts not that there are many others who entertain the same opinions as himself. he purposes at least to give some evidence of his belief, and to produce a series of works, the character of which may be briefly described as anti-peter parleyism. [illustration: illustration from "the necklace of princess fiorimonde." by walter crane (macmillan and co. 1880)] "some will be new works, some new combinations of old materials, and some reprints carefully cleared of impurities, without deterioration to the points of the story. all will be illustrated, but not after the usual fashion of children's books, in which it seems to be assumed that the lowest kind of art is good enough to give first impressions to a child. in the present series, though the statement may perhaps excite a smile, the illustrations will be selected from the works of raffaelle, titian, hans holbein, and other old masters. some of the best modern artists have kindly promised their aid in creating a taste for beauty in little children." did space permit, a selection from the reviews of the chief literary papers that welcomed the new venture would be instructive. there we should find that even the most cautious critic, always "hedging" and playing for safety, felt compelled to accord a certain amount of praise to the new enterprise. it is true that "felix summerley" created only one type of the modern book. possibly the "stories turned into satires" to which he alludes are the entirely amusing volumes by f. h. bayley, the author of "a new tale of a tub." as it happened that these volumes were my delight as a small boy, possibly i am unduly fond of them; but it seems to me that their humour--_ã  la_ ingoldsby, it is true--and their exuberantly comic drawings, reveal the first glimpses of lighter literature addressed specially to children, that long after found its masterpieces in the "crane" and "greenaway" and "caldecott" toy books, in "alice in wonderland," and in a dozen other treasured volumes, which are now classics. the chief claim for the home treasury series to be considered as the advance guard of our present sumptuous volumes, rests not so much upon the quality of their designs or the brightness of their literature. their chief importance is that in each of them we find for the first time that the externals of a child's book are most carefully considered. its type is well chosen, the proportions of its page are evidently studied, its binding, even its end-papers, show that some one person was doing his best to attain perfection. it is this conscious effort, whatever it actually realised, which distinguishes the result from all before. it is evident that the series--the home treasury--took itself seriously. its purpose was art with a capital a--a discovery, be it noted, of this period. sir henry cole, in a footnote to the very page whence the quotation above was extracted, discusses the first use of "art" as an adjective denoting the _fine_ arts. [illustration: illustration from "household stories from grimm." by walter crane (macmillan and co. 1882)] here it is more than ever difficult to keep to the thread of this discourse. all that south kensington did and failed to do, the ã¦sthetic movement of the eighties, the new gospel of artistic salvation by liberty fabrics and de morgan tiles, the erratic changes of fashion in taste, the collapse of gothic architecture, the triumph of queen anne, and the arts and crafts movement of the nineties--in short, all the story of art in the last fifty years, from the new law courts to the tate gallery, from felix summerley to a hollyer photograph, from the introduction of glyptography to the pictures in the _daily chronicle_, demand notice. but the door must be shut on the turbulent throng, and only children's books allowed to pass through. the publications by "felix summerley," according to the list in "fifty years of public work," by sir henry cole, k.c.b. (bell, 1884), include: "holbein's bible events," eight pictures, coloured by mr. linnell's sons, 4_s._ 6_d._; "raffaelle's bible events," six pictures from the loggia, drawn on stone by mr. linnell's children and coloured by them, 5_s._ 6_d._; "albert dã¼rer's bible events," six pictures from dã¼rer's "small passion," coloured by the brothers linnell; "traditional nursery songs," containing eight pictures; "the beggars coming to town," by c. w. cope, r.a.; "by, o my baby!" by r. redgrave, r.a.; "mother hubbard," by t. webster, r.a.; "1, 2, 3, 4, 5," "sleepy head," "up in a basket," "cat asleep by the fire," by john linnell, 4_s._ 6_d._, coloured; "the ballad of sir hornbook," by thos. love peacock, with eight pictures by h. corbould, coloured, 4_s._ 6_d._ (a book with the same title, also described as a "grammatico-allegorical ballad," was published by n. haites in 1818.) "chevy chase," with music and four pictures by frederick tayler, president of the water-colour society, coloured, 4_s._ 6_d._; "puck's reports to oberon"; four new faã«ry tales: "the sisters," "golden locks," "grumble and cherry," "arts and arms," by c. a. cole, with six pictures by j. h. townsend, r. redgrave, r.a., j. c. horsley, r.a., c. w. cope, r.a., and f. tayler; "little red riding hood," with four pictures by thos. webster, coloured, 3_s._ 6_d._; "beauty and the beast," with four pictures by j. c. horsley, r.a., coloured, 3_s._ 6_d._; "jack and the bean stalk," with four pictures by c. w. cope, r.a., coloured, 3_s._ 6_d._; "cinderella," with four pictures by e. h. wehnert, coloured, 3_s._ 6_d._; "jack the giant killer," with four pictures by c. w. cope, coloured, 3_s._ 6_d._; "the home treasury primer," printed in colours, with drawing on zinc, by w. mulready, r.a.; "alphabets of quadrupeds," selected from the works of paul potter, karl du jardin, teniers, stoop, rembrandt, &c., and drawn from nature; "the pleasant history of reynard the fox," with forty of the fifty-seven etchings made by everdingen in 1752, coloured, 31_s._ 6_d._; "a century of fables," with pictures by the old masters. to this list should be added--if it is not by "felix summerley," it is evidently conceived by the same spirit and published also by cundall--"gammer gurton's garland," by ambrose merton, with illustrations by t. webster and others. this was also issued as a series of sixpenny books, of which mr. elkin mathews owns a nearly complete set, in their original covers of gold and coloured paper. [illustration: illustration from "a wonder book for girls and boys." by walter crane (osgood, mcilvaine and co. 1892)] it would be very easy to over-estimate the intrinsic merit of these books, but when you consider them as pioneers it would be hard to over-rate the importance of the new departure. to enlist the talent of the most popular artists of the period, and produce volumes printed in the best style of the chiswick press, with bindings and end-papers specially designed, and the whole "get up" of the book carefully considered, was certainly a bold innovation in the early forties. that it failed to be a profitable venture one may deduce from the fact that the "felix summerley" series did not run to many volumes, and that the firm who published them, after several changes, seems to have expired, or more possibly was incorporated with some other venture. the books themselves are forgotten by most booksellers to-day, as i have discovered from many fruitless demands for copies. the little square pamphlets by f. h. bayley, to which allusion has already been made, include "blue beard;" "robinson crusoe," and "red riding hood," all published about 1845-6. [illustration: illustration from "the queen of the pirate isle." by kate greenaway (edmund evans. 1887)] whether "the sleeping beauty," then announced as in preparation, was published, i do not know. their rhyming chronicle in the style of the "ingoldsby legends" is neatly turned, and the topical allusions, although out of date now, are not sufficiently frequent to make it unintelligible. the pictures (possibly by alfred crowquill) are conceived in a spirit of burlesque, and are full of ingenious conceits and no little grim vigour. the design of robinson crusoe roosting in a tree- and so he climbs up a very tall tree, and fixes himself to his comfort and glee, hung up from the end of a branch by his breech, quite out of all mischievous quadrupeds' reach. a position not perfectly easy 't is true, but yet at the same time consoling and new-reproduced on p. 13, shows the wilder humour of the illustrations. another of blue beard, and one of the wolf suffering from undigested grandmother, are also given. they need no comment, except to note that in the originals, printed on a coloured tint with the high lights left white, the ferocity of blue beard is greatly heightened. the wolf, "as he lay there brimful of grandmother and guilt," is one of the best of the smaller pictures in the text. other noteworthy books which appeared about this date are mrs. felix summerley's "mother's primer," illustrated by w. m[ulready?], longmans, 1843; "little princess," by mrs. john slater, 1843, with six charming lithographs by j. c. horsley, r.a. (one of which is reproduced on p. 11); the "honey stew," of the countess bertha jeremiah how, 1846, with coloured plates by harrison weir; "early days of english princes," with capital illustrations by john franklin; and a series of pleasant books for young children, 6_d._ plain and 1_s._ coloured, published by cundall and addey. [illustration: illustration from "little folks" by kate greenaway (cassell and co.)] in 1846 appeared a translation of de la motte fouquã©'s romances, "undine" being illustrated by john tenniel, jun., and the following volumes by j. franklin, h. c. selous, and other artists. the tenniel designs, as the frontispiece reproduced on p. 20 shows clearly, are interesting both in themselves and as the earliest published work of the famous _punch_ cartoonist. the strong german influence they show is also apparent in nearly all the decorations. "the juvenile verse and picture book" (1848), also contains designs by tenniel, and others by w. b. scott and sir john gilbert. the ideal they established is maintained more or less closely for a long period. "songs for children" (w. s. orr, 1850); "young england's little library" (1851); mrs. s. c. hall's "number one," with pictures by john absolon (1854); "stories about dogs," with "plates by thomas landseer" (bogue, _c._ 1850); "the three bears," illustrated by absolon and harrison weir (addey and co., no date); "nursery poetry" (bell and daldy, 1859), may be noted as typical examples of this period. [illustration: illustration from "the pied piper of hamelin" by kate greenaway (edmund evans)] in "granny's story box" (piper, stephenson, and spence, about 1855), a most delicious collection of fairy tales illustrated by j. knight, we find the author in his preface protesting against the opinion of a supposititious old lady who "thought all fairy tales were abolished years ago by peter parley and the _penny magazine_." these fanciful stories deserve to be republished, for they are not old-fashioned, even if their pictures are. to what date certain delightfully printed little volumes, issued by tabart and co., 157 bond street, may be ascribed i know not--probably some years before the time we are considering, but they must not be overlooked. the title of one, "mince pies for christmas," suggests that it is not very far before, for the legend of christmas festivities had not long been revived for popular use. "the little lychetts," by the author of "john halifax," illustrated by henry warren, president of the new society of painters in water-colours (now the r.i.) is remarkable for the extremely uncomely type of children it depicts; yet that its charm is still vivid, despite its "severe" illustrations, you have but to lend it to a child to be convinced quickly. "jack's holiday," by albert smith (undated), suggests a new field of research which might lead us astray, as smith's humour is more often addressed primarily to adults. indeed, the effort to make this chronicle even representative, much less exhaustive, breaks down in the fifties, when so much good yet not very exhilarating material is to be found in every publisher's list. john leech in "the silver swan" of mdme. de chatelaine; charles keene in "the adventures of dick bolero" (darton, no date), and "robinson crusoe" (drawn upon for illustration here), and others of the _punch_ artists, should find their works duly catalogued even in this hasty sketch; but space compels scant justice to many artists of the period, yet if the most popular are left unnoticed such omission will more easily right itself to any reader interested in the subject. many show influences of the gothic revival which was then in the air, but only those which have some idea of book decoration as opposed to inserted pictures. for a certain "formal" ornamentation of the page was in fashion in the "forties" and "fifties," even as it is to-day. [illustration: illustration from "cape town dicky" by alice havers (c. w. faulkner and co.)] to the artists named as representative of this period one must not forget to add mr. birket foster, who devoted many of his felicitous studies of english pastoral life to the adornment of children's books. but speaking broadly of the period from the queen's accession to 1865, except that the subjects are of a sort supposed to appeal to young minds, their conception differs in no way from the work of the same artists in ordinary literature. the vignettes of scenery have childish instead of grown-up figures in the foregrounds; the historical or legendary figures are as seriously depicted in the one class of books as in the other. humour is conspicuous by its absence--or, to be more accurate, the humour is more often in the accompanying anecdote than in the picture. probably if the authorship of hundreds of the illustrations of "peter parley's annuals" and other books of this period could be traced, artists as famous as charles keene might be found to have contributed. but, owing to the mediocre wood-engraving employed, or to the poor printing, the pictures are singularly unattractive. as a rule, they are unsigned and appear to be often mere pot-boilers--some no doubt intentionally disowned by the designer--others the work of 'prentice hands who afterwards became famous. above all they are, essentially, illustrations to children's books only because they chanced to be printed therein, and have sometimes done duty in "grown-up" books first. hence, whatever their artistic merits, they do not appeal to a student of our present subject. they are accidentally present in books for children, but essentially they belong to ordinary illustrations. indeed, speaking generally, the time between "felix summerley" and _walter crane_, which saw two great exhibitions and witnessed many advances in popular illustration, was too much occupied with catering for adults to be specially interested in juveniles. hence, notwithstanding the names of "illustrious illustrators" to be found on their title-pages, no great injustice will be done if we leave this period and pass on to that which succeeded it. for the great exhibition fostered the idea that a smattering of knowledge of a thousand and one subjects was good. hence the chastened gaiety of its mildly technical science, its popular manuals by dr. dionysius lardner, and its return in another form to the earlier ideal that amusement should be combined with instruction. all sorts of attempts were initiated to make astronomy palatable to babies, botany an amusing game for children, conchology a parlour pastime, and so on through the alphabet of sciences down to zoology, which is never out of favour with little ones, even if its pictures be accompanied by a dull encylopã¦dia of fact. [illustration: illustration from "the white swans" by alice havers (_by permission of mr. albert hildesheimer_)] therefore, except so far as the work of certain illustrators, hereafter noticed, touches this period, we may leave it; not because it is unworthy of most serious attention, for in sir john gilbert, birket foster, harrison weir, and the rest, we have men to reckon with whenever a chronicle of english illustration is in question, but only because they did not often feel disposed to make their work merely amusing. in saying this it is not suggested that they should have tried to be always humorous or archaic, still less to bring down their talent to the supposed level of a child; but only to record the fact that they did not. for instance, sir john gilbert's spirited compositions to a "boy's book of ballads" (bell and daldy) as you see them mixed with other of the master's work in the reference scrap-books of the publishers, do not at once separate themselves from the rest as "juvenile" pictures. nor as we approach the year 1855 (of the "music master"), and 1857 (when the famous edition of tennyson's poems began a series of superbly illustrated books), do we find any immediate change in the illustration of children's books. the solitary example of sir edward burne-jones's efforts in this direction, in the frontispiece and title-page to maclaren's "the fairy family" (longmans, 1857), does not affect this statement. but soon after, as the school of walker and pinwell became popular, there is a change in books of all sorts, and millais and arthur hughes, two of the three illustrators of the notable "music master," come into our list of children's artists. at this point the attempt to weave a chronicle of children's books somewhat in the date of their publication must give way to a desultory notice of the most prominent illustrators. for we have come to the beginning of to-day rather than the end of yesterday, and can regard the "sixties" onwards as part of the present. it is true that the millais of the wonderful designs to "the parables" more often drew pictures of children than of children's pet themes, but all the same they are entirely lovable, and appeal equally to children of all ages. but his work in this field is scanty; nearly all will be found in "little songs for me to sing" (cassell), or in "lilliput levee" (1867), and these latter had appeared previously in _good words_. of arthur hughes's work we will speak later. [illustration: illustration from "the red fairy book." by lancelot speed (longmans, green and co.)] another artist whose work bulks large in our subject--arthur boyd houghton--soon appears in sight, and whether he depicted babies at play as in "home thoughts and home scenes," a book of thirty-five pictures of little people, or imagined the scenes of stories dear to them in "the arabian nights," or books like "ernie elton" or "the boy pilgrims," written especially for them, in each he succeeded in winning their hearts, as every one must admit who chanced in childhood to possess his work. so much has been printed lately of the artist and his work, that here a bare reference will suffice. [illustration: illustration from "the red fairy book." by lancelot speed (longmans, green and co.)] arthur hughes, whose work belongs to many of the periods touched upon in this rambling chronicle, may be called _the_ children's "black-and-white" artist of the "sixties" (taking the date broadly as comprising the earlier "seventies" also), even as walter crane is their "limner in colours." his work is evidently conceived with the serious make-believe that is the very essence of a child's imagination. he seems to put down on paper the very spirit of fancy. whether as an artist he is fully entitled to the rank some of his admirers (of whom i am one) would claim, is a question not worth raising here--the future will settle that for us. but as a children's illustrator he is surely illustrator-in-chief to the queen of the fairies, and to a whole generation of readers of "tom brown's schooldays" also. his contributions to "good words for the young" would alone entitle him to high eminence. in addition to these, which include many stories perhaps better known in book form, such as: "the boy in grey" (h. kingsley), george macdonald's "at the back of the north wind," "the princess and the goblin," "ranald bannerman's boyhood," "gutta-percha willie" (these four were published by strahan, and now may be obtained in reprints issued by messrs. blackie), and "lilliput lectures" (a book of essays for children by matthew browne), we find him as sole illustrator of christina rossetti's "sing song," "five days' entertainment at wentworth grange," "dealings with the fairies," by george macdonald (a very scarce volume nowadays), and the chief contributor to the first illustrated edition of "tom brown's schooldays." in novello's "national nursery rhymes" are also several of his designs. this list, which occupies so small a space, represents several hundred designs, all treated in a manner which is decorative (although it eschews the dã¼rer line), but marked by strong "colour." indeed, mr. hughes's technique is all his own, and if hard pressed one might own that in certain respects it is not impeccable. but if his textures are not sufficiently differentiated, or even if his drawing appears careless at times--both charges not to be admitted without vigorous protest--granting the opponent's view for the moment, it would be impossible to find the same peculiar tenderness and naã¯ve fancy in the work of any other artist. his invention seems inexhaustible and his composition singularly fertile: he can create "bogeys" as well as "fairies." [illustration: illustration from "the red fairy book." by lancelot speed (longmans, green and co.)] [illustration: illustration from "down the snow stairs." by gordon browne (blackie and son)] it is true that his children are related to the sexless idealised race of sir edward burne-jones's heroes and heroines; they are purged of earthy taint, and idealised perhaps a shade too far. they adopt attitudes graceful if not realistic, they have always a grave serenity of expression; and yet withal they endear themselves in a way wholly their own. it is strange that a period which has bestowed so much appreciation on the work of the artists of "the sixties" has seen no knight-errant with "arthur hughes" inscribed on his banner--no exhibition of his black-and-white work, no craze in auction-rooms for first editions of books he illustrated. he has, however, a steady if limited band of very faithful devotees, and perhaps--so inconsistent are we all--they love his work all the better because the blast of popularity has not trumpeted its merits to all and sundry. three artists, often coupled together--walter crane, randolph caldecott, and kate greenaway--have really little in common, except that they all designed books for children which were published about the same period. for walter crane is the serious apostle of art for the nursery, who strove to beautify its ideal, to decorate its legends with a real knowledge of architecture and costume, and to "mount" the fairy stories with a certain archã¦ological splendour, as sir henry irving has set himself to mount shakespearean drama. caldecott was a fine literary artist, who was able to express himself with rare facility in pictures in place of words, so that his comments upon a simple text reveal endless subtleties of thought. indeed, he continued to make a fairly logical sequence of incidents out of the famous nonsense paragraph invented to confound mnemonics by its absolute irrelevancy. miss greenaway's charm lies in the fact that she first recognised quaintness in what had been considered merely "old fashion," and continued to infuse it with a glamour that made it appear picturesque. had she dressed her figures in contemporary costume most probably her work would have taken its place with the average, and never obtained more than common popularity. [illustration: illustration from "robinson crusoe" by gordon browne (blackie and son)] but mr. walter crane is almost unique in his profound sympathy with the fantasies he imagines. there is no trace of make-believe in his designs. on the contrary, he makes the old legends become vital, not because of the personalities he bestows on his heroes and fairy princesses--his people move often in a rapt ecstasy--but because the adjuncts of his _mise-en-scã¨nes_ are realised intimately. his prince is much more the typical hero than any particular person; his fair ladies might exchange places, and few would notice the difference; but when it comes to the environment, the real incidents of the story, then no one has more fully grasped both the dramatic force and the local colour. if his people are not peculiarly alive, they are in harmony with the re-edified cities and woods that sprang up under his pencil. he does not bestow the hoary touch of antiquity on his mediã¦val buildings; they are all new and comely, in better taste probably than the actual buildings, but not more idealised than are his people. he is the true artist of fairyland, because he recognises its practical possibilities, and yet does not lose the glamour which was never on sea or land. no artist could give more cultured notions of fairyland. in his work the vulgar glories of a pantomime are replaced by well-conceived splendour; the tawdry adjuncts of a throne-room, as represented in a theatre, are ignored. temples and palaces of the early renaissance, filled with graceful--perhaps a shade too suave--figures, embody all the charm of the impossible country, with none of the sordid drawbacks that are common to real life. in modern dress, as in his pictures to many of mrs. molesworth's stories, there is a certain unlikeness to life as we know it, which does not detract from the effect of the design; but while this is perhaps distracting in stories of contemporary life, it is a very real advantage in those of folk-lore, which have no actual date, and are therefore unafraid of anachronisms of any kind. the spirit of his work is, as it should be, intensely serious, yet the conceits which are showered upon it exactly harmonise with the mood of most of the stories that have attracted his pencil. grimm's "household stories," as he pictured them, are a lasting joy. the "bluebeard" and "jack and the beanstalk" toy books, the "princess belle etoile," and a dozen others are nursery classics, and classics also of the other nursery where children of a larger growth take their pleasure. [illustration: illustration from "robinson crusoe." by will paget. (cassell and co.)] without a shade of disrespect towards all the other artists represented in this special number, had it been devoted solely to mr. walter crane's designs, it would have been as interesting in every respect. there is probably not a single illustrator here mentioned who would not endorse such a statement. for as a maker of children's books, no one ever attempted the task he fulfilled so gaily, and no one since has beaten him on his own ground. even mr. howard pyle, his most worthy rival, has given us no wealth of colour-prints. so that the famous toy books still retain their well-merited position as the most delightful books for the nursery and the studio, equally beloved by babies and artists. [illustration: illustration from "english fairy tales" by j. d. batten (david nutt)] although a complete iconography of mr. walter crane's work has not yet been made, the following list of such of his children's books as i have been able to trace may be worth printing for the benefit of those who have not access to the british museum; where, by the way, many are not included in that section of its catalogue devoted to "crane, walter." [illustration: "so light of foot, so light of spirit." by charles robinson] the famous series of toy books by walter crane include: "the railroad a b c," "the farmyard a b c," "sing a song of sixpence," "the waddling frog," "the old courtier," "multiplication in verse," "chattering jack," "how jessie was lost," "grammar in rhyme," "annie and jack in london," "one, two, buckle my shoe," "the fairy ship," "adventures of puffy," "this little pig went to market," "king luckieboy's party," "noah's ark alphabet," "my mother," "the forty thieves," "the three bears," "cinderella," "valentine and orson," "puss in boots," "old mother hubbard," "the absurd a b c," "little red riding hood," "jack and the beanstalk," "blue beard," "baby's own alphabet," "the sleeping beauty." all these were published at sixpence. a larger series at one shilling includes: "the frog prince," "goody two shoes," "beauty and the beast," "alphabet of old friends," "the yellow dwarf," "aladdin," "the hind in the wood," and "princess belle etoile." all these were published from 1873 onwards by routledge, and printed in colours by edmund evans. [illustration: illustration from "english fairy tales." by j. d. batten (david nutt)] a small quarto series routledge published at five shillings includes: "the baby's opera," "the baby's bouquet," "the baby's own ã�sop." another and larger quarto, "flora's feast" (1889), and "queen summer" (1891), were both published by cassells, who issued also "legends for lionel" (1887). "pan pipes," an oblong folio with music was issued by routledge. messrs. marcus ward produced "slate and pencilvania," "pothooks and perseverance," "romance of the three rs," "little queen anne" (1885-6), hawthorne's "a wonder book," first published in america, is a quarto volume with elaborate designs in colour; and "the golden primer" (1884), two vols., by professor meiklejohn (blackwood) is, like all the above, in colour. of a series of stories by mrs. molesworth the following volumes are illustrated by mr. crane:--"a christmas posy" (1888), "carrots" (1876), "a christmas child" (1886), "christmas-tree land" (1884), "the cuckoo clock" (1877), "four winds farm" (1887), "grandmother dear" (1878), "herr baby" (1881), "little miss peggy" (1887), "the rectory children" (1889), "rosy" (1882), "the tapestry room" (1879), "tell me a story," "two little waifs," "us" (1885), and "children of the castle" (1890). earlier in date are "stories from memel" (1864), "stories of old," "children's sayings" (1861), two series, "poor match" (1861), "the merry heart," with eight coloured plates (cassell); "king gab's story bag" (cassell), "magic of kindness" (1869), "queen of the tournament," "history of poor match," "our uncle's old home" (1872), "sunny days" (1871), "the turtle dove's nest" (1890). later come "the necklace of princess fiorimonde" (1880), the famous edition of grimm's "household stories" (1882), both published by macmillan, and c. c. harrison's "folk and fairy tales" (1885), "the happy prince" (nutt, 1888). of these the "grimm" and "fiorimonde" are perhaps two of the most important illustrated books noted in these pages. randolph caldecott founded a school that still retains fresh hold of the british public. but with all respect to his most loyal disciple, mr. hugh thomson, one doubts if any successor has equalled the master in the peculiar subtlety of his pictured comment upon the bare text. you have but to turn to any of his toy books to see that at times each word, almost each syllable, inspired its own picture; and that the artist not only conceived the scene which the text called into being, but each successive step before and after the reported incident itself. in "the house that jack built," "this is the rat that ate the malt" supplies a subject for five pictures. first the owner carrying in the malt, next the rat driven away by the man, then the rat peeping up into the deserted room, next the rat studying a placard upside down inscribed "four measures of malt," and finally, the gorged animal sitting upon an empty measure. so "this is the cat that killed the rat" is expanded into five pictures. the dog has four, the cat three, and the rest of the story is amplified with its secondary incidents duly sought and depicted. this literary expression is possibly the most marked characteristic of a facile and able draughtsman. he studied his subject as no one else ever studied it--he must have played with it, dreamed of it, worried it night and day, until he knew it ten times better than its author. then he portrayed it simply and with irresistible vigour, with a fine economy of line and colour; when colour is added, it is mainly as a gay convention, and not closely imitative of nature. the sixteen toy books which bear his name are too well known to make a list of their titles necessary. a few other children's books--"what the blackbird said" (routledge, 1881), "jackanapes," "lob-lie-by-the-fire," "daddy darwin's dovecot," all by mrs. ewing (s.p.c.k.), "baron bruno" (macmillan), "some of ã�sop's fables" (macmillan), and one or two others, are of secondary importance from our point of view here. [illustration: illustration from "the wonder clock." by howard pyle (harper and brothers)] [illustration: illustration from "the wonder clock." by howard pyle (harper and brothers)] [illustration: illustration from "the wonder clock." by howard pyle (harper and brothers. 1894)] it is no overt dispraise to say of miss kate greenaway that few artists made so great a reputation in so small a field. inspired by the children's books of 1820 (as a reference to a design, "paths of learning," reproduced on p. 9 will show), and with a curious naã¯vety that was even more unconcerned in its dramatic effect than were the "missal marge" pictures of the illuminators, by her simple presentation of the childishness of childhood she won all hearts. her little people are the _beau-idã©al_ of nursery propriety--clean, good-tempered, happy small gentlefolk. for, though they assume peasants' garb, they never betray boorish manners. their very abandon is only that of nice little people in play-hours, and in their wildest play the penalties that await torn knickerbockers or soiled frocks are not absent from their minds. whether they really interested children as they delighted their elders is a moot point. the verdict of many modern children is unanimous in praise, and possibly because they represented the ideal every properly educated child is supposed to cherish. the slight taint of priggishness which occasionally is there did not reveal itself to a child's eye. miss greenaway's art, however, is not one to analyse but to enjoy. that she is a most careful and painstaking worker is a fact, but one that would not in itself suffice to arouse one's praise. the absence of effort which makes her work look happy and without effort is not its least charm. her gay yet "cultured" colour, her appreciation of green chairs and formal gardens, all came at the right time. the houses by a norman shaw found a morris and a liberty ready with furniture and fabrics, and all sorts of manufacturers devoting themselves to the production of pleasant objects, to fill them; and for its drawing-room tables miss greenaway produced books that were in the same key. but as the architecture and the fittings, at their best, proved to be no passing whim, but the germ of a style, so her illustration is not a trifling sport, but a very real, if small, item in the history of the evolution of picture-books. good taste is the prominent feature of her work, and good taste, if out of fashion for a time, always returns, and is treasured by future generations, no matter whether it be in accord with the expression of the hour or distinctly archaic. time is a very stringent critic, and much that passed as tolerably good taste when it fell in with the fashion, looks hopelessly vulgar when the tide of popularity has retreated. miss greenaway's work appears as refined ten years after its "boom," as it did when it was at the flood. that in itself is perhaps an evidence of its lasting power; for ten or a dozen years impart a certain shabby and worn aspect that has no flavour of the antique as a saving virtue to atone for its shortcomings. [illustration: illustration from "the wonder clock." by howard pyle. (harper and brothers)] [illustration: illustration from "the wonder clock." by howard pyle. (harper and brothers)] it seems almost superfluous to give a list of the principal books by miss kate greenaway, yet for the convenience of collectors the names of the most noteworthy volumes may be set down. those with coloured plates are: "a, apple pie" (1886), "alphabet" (1885), "almanacs" (from 1882 yearly), "birthday book" (1880), "book of games" (1889), "a day in a child's life" (1885), "king pepito" (1889), "language of flowers" (1884), "little ann" (1883), "marigold garden" (1885), "mavor's spelling book" (1885), "mother goose" (1886), "the pied piper of hamelin" (1889), "painting books" (1879 and 1885), "queen victoria's jubilee garland" (1887), "queen of the pirate isle" (1886), "under the window" (1879). others with black-and-white illustrations include "child of the parsonage" (1874), "fairy gifts" (1875), "seven birthdays" (1876), "starlight stories" (1877), "topo" (1878), "dame wiggins of lee" (allen, 1885), "stories from the eddas" (1883). many designs, some in colour, are to be found in volumes of _little folks_, _little wideawake_, _every girl's magazine_, _girl's own paper_, and elsewhere. [illustration: illustration from "children's singing games" by winifred smith (david nutt. 1894)] the art of miss greenaway is part of the legend of the ã¦sthetic craze, and while its storks and sunflowers have faded, and some of its eccentricities are forgotten, the quaint little pictures on christmas cards, in toy books, and elsewhere, are safely installed as items of the art product of the century. indeed, many a popular royal academy picture is likely to be forgotten before the illustrations from her hand. _bric-ã -brac_ they were, but more than that, for they gave infinite pleasure to thousands of children of all ages, and if they do not rise up and call her blessed, they retain a very warm memory of one who gave them so much innocent pleasure. [illustration: illustration from "undine" by heywood sumner (chapman and hall)] [illustration: illustration from "the red fairy book" by l. speed (longmans, green and co. 1895)] sir john tenniel's illustrations, beginning as they do with "undine" (1845), already mentioned, include others in volumes for young people that need not be quoted. but with his designs for "alice in wonderland" (macmillan, 1866), and "through the looking glass" (1872), we touch _the_ two most notable children's books of the century. to say less would be inadequate and to say more needless. for every one knows the incomparable inventions which "lewis carroll" imagined and sir john tenniel depicted. they are veritable classics, of which, as it is too late to praise them, no more need be said. certain coloured picture books by j. e. rogers were greeted with extravagant eulogy at the time they appeared "in the seventies." "worthy to be hung at the academy beside the best pictures of millais or sandys," one fatuous critic observed. looking over their pages again, it seems strange that their very weak drawing and crude colour could have satisfied people familiar with mr. walter crane's masterly work in a not dissimiliar style. "ridicula rediviva" and "mores ridiculi" (both macmillan), were illustrations of nursery rhymes. to "the fairy book" (1870), a selection of old stories re-told by the author of "john halifax," mr. rogers contributed many full pages in colour, and also to mr. f. c. burnand's "present pastimes of merrie england" (1872). they are interesting as documents, but not as art; for their lack of academic knowledge is not counterbalanced by peculiar "feeling" or ingenious conceit. they are merely attempts to do again what mr. h. s. marks had done better previously. it seems ungrateful to condemn books that but for renewed acquaintance might have kept the glamour of the past; and yet, realising how much feeble effort has been praised since it was "only for children," it is impossible to keep silence when the truth is so evident. [illustration: illustration from "katawampus" by archie macgregor (david nutt)] alfred crowquill most probably contributed all the pictures to "robinson crusoe," "blue beard," and "red riding hood" told in rhyme by f. w. n. bayley, which have been noticed among his books of the "forties." one of the full pages, which appear to be lithographs, is clearly signed. he also illustrated the adventures of "master tyll owlglass," an edition of "baron munchausen," "picture fables," "the careless chicken," "funny leaves for the younger branches," "laugh and grow thin," and a host of other volumes. yet the pictures in these, amusing as they are in their way, do not seem likely to attract an audience again at any future time. e. v. b., initials which stand for the hon. mrs. boyle, are found on many volumes of the past twenty-five years which have enjoyed a special reputation. certainly her drawings, if at times showing much of the amateur, have also a curious "quality," which accounts for the very high praise they have won from critics of some standing. "the story without an end," "child's play" (1858), "the new child's play," "the magic valley," "andersen fairy tales" (low, 1882), "beauty and the beast" (a quarto with colour-prints by leighton bros.), are the most important. looking at them dispassionately now, there is yet a trace of some of the charm that provoked applause a little more than they deserve. in british art this curious fascination exerted by the amateur is always confronting us. the work of e. v. b. has great qualities, yet any pupil of a board school would draw better. nevertheless it pleases more than academic technique of high merit that lacks just that one quality which, for want of a better word, we call "culture." in the designs by louisa, marchioness of waterford, one encounters genius with absolutely faltering technique; and many who know how rare is the slightest touch of genius, forgive the equally important mastery of material which must accompany it to produce work of lasting value. [illustration: illustration from "the sleeping beauty." by r. anning bell (dent and co.)] mr. h. s. marks designed two nursery books for messrs. routledge, and contributed to many others, including j. w. elliott's "national nursery rhymes" (novello), whence our illustration has been taken. two series of picture books containing mediã¦val figures with gold background, by j. moyr smith, if somewhat lacking in the qualities which appeal to children, may have played a good part in educating them to admire conventional flat treatment, with a decorative purpose that was unusual in the "seventies," when most of them appeared. in later years, miss alice havers in "the white swans," and "cape town dicky" (hildesheimer), and many lady artists of less conspicuous ability, have done a quantity of graceful and elaborate pictures _of_ children rather than _for_ children. the art of this later period shows better drawing, better colour, better composition than had been the popular average before; but it generally lacks humour, and a certain vivacity of expression which children appreciate. in the "sixties" and "seventies" were many illustrators of children's books who left no great mark except on the memories of those who were young enough at the time to enjoy their work thoroughly, if not very critically. among these may be placed william brunton, who illustrated several of the right hon. g. knatchbull-hugessen's fairy stories, "tales at tea time" for instance, and was frequent among the illustrators of hood's annuals. charles h. ross (at one time editor of _judy_) and creator of "ally sloper," the british punchinello, produced at least one memorable book for children. "queens and kings and other things," a folio volume printed in gold and colour, with nonsense rhymes and pictures, almost as funny as those of edward lear himself. "the boy crusoe," and many other books of somewhat ephemeral character are his, and routledge's "every boy's magazine" contains many of his designs. just as these pages are being corrected the news of his death is announced. [illustration: illustration from "fairy gifts." by h. granville fell (dent and co.)] [illustration: illustration from "a book of nursery songs and rhymes" by mary j. newill (methuen and co. 1895)] others, like george du maurier, so rarely touched the subject that they can hardly be regarded as wholly belonging to our theme. yet "misunderstood," by florence montgomery (1879), illustrated by du maurier, is too popular to leave unnoticed. mr. a. w. bayes, who has deservedly won fame in other fields, illustrated "andersen's tales" (warne, 1865), probably his earliest work, as a contemporary review speaks of the admirable designs "by an artist whose name is new to us." [illustration: illustration from "the elf-errant" by w. e. f. britten (lawrence and bullen. 1895)] it is a matter for surprise and regret that mr. howard pyle's illustrated books are not as well known in england as they deserve to be. and this is the more vexing when you find that any one with artistic sympathy is completely converted to be a staunch admirer of mr. pyle's work by a sight of "the wonder clock," a portly quarto, published by harper brothers in 1894. it seems to be the only book conceived in purely dã¼reresque line, which can be placed in rivalry with mr. walter crane's illustrated "grimm," and wise people will be only too delighted to admire both without attempting to compare them. mr. pyle is evidently influenced by dã¼rer--with a strong trace of rossetti--but he carries both influences easily, and betrays a strong personality throughout all the designs. the "merry adventures of robin hood" and "otto of the silver hand" are two others of about the same period, and the delightful volume collected from _harper's young people_ for the most part, entitled "pepper and salt," may be placed with them. all the illustrations to these are in pure line, and have the appearance of being drawn not greatly in excess of the reproduced size. of all these books mr. howard pyle is author as well as illustrator. of late he has changed his manner in line, showing at times, especially in "twilight land" (osgood, mcilvaine, 1896), the influence of vierge, but even in that book the frontispiece and many other designs keep to his earlier manner. in "the garden behind the moon" (issued in london by messrs. lawrence and bullen) the chief drawings are entirely in wash, and yet are singularly decorative in their effect. the "story of jack bannister's fortunes" shows the artist's "colonial" style, "men of iron," "a modern aladdin," oliver wendell holmes' "one-horse shay," are other fairly recent volumes. his illustrations have not been confined to his own stories as "in the valley," by harold frederic, "stops of various quills" (poems by w. d. howells), go to prove. [illustration: illustration from "sinbad the sailor" by william strang (lawrence and bullen. 1896)] [illustration: illustration from "ali baba" by j. b. clark (lawrence and bullen. 1896)] it is strange that mr. heywood sumner, who, as his notable "fitzroy pictures" would alone suffice to prove, is peculiarly well equipped for the illustration of children's books, has done but few, and of these none are in colour. "cinderella" (1882), rhymes by h. s. leigh, set to music by j. farmer, contains very pleasant decoration by mr. sumner. next comes "sintram" (1883), a notable edition of de la motte fouquã©'s romance, followed by "undine" (in 1885). with a book on the "parables," by a.l.o.e., published about 1884; "the besom maker" (1880), a volume of country ditties with the old music, and "jacob and the raven," with thirty-nine illustrations (allen, 1896), the best example of his later manner, and a book which all admirers of the more severe order of "decorative illustration" will do well to preserve, the list is complete. whether a certain austerity of line has made publishers timid, or whether the artist has declined commissions, the fact remains that the literature of the nursery has not yet had its full share from mr. heywood sumner. luckily, if its shelves are the less full, its walls are gayer by the many fitzroy pictures he has made so effectively, which readers of the studio have seen reproduced from time to time in these pages. mr. h. j. ford's work occupies so much space in the library of a modern child, that it seems less necessary to discuss it at length here, for he is found either alone or co-operating with mr. jacomb hood and mr. lancelot speed, in each of the nine volumes of fairy tales and true stories (blue, red, green, yellow, pink, and the rest), edited by mr. andrew lang, and published by longmans. more than that, at the fine art society in may 1895, mr. ford exhibited seventy-one original drawings, chiefly those for the "yellow fairy book," so that his work is not only familiar to the inmates of the nursery, but to modern critics who disdain mere printed pictures and care for nothing but autograph work. certainly his designs have often lost much by their great reduction, for many of the originals were almost as large as four of these pages. his work is full of imagination, full of detail; perhaps at times a little overcrowded, to the extent of confusion. but children are not averse from a picture that requires much careful inspection to reveal all its story; and mr. ford's accessories all help to reiterate the main theme. as these eight volumes have an average of 100 pictures in each, and mr. ford has designed the majority, it is evident that, although his work is almost entirely confined to one series, it takes a very prominent place in current juvenile literature. that he must by this time have established his position as a prime favourite with the small people goes without saying. [illustration: illustration from "the flame flower." by j. f. sullivan (dent and co. 1896)] mr. leslie brooke has also a long catalogue of notable work in this class. for since mr. walter crane ceased to illustrate the long series of mrs. molesworth's stories, he has carried on the record. "sheila's mystery," "the carved lions," "mary," "my new home," "nurse heathcote's story," "the girls and i," "the oriel window," and "miss mouse and her boys" (all macmillan), are the titles of these books to which he has contributed. a very charming frontispiece and title to john oliver hobbs' "prince toto," which appeared in "the parade," must not be forgotten. the most fanciful of his designs are undoubtedly the hundred illustrations to mr. andrew lang's delightful collection of "nursery rhymes," just published by f. warne & co. these reveal a store of humour that the less boisterous fun of mrs. molesworth had denied him the opportunity of expressing. mr. c. e. brock, whose delightful compositions, somewhat in the "hugh thomson" manner, embellish several volumes of messrs. macmillan's cranford series, has illustrated also "the parachute," and "english fairy and folk tales," by e. s. hartland (1893), and also supplied two pictures to that most fascinating volume prized by all lovers of children, "w. v., her book," by w. canton. perhaps "westward ho!" should also be included in this list, for whatever its first intentions, it has long been annexed by bolder spirits in the nursery. a. b. frost, by his cosmopolitan fun, "understanded of all people," has probably aroused more hearty laughs by his inimitable books than even caldecott himself. "stuff and nonsense," and "the bull calf," t. b. aldrich's "story of a bad boy," and many another volume of american origin, that is now familiar to every briton with a sense of humour, are the most widely known. it is needless to praise the literally inimitable humour of the tragic series "our cat took rat poison." in lewis carroll's "rhyme? and reason?" (1883), mr. frost shared with henry holiday the task of illustrating a larger edition of the book first published under the title of "phantasmagoria" (1869); he illustrated also "a tangled tale" (1886), by the same author, and this is perhaps the only volume of british origin of which he is sole artist. mr. henry holiday was responsible for the classic pictures to "the hunting of the snark" by lewis carroll (1876). mr. r. anning bell does not appear to have illustrated many books for children. of these, the two which introduced mr. dent's "banbury cross" series are no doubt the best known. in fact, to describe "jack the giant killer" and the "sleeping beauty" in these pages would be an insult to "subscribers from the first." a story, "white poppies," by may kendall, which ran through _sylvia's journal_, is a little too grown-up to be included; nor can the "heroines of the poets," which appeared in the same place, be dragged in to augment the scanty list, any more than the "midsummer night's dream" or "keats's poems." it is singular that the fancy of mr. anning bell, which seems exactly calculated to attract a child and its parent at the same time, has not been more frequently requisitioned for this purpose. in the two "banbury cross" volumes there is evidence of real sympathy with the text, which is by no means as usual in pictures to fairy tales as it should be; and a delightfully harmonious sense of decoration rare in any book, and still more rare in those expressly designed for small people. [illustration: for them i'd climb, 'most all the time and never tear no clothes! illustration from "red apple and silver bells." by alice b. woodward. (blackie and son. 1897)] the amazing number of mr. gordon browne's illustrations leaves a would-be iconographer appalled. so many thousand designs--and all so good--deserve a lengthened and exhaustive eulogy. but space absolutely forbids it, and as a large number cater for older children than most of the books here noticed, on that ground one may be forgiven the inadequate notice. if an illustrator deserved to attract the attention of collectors it is surely this one, and so fertile has he been that a complete set of all his work would take no little time to get together. here are the titles of a few jotted at random: "bonnie prince charlie," "for freedom's cause," "st. george for england," "orange and green," "with clive in india," "with wolfe in canada," "true to the old flag," "by sheer pluck," "held fast for england," "for name and fame," "with lee in virginia," "facing death," "devon boys," "nat the naturalist," "bunyip land," "the lion of st. mark," "under drake's flag," "the golden magnet," "the log of the flying fish," "in the king's name," "margery merton's girlhood," "down the snow stairs," "stories of old renown," "seven wise scholars," "chirp and chatter," "gulliver's travels," "robinson crusoe," "hetty gray," "a golden age," "muir fenwick's failure," "winnie's secret" (all so far are published by blackie and son). "national nursery rhymes," "fairy tales from grimm," "sintram, and undine," "sweetheart travellers," "five, ten and fifteen," "gilly flower," "prince boohoo," "a sister's bye-hours," "jim," and "a flock of four," are all published by gardner, darton & co., and "effie," by griffith & farran. when one realises that not a few of these books contain a hundred illustrations, and that the list is almost entirely from two publishers' catalogues, some idea of the fecundity of mr. gordon browne's output is gained. but only a vague idea, as his "shakespeare," with hundreds of drawings and a whole host of other books, cannot be even mentioned. it is sufficient to name but one--say the example from "robinson crusoe" (blackie), reproduced on page 32--to realise mr. gordon browne's vivid and picturesque interpretation of fact, or "down the snow stairs" (blackie), also illustrated, with a grotesque owl-like creature, to find that in pure fantasy his exuberant imagination is no less equal to the task. in "chirp and chatter" (blackie), fifty-four illustrations of animals masquerading as human show delicious humour. at times his technique appears somewhat hasty, but, as a rule, the method he adopts is as good as the composition he depicts. he is in his own way the leader of juvenile illustration of the non-dã¼rer school. [illustration: illustration from "katawampus." by archie macgregor. (david nutt)] [illustration: illustration from "to tell the king the sky is falling." by alice woodward (blackie and son. 1896)] mr. harry furniss's coloured toy-books--"romps"--are too well known to need description, and many another juvenile volume owes its attraction to his facile pencil. of these, the two later "lewis caroll's"--"sylvia and bruno," and "sylvia and bruno, concluded," are perhaps most important. as a curious narrative, "travels in the interior" (of a human body) must not be forgotten. it certainly called forth much ingenuity on the part of the artist. in "romps," and in all his work for children, there is an irrepressible sense of movement and of exuberant vitality in his figures; but, all the same, they are more like fred walker's idyllic youngsters having romps than like real everyday children. mr. linley sambourne's most ingenious pen has been all too seldom employed on children's books. indeed, one that comes first to memory, the "new sandford and merton" (1872), is hardly entitled to be classed among them, but the travesty of the somewhat pedantic narrative, interspersed with fairly amusing anecdotes, that thomas day published in 1783, is superb. no matter how familiar it may be, it is simply impossible to avoid laughing anew at the smug little harry, the sanctimonious tutor, or the naughty tommy, as mr. sambourne has realised them. the "anecdotes of the crocodile" and "the presumptuous dentist" are no less good. the way he has turned a prosaic hat-rack into an instrument of torture would alone mark mr. sambourne as a comic draughtsman of the highest type. nothing he has done in political cartoons seems so likely to live as these burlesques. a little known book, "the royal umbrella" (1888), which contains the delightful "cat gardeners" here reproduced, and the very well-known edition of charles kingsley's "water babies" (1886), are two other volumes which well display his moods of less unrestrained humour. "the real robinson crusoe" (1893) and lord brabourne's (knatchbull-hugessen's) "friends and foes of fairyland" (1886), well-nigh exhaust the list of his efforts in this direction. [illustration: illustration from "russian fairy tales" by c. m. gere (lawrence and bullen. 1893)] [illustration: the singing lesson no. 1. from the original drawing by a. nobody] prince of all foreign illustrators for babyland is m. boutet de monvel, whose works deserve an exhaustive monograph. although comparatively few of his books are really well known in england, "little folks" contains a goodly number of his designs. la fontaine's "fables" (an english edition of which is published by the society for promoting christian knowledge) is (so far as i have discovered) the only important volume reprinted with english text. possibly his "jeanne d'arc" ought not to be named among children's books, yet the exquisite drawing of its children and the unique splendour the artist has imparted to simple colour-printing, endear it to little ones no less than adults. but it would be absurd to suppose that readers of the studio do not know this masterpiece of its class, a book no artistic household can possibly afford to be without. earlier books by m. de monvel, which show him in his most engaging mood (the mood in the illustration from "little folks" here reproduced), are "vieilles chansons et rondes," by ch. m. widor, "la civilitã© puã©rile et honnãªte," and "chansons de france pour les petits franã§ais." despite their entirely different characterisation of the child, and a much stronger grasp of the principles of decorative composition, these delightful designs are more nearly akin to those of miss kate greenaway than are any others published in europe or america. yet m. de monvel is not only absolutely french in his types and costumes but in the movement and expression of his serious little people, who play with a certain demure gaiety that those who have watched french children in the gardens of the luxembourg or tuileries, or a french seaside resort, know to be absolutely truthful. for the gallic _bã©bã©_ certainly seems less "rampageous" than the english urchin. a certain daintiness of movement and timidity in the boys especially adds a grace of its own to the games of french children which is not without its peculiar charm. this is singularly well caught in m. de monvel's delicious drawings, where naã¯vely symmetrical arrangement and a most admirable simplicity of colour are combined. indeed, of all non-english artists who address the little people, he alone has the inmost secret of combining realistic drawing with sumptuous effects in conventional decoration. [illustration: the singing lesson--no. 2. from the original drawing by a. nobody] [illustration: illustration from "adventures in toy land" by alice b. woodward (blackie and son. 1897)] [illustration: illustration from "prince boohoo" by gordon browne (gardner, darton and co. 1897)] the work of the danish illustrator, lorenz froelich, is almost as familiar in english as in continental nurseries, yet his name is often absent from the title-pages of books containing his drawings. perhaps those attributed to him formally that are most likely to be known by british readers are in "when i was a little girl" and "nine years old" (macmillan), but, unless memory is treacherous, one remembers toy-books in colours (published by messrs. nelson and others), that were obviously from his designs. a little known french book, "le royaume des gourmands," exhibits the artist in a more fanciful aspect, where he makes a far better show than in some of his ultra-pretty realistic studies. other french volumes, "histoire d'un bouchã©e de pain," "lili ã  la campagne," "la journã©e de mademoiselle lili," and the "alphabet de mademoiselle lili," may possibly be the original sources whence the blocks were borrowed and adapted to english text. but the veteran illustrator has done far too large a number of designs to be catalogued here. for grace and truth, and at times real mastery of his material, no notice of children's artists could abstain from placing him very high in their ranks. oscar pletsch is another artist--presumably a german--whose work has been widely republished in england. in many respects it resembles that of froelich, and is almost entirely devoted to the daily life of the inmates of the nursery, with their tiny festivals and brief tragedies. it would seem to appeal more to children than their elders, because the realistic transcript of their doings by his hand often lacks the touch of pathos, or of grown-up humour that finds favour with adults. the mass of children's toy-books published by messrs. dean, darton, routledge, warne, marcus ward, isbister, hildesheimer and many others cannot be considered exhaustively, if only from the fact that the names of the designers are frequently omitted. probably messrs. kronheim & co., and other colour-printers, often supplied pictures designed by their own staff. mr. edmund evans, to whom is due a very large share of the success of the crane, caldecott, and kate greenaway (routledge) books, more frequently reproduced the work of artists whose names were considered sufficiently important to be given upon the books themselves. a few others of routledge's toy-books besides those mentioned are worth naming. mr. h.s. marks, r.a., designed two early numbers of their shilling series: "nursery rhymes" and "nursery songs;" and to j. d. watson may be attributed the "cinderella" in the same series. other sixpenny and shilling illustrated books were by c. h. bennett, c. w. cope, a. w. bayes, julian portch, warwick reynolds, f. keyl, and harrison weir. [illustration: illustration from "nonsense" by a. nobody (gardner, darton and co.)] the "greedy jim," by bennett, is only second to "struwwlpeter" itself, in its lasting power to delight little ones. if out of print it deserves to be revived. [illustration: illustration (reduced) from "the child's pictorial." by mrs. r. hallward (s.p.c.k.)] although mr. william de morgan appears to have illustrated but a single volume, "on a pincushion," by mary de morgan (seeley, 1877), yet that is so interesting that it must be noticed. its interest is double--first in the very "decorative" quality of its pictures, which are full of "colour" and look like woodcuts more than process blocks; and next in the process itself, which was the artist's own invention. so far as i gather from mr. de morgan's own explanation, the drawings were made on glass coated with some yielding substance, through which a knife or graver cut the "line." then an electro was taken. this process, it is clear, is almost exactly parallel with that of wood-cutting--_i.e._, the "whites" are taken out, and the sweep of the tool can be guided by the worker in an absolutely untrammelled way. those who love the qualities of a woodcut, and have not time to master the technique of wood-cutting or engraving, might do worse than experiment with mr. de morgan's process. a quantity of proofs of designs he executed--but never published--show that it has many possibilities worth developing. [illustration: illustration from "a, b, c" by mrs. gaskin (elkin mathews)] the work of reginald hallward deserves to be discussed at greater length than is possible here. his most important book (printed finely in gold and colours by edmund evans), is "flowers of paradise," issued by macmillan some years ago. the drawings for this beautiful quarto were shown at one of the early arts and crafts exhibitions. some designs, purely decorative, are interspersed among the figure subjects. "quick march," a toy-book (warne), is also full of the peculiar "quality" which distinguishes mr. hallward's work, and is less austere than certain later examples. the very notable magazine, _the child's pictorial_, illustrated almost entirely in colours, which the society for promoting christian knowledge published for ten years, contains work by this artist, and a great many illustrations by mrs. hallward, which alone would serve to impart value to a publication that has (as we have pointed out elsewhere) very many early examples by charles robinson, and capital work by w. j. morgan. mrs. hallward's work is marked by strong pre-raphaelite feeling, although she does not, as a rule, select old-world themes, but depicts children of to-day. both mr. and mrs. hallward eschew the "pretty-pretty" type, and are bent on producing really "decorative" pages. so that to-day, when the ideal they so long championed has become popular, it is strange to find that their work is not better known. [illustration: "king love. a christmas greeting." by h. granville fell] the books illustrated by past or present students of the birmingham school will be best noticed in a group, as, notwithstanding some distinct individuality shown by many of the artists, especially in their later works, the idea that links the group together is sufficiently similar to impart to all a certain resemblance. in other words, you can nearly always pick out a "birmingham" illustration at a glance, even if it would be impossible to confuse the work of mr. gaskin with that of miss levetus. [illustration: illustration from "the story of bluebeard" by e. southall (lawrence and bullen. 1895)] arthur gaskin's illustrations to andersen's "stories and fairy tales" (george allen) are beyond doubt the most important volumes in any way connected with the school. mr. william morris ranked them so highly that mr. gaskin was commissioned to design illustrations for some of the kelmscott press books, and mr. walter crane has borne public witness to their excellence. this alone is sufficient to prove that they rise far above the average level. "good king wenceslas" (cornish bros.) is another of mr. gaskin's books--his best in many ways. he it is also who illustrated and decorated mr. baring-gould's "a book of fairy tales" (methuen). mrs. gaskin (georgie cave france) is also familiar to readers of the studio. perhaps her "a, b, c." (published by elkin mathews), and "horn book jingles" (the leadenhall press), a unique book in shape and style, contain the best of her work so far. miss levetus has contributed many illustrations to books. among the best are "turkish fairy tales" (lawrence and bullen), and "verse fancies" (chapman and hall). "russian fairy tales" (lawrence and bullen) is distinguished by the designs of c. m. gere, who has done comparatively little illustration; hence the book has more than usual interest, and takes a far higher artistic rank than its title might lead one to expect. miss bradley has illustrated one of messrs. blackie's happiest volumes this year. "just forty winks" (from which one picture is reproduced here), shows that the artist has steered clear of the "alice in wonderland" model, which the author can hardly be said to have avoided. miss bradley has also illustrated the prettily decorated book of poems, "songs for somebody," by dollie radford (nutt). the two series of "children's singing games" (nutt) are among the most pleasant volumes the birmingham school has produced. both are decorated by winifred smith, who shows considerable humour as well as ingenuity. among volumes illustrated, each by the members of the birmingham school, are "a book of pictured carols" (george allen), and mr. baring-gould's "nursery rhymes" (methuen). both these volumes contain some of the most representative work of birmingham, and the latter, with its rich borders and many pictures, is a book that consistently maintains a very fine ideal, rare at any time, and perhaps never before applied to a book for the nursery. indeed were it needful to choose a single book to represent the school, this one would stand the test of selection. [illustration: illustration from "nursery rhymes" by paul woodroffe (george allen. 1897)] in messrs. dent's "banbury cross" series, the misses violet and evelyn holden illustrated "the house that jack built"; sidney heath was responsible for "aladdin," and mrs. h. t. adams decorated "tom thumb, &c." mr. laurence housman is more than an illustrator of fairy tales; he is himself a rare creator of such fancies, and has, moreover, an almost unique power of conveying his ideas in the medium. his "farm in fairyland" and "a house of joy" (both published by kegan paul and co.) have often been referred to in the studio. yet, at the risk of reiterating what nobody of taste doubts, one must place his work in this direction head and shoulders above the crowd--even the crowd of excellent illustrators--because its amazing fantasy and caprice are supported by cunning technique that makes the whole work a "picture," not merely a decoration or an interpretation of the text. as a spinner of entirely bewitching stories, that hold a child spell-bound, and can be read and re-read by adults, he is a near rival of andersen himself. h. granville fell, better known perhaps from his decorations to "the book of job," and certain decorated pages in the _english illustrated magazine_, illustrated three of messrs. dent's "banbury cross" series--"cinderella, &c.," "ali baba," and "tom hickathrift." his work in these is full of pleasant fancy and charming types. a very sumptuous setting of the old fairy tale, "beauty and the beast," in this case entitled "zelinda and the monster" (dent, 1895), with ten photogravures after paintings by the countess of lovelace, must not be forgotten, as its text may bring it into our present category. miss rosie pitman, in "maurice and the red jar" (macmillan), shows much elaborate effort and a distinct fantasy in design. "undine" (macmillan, 1897) is a still more successful achievement. richard heighway is one of the "banbury cross" illustrators in "blue beard," &c. (dent), and has also pictured ã�sop's "fables," with 300 designs (in macmillan's cranford series). mr. j. f. sullivan--who must not be confused with his namesake--is one who has rarely illustrated works for little children, but in the famous "british workman" series in _fun_, in dozens of tom hood's "comic annuals," and elsewhere, has provoked as many hearty laughs from the nursery as from the drawing-room. in "the flame flower" (dent) we find a side-splitting volume, illustrated with 100 drawings by the author. for this only mr. j. f. sullivan has plunged readers deep in debt, and when one recalls the amazing number of his delicious absurdities in the periodical literature of at least twenty years past, it seems astounding to find that the name of so entirely well-equipped a draughtsman is yet not the household word it should be. e. j. sullivan, with eighty illustrations to the cranford edition of "tom brown's schooldays," comes for once within our present limit. j. d. batten is responsible for the illustration of so many important collections of fairy tales that it is vexing not to be able to reproduce a selection of his drawings, to show the fertility of his invention and his consistent improvement in technique. the series, "fairy tales of the british empire," collected and edited by mr. jacobs, already include five volumes--english, more english, celtic, more celtic, and indian, all liberally illustrated by j. d. batten, as are "the book of wonder voyages," by j. jacobs (nutt), and "fairy tales from the arabian nights," edited by e. dixon, and a second series, both published by messrs. j. m. dent and co. "a masque of dead florentines" (dent) can hardly be brought into our subject. louis davis has illustrated far too few children's books. his fitzroy pictures show how delightfully he can appeal to little people, and in "good night verses," by dollie radford (nutt), we have forty pages of his designs that are peculiarly dainty in their quality, and tender in their poetic interpretation of child-life. "wymps" (lane, 1896), with illustrations by mrs. percy dearmer, has a quaint straightforwardness, of a sort that exactly wins a critic of the nursery. j. c. sowerby, a designer for stained glass, in "afternoon tea" (warne, 1880), set a new fashion for "ã¦sthetic" little quartos costing five or six shillings each. this was followed by "at home" (1881), and "at home again" (1886, marcus ward), and later by "young maids and old china." these, despite their popularity, display no particular invention. for the real fancy and "conceit" of the books you have to turn to their decorative borders by thomas crane. this artist, collaborating with ellen houghton, contributed two other volumes to the same series, "abroad" (1882), and "london town" (1883), both prime favourites of their day. lizzie lawson, in many contributions for _little folks_ and a volume in colours, "old proverbs" (cassell), displayed much grace in depicting children's themes. nor among coloured books of the "eighties" must we overlook "under the mistletoe" (griffith and farran, 1886), and "when all is young" (christmas roses, 1886); "punch and judy," by f. e. weatherley, illustrated by patty townsend (1885); "the parables of our lord," really dignified pictures compared with most of their class, by w. morgan; "puss in boots," illustrated by s. caldwell; "pets and playmates" (1888); "three fairy princesses," illustrated by paterson (1885); "picture books of the fables of ã�sop," another series of quaintly designed picture books, modelled on struwwlpeter; "the robbers' cave," illustrated by a. m. lockyer, and "nursery numbers" (1884), illustrated by an amateur named bell, all these being published by messrs. marcus ward and co., who issued later, "where lilies grow," a very popular volume, illustrated in the "over-pretty" style by mrs. stanley berkeley. the attractive series of toy-books in colours, published in the form of a japanese folding album, were probably designed by percy macquoid, and published by the same firm, who issued an oblong folio, "herrick's content," very pleasantly decorated by mrs. houghton. r. andre was (and for all i know is still) a very prolific illustrator of children's coloured books. "the cruise of the walnut shell" (dean, 1881); "a week spent in a glass pond" (gardner, darton and co.); "grandmother's thimble" (warne, 1882); "pictures and stories" (warne, 1882); "up stream" (low, 1884); "a lilliputian opera" (day, 1885); the oakleaf library (six shilling volumes, warne); and mrs. ewing's verse books (six vols. s.p.c.k.) are some of the best known. t. pym, far less well-equipped as a draughtsman, shows a certain childish naã¯vetã© in his (or was it her?) "pictures from the poets" (gardner, darton and co.); "a, b, c" (gardner, darton and co.); "land of little people" (hildesheimer, 1886); "we are seven" (1880); "children busy" (1881); "snow queen" (gardner, darton and co.); "child's own story book" (gardner, darton and co.). ida waugh in "holly berries" (griffith and farran, 1881); "wee babies" (griffith and farran, 1882); "baby blossoms," "tangles and curls," and many other volumes mainly devoted to pictures of babies and their doings, pleased a very large audience both here and in the united states. "dreams, dances and disappointments," and "the maypole," both by konstan and castella, are gracefully decorated books issued by messrs. de la rue in 1882, who also published "the fairies," illustrated by [h?] allingham in 1881. major seccombe in "comic sketches from history" (allen, 1884), and "cinderella" (warne, 1882), touched our theme; a large number of more or less comic books of military life and social satire hardly do so. coloured books of which i have failed to discover copies for reference, are: a. blanchard's "my own dolly" (griffith and farran, 1882); "harlequin eggs," by civilly (sonnenschein, 1884); "the nodding mandarin," by l. f. day (simpkin, 1883); "cats-cradle," by c. kendrick (strahan, 1886); "the kitten pilgrims," by a. ballantyne (nisbet, 1887); "ups and downs" (1880), and "at his mother's knee" (1883), by m. j. tilsey. "a winter nosegay" (sonnenschein, 1881); "pretty peggy," by emmet (low, 1881); "children's kettledrum," by m. a. c. (dean, 1881); "three wise old couples," by hopkins (cassell, 1881); "puss in boots," by e. k. johnson (warne); "sugar and spice and all that's nice" (strahan, 1881); "fly away, fairies," by clarkson (griffith and farran, 1882); "the tiny lawn tennis club" (dean, 1882); "little ben bate," by m. browne (simpkin, 1882); "nursery night," by e. dewane (dean, 1882); "new pinafore pictures" (dean, 1882); "rumpelstiltskin" (de la rue, 1882); "baby's debut," by j. smith (de la rue, 1883); "buckets and spades" (dean, 1883); "childhood" (warne, 1883); "dame trot" (chapman and hall, 1883); "in and out," by ismay thorne (sonnenschein, 1884); "under mother's wing," by mrs. clifford (gardner, darton, 1883); "quacks" (ward and lock, 1883); "little chicks" (griffith and farran, 1883); "talking toys," "the talking clock," h. m. bennett; "four feet by two," by helena maguire; "merry hearts," "cosy corners," and "a christmas fairy," by gordon browne (all published by nisbet). among many books elaborately printed by messrs. hildesheimer, are two illustrated by m. e. edwards and j. c. staples, "told in the twilight" (1883); and "song of the bells" (1884); and one by m. e. edwards only, "two children"; others by jane m. dealy, "sixes and sevens" (1882), and "little miss marigold" (1884); "nursery land," by h. j. maguire (1888), and "sunbeams," by e. k. johnson and ewart wilson (1887). f. d. bedford, who illustrated and decorated "the battle of the frogs and mice" (methuen), has produced this year one of the most satisfactory books with coloured illustrations. in "nursery rhymes" (methuen), the pictures, block-printed in colour by edmund evans, are worthy to be placed beside the best books he has produced. of all lady illustrators--the phrase is cumbrous, but we have no other--miss a. b. woodward stands apart, not only by the vigour of her work, but by its amazing humour, a quality which is certainly infrequent in the work of her sister-artists. the books she has illustrated are not very many, but all show this quality. "banbury cross," in messrs. dent's series is among the first. in "to tell the king the sky is falling" (blackie, 1896) there is a store of delicious examples, and in "the brownies" (dent, 1896), the vigour of the handling is very noticeable. in "eric, prince of lorlonia" (macmillan, 1896), we have further proof that these characteristics are not mere accidents, but the result of carefully studied intention, which is also apparent in the clever designs for the covers of messrs. blackie's catalogue, 1896-97. this year, in "red apple and silver bells," miss woodward shows marked advance. the book, with its delicious rhymes by hamish hendry, is one to treasure, as is also her "adventures in toy land," designs marked by the _diablerie_ of which she, alone of lady artists, seems to have the secret. in this the wooden, inane expression of the toys contrasts delightfully with the animate figures. mr. charles robinson is one of the youngest recruits to the army of illustrators, and yet his few years' record is both lengthy and kept at a singularly high level. in the first of his designs which attracted attention we find the half-grotesque, half-real child that he has made his own--fat, merry little people, that are bubbling over with the joy of mere existence. "macmillan's literary primers" is the rather ponderous title of these booklets which cost but a few pence each, and are worth many a half-dozen high-priced nursery books. stevenson's "child's garden of verse," his first important book, won a new reputation by reason of its pictures. then came "ã�sop's fables," in dent's "banbury cross" series. the next year saw mr. gabriel setoun's book of poems, "child world," mrs. meynell's "the children," mr. h. d. lowry's "make believe," and two decorated pages in "the parade" (henry and co.). the present christmas will see several books from his hand. "old world japan" (george allen) has thirty-four, and "legends from river and mountain," forty-two, pictures by t. h. robinson, which must not be forgotten. "the giant crab" (nutt), and "andersen" (bliss, sands), are among the best things w. robinson has yet done. [illustration] "nonsense," by a. nobody, and "some more nonsense," by a. nobody (gardner, darton & co.), are unique instances of an unfettered humour. that their apparently naã¯ve grotesques are from the hand of a very practised draughtsman is evident at a first glance; but as their author prefers to remain anonymous his identity must not be revealed. specimens from the published work (which is, however, mostly in colour), and facsimiles of hitherto unpublished drawings, entitled "the singing lesson," kindly lent by messrs. gardner, darton & co., are here to prove how merry our anonym can be. by the way, it may be well to add that the artist in question is _not_ sir edward burne-jones, whose caricatures, that are the delight of children of all ages who know them, have been so far strictly kept to members of the family circle, for whom they were produced. [illustration: illustration from "little folks." by maurice boutet de monvel. (cassell and co.)] the editor of the studio, to whose selection of pictures for reproduction these pages owe their chief interest, has spared no effort to show a good working sample of the best of all classes, and in the space available has certainly omitted few of any consequence--except those so very well known, as, for instance, tenniel's "alice" series, and the caldecott toy-books--which it would have been superfluous to illustrate again, especially in black and white after coloured originals. in mrs. field's volume already mentioned, the author says: "it has been well observed that children do not desire, and ought not to be furnished with purely realistic portraits of themselves; the boy's heart craves a hero, and the johnny or frank of the realistic story-book, the little boy like himself, is not in this sense a hero." this passage, referring to the stories themselves, might be applied to their illustration with hardly less force. to idealise is the normal impulse of a child. true that it can "make believe" from the most rudimentary hints, but it is much easier to do so if something not too actual is the groundwork. figures which delight children are never wholly symbolic, mere virtues and vices materialised as personages of the anecdote. real nonsense such as lear concocted, real wit such as that which sparkles from lewis carroll's pages, find their parallel in the pictures which accompany each text. it is the feeble effort to be funny, the mildly punning humour of the imitators, which makes the text tedious, and one fancies the artist is also infected, for in such books the drawings very rarely rise to a high level. the "pretty-pretty" school, which has been too popular, especially in anthologies of mildly entertaining rhymes, is sickly at its best, and fails to retain the interest of a child. possibly, in pleading for imaginative art, one has forgotten that everywhere is wonderland to a child, who would be no more astonished to find a real elephant dropping in to tea, or a real miniature railway across the lawn, than in finding a toy elephant or a toy engine awaiting him. children are so accustomed to novelty that they do not realise the abnormal; nor do they always crave for unreality. as coaches and horses were the delight of youngsters a century ago, so are trains and steamboats to-day. given a pile of books and an empty floor space, their imagination needs no mechanical models of real locomotives; or, to be more correct, they enjoy the make-believe with quite as great a zest. hence, perhaps, in praising conscious art for children's literature, one is unwittingly pleasing older tastes; indeed, it is not inconceivable that the "prig" which lurks in most of us may be nurtured by too refined diet. whether a child brought up wholly on the ã¦sthetic toy-book would realise the greatness of rembrandt's etchings or other masterpieces of realistic art more easily than one who had only known the current pictures of cheap magazines, is not a question to be decided off-hand. to foster an artificial taste is not wholly unattended with danger; but if humour be present, as it is in the works of the best artists for the nursery, then all fear vanishes; good wholesome laughter is the deadliest bane to the prig-microbe, and will leave no infant lisping of the preciousness of cimabue, or the wonder of sandro botticelli, as certain children were reported to do in the brief days when the ã¦sthete walked his faded way among us. that modern children's books will--some of them at least--take an honourable place in an iconography of nineteenth-century art, many of the illustrations here reproduced are in themselves sufficient to prove. [illustration: illustration from "gould's book of fairy tales." by arthur gaskin. (methuen and co.)] [illustration: illustration from "lullaby land" by charles robinson. (john lane. 1897)] after so many pages devoted to the subject, it might seem as if the mass of material should have revealed very clearly what is the ideal illustration for children. but "children" is a collective term, ranging from the tastes of the baby to the precocious youngsters who dip into mudie books on the sly, and hold conversations thereon which astonish their elders when by chance they get wind of the fact. perhaps the belief that children can be educated by the eye is more plausible than well supported. in any case, it is good that the illustration should be well drawn, well coloured; given that, whether it be realistically imitative or wholly fantastic is quite a secondary matter. as we have had pointed out to us, the child is not best pleased by mere portraits of himself; he prefers idealised children, whether naughtier and more adventurous, or absolute heroes of romance. and here a strange fact appears, that as a rule what pleases the boy pleases the girl also; but that boys look down with scorn on "girls' books." any one who has had to do with children knows how eagerly little sisters pounce upon books owned by their brothers. now, as a rule, books for girls are confined to stories of good girls, pictures of good girls, and mildly exciting domestic incidents, comic or tragic. the child may be half angel; he is undoubtedly half savage; a pagan indifference to other people's pain, and grim joy in other people's accidents, bear witness to that fact. tender-hearted parents fear lest some pictures should terrify the little ones; the few that do are those which the child himself discovers in some extraordinary way to be fetishes. he hates them, yet is fascinated by them. i remember myself being so appalled by a picture that is still keenly remembered. it fascinated me, and yet was a thing of which the mere memory made one shudder in the dark--the said picture representing a benevolent negro with eva on his lap, from "uncle tom's cabin," a blameless sunday-school inspired story. the horrors of an early folio of foxe's "martyrs," of a grisly "bunyan," with terrific pictures of apollyon; even a still more grim series by h. c. selous, issued by the art union, if memory may be trusted, were merely exciting; it was the mild and amiable representation of "uncle tom" that i felt to be the very incarnation of all things evil. this personal incident is quoted only to show how impossible it is for the average adult to foretell what will frighten or what will delight a child. for children are singularly reticent concerning the "bogeys" of their own creating, yet, like many fanatics, it is these which they really most fear. [illustration: illustration from "make believe." by charles robinson (john lane. 1896)] [illustration: illustration from "just forty winks" by gertrude m. bradley (blackie and son. 1897)] certainly it is possible that over-conscious art is too popular to-day. the illustrator when he is at work often thinks more of the art critic who may review his book than the readers who are to enjoy it. purely conventional groups of figures, whether set in a landscape, or against a decorative background, as a rule fail to retain a child's interest. he wants invention and detail, plenty of incident, melodrama rather than suppressed emotion. something moving, active, and suggestive pleases him most, something about which a story can be woven not so complex that his sense is puzzled to explain why things are as the artist drew them. it is good to educate children unconsciously, but if we are too careful that all pictures should be devoted to raising their standard of taste, it is possible that we may soon come back to the miss pinkerton ideal of amusement blended with instruction. hence one doubts if the "ultra-precious" school really pleases the child; and if he refuse the jam the powder is obviously refused also. one who makes pictures for children, like one who writes them stories, should have the knack of entertaining them without any appearance of condescension in so doing. they will accept any detail that is related to the incident, but are keenly alive to discrepancies of detail or action that clash with the narrative. as they do not demand fine drawing, so the artist must be careful to offer them very much more than academic accomplishment. indeed, he (or she) must be in sympathy with childhood, and able to project his vision back to its point of view. and this is just a mood in accord with the feeling of our own time, when men distrust each other and themselves, and keep few ideals free from doubt, except the reverence for the sanctity of childhood. those who have forsaken beliefs hallowed by centuries, and are the most cynical and worldly-minded, yet often keep faith in one lost atalantis--the domain of their own childhood and those who still dwell in the happy isle. to have given a happy hour to one of the least of these is peculiarly gratifying to many tired people to-day, those surfeited with success no less than those weary of failure. and such labour is of love all compact; for children are grudging in their praise, and seldom trouble to inquire who wrote their stories or painted their pictures. consequently those who work for them win neither much gold nor great fame; but they have a most enthusiastic audience all the same. yet when we remember that the veriest daubs and atrocious drawings are often welcomed as heartily, one is driven to believe that after all the bored people who turn to amuse the children, like others who turn to elevate the masses, are really, if unconsciously, amusing if not elevating themselves. if children's books please older people--and that they do so is unquestionable--it would be well to acknowledge it boldly, and to share the pleasure with the nursery; not to take it surreptitiously under the pretence of raising the taste of little people. why should not grown-up people avow their pleasure in children's books if they feel it? [illustration: the spotted mimilus. illustration from "king longbeard." by charles robinson (john lane. 1897)] [illustration: illustration from "the making of matthias" by lucy kemp-welch. (john lane. 1897)] if a collector in search of a new hobby wishes to start on a quest full of disappointment, yet also full of lucky possibilities, illustrated books for children would give him an exciting theme. the rare volume he hunted for in vain at the british museum and south kensington, for which he scanned the shelves of every second-hand bookseller within reach, may meet his eye in a twopenny box, just as he has despaired of ever seeing, much less procuring, a copy. at least twice during the preparation of this number i have enjoyed that particular experience, and have no reason to suppose it was very abnormal. to make a fine library of these things may be difficult, but it is not a predestined failure. caxtons and wynkyn de wordes seem less scarce than some of these early nursery books. yet, as we know, the former have been the quest of collectors for years, and so are probably nearly all sifted out of the great rubbish-heaps of dealers; the latter have not been in great demand, and may be unearthed in odd corners of country shops and all sorts of likely and unlikely places. therefore, as a hobby, it offers an exciting quest with almost certain success in the end; in short, it offers the ideal conditions for collecting as a pastime, provided you can muster sufficient interest in the subject to become absorbed in its pursuit. so large is it that, even to limit one's quest to books with coloured pictures would yet require a good many years' hunting to secure a decent "bag." another tempting point is that prices at present are mostly nominal, not because the quarry is plentiful, but because the demand is not recognised by the general bookseller. of course, books in good condition, with unannotated pages, are rare; and some series--felix summerley's, for example--which owe their chief interest to the "get-up" of the volume considered as a whole, would be scarce worth possessing if "rebound" or deprived of their covers. still, always provided the game attracts him, the hobby-horseman has fair chances, and is inspired by motives hardly less noble than those which distinguish the pursuit of bookplates (_ex libris_), postage-stamps and other objects which have attracted men to devote not only their leisure and their spare cash, but often their whole energy and nearly all their resources. societies, with all the pomp of officials, and members proudly arranging detached letters of the alphabet after their names, exist for discussing hobbies not more important. speaking as an interested but not infatuated collector, it seems as if the mere gathering together of rarities of this sort would soon become as tedious as the amassing of dull armorial _ex libris_, or sorting infinitely subtle varieties of postage-stamps. but seeing the intense passion such things arouse in their devotees, the fact that among children's books there are not a few of real intrinsic interest, ought not to make the hobby less attractive; except that, speaking generally, your true collector seems to despise every quality except rarity (which implies market value ultimately, if for the moment there are not enough rival collectors to have started a "boom" in prices). yet all these "snappers up of unconsidered trifles" help to gather together material which may prove in time to be not without value to the social historian or the student interested in the progress of printing and the art of illustration; but it would be a pity to confuse ephemeral "curios" with lasting works of fine art, and the ardour of collecting need not blind one to the fact that the former are greatly in excess of the latter. [illustration: illustration from "miss mouse and her boys." by l. leslie brooke. (macmillan and co. 1897)] the special full-page illustrations which appear in this number must not be left without a word of comment. in place of re-issuing facsimiles of actual illustrations from coloured books of the past which would probably have been familiar to many readers, drawings by artists who are mentioned elsewhere in this christmas number have been specially designed to carry out the spirit of the theme. for christmas is pre-eminently the time for children's books. mr. robert halls' painting of a baby, here called "the heir to fairyland"--the critic for whom all this vast amount of effort is annually expended--is seen still in the early or destructive stage, a curious foreshadowing of his attitude in a later development should he be led from the paths of philistia to the bye-ways of art criticism. the portrait miniatures of child-life by mr. robert halls, if not so well known as they deserve, cannot be unfamiliar to readers of the studio, since many of his best works have been exhibited at the academy and elsewhere. the lithograph by mr. r. anning bell, "in nooks with books," represents a second stage of the juvenile critic when appreciation in a very acute form has set in, and picture-books are no longer regarded as toys to destroy, but treasures to be enjoyed snugly with a delight in their possession. [illustration: illustration from "baby's lays" by e. calvert (elkin mathews. 1897)] mr. granville fell, with "king love, a christmas greeting," turns back to the memory of the birthday whose celebration provokes the gifts which so often take the form of illustrated books, for christmas is to britons more and more the children's festival. the conviviality of the dickens' period may linger here and there; but to adults generally christmas is only a vicarious pleasure, for most households devote the day entirely to pleasing the little ones who have annexed it as their own special holiday. the dainty water-colour by mr. charles robinson, and the charming drawing in line by m. boutet de monvel, call for no comment. collectors will be glad to possess such excellent facsimiles of work by two illustrators conspicuous for their work in this field. the figure by mr. robinson, "so light of foot, so light of spirit," is extremely typical of the personal style he has adopted from the first. studies by m. de monvel have appeared before in the studio, so that it would be merely reiterating the obvious to call attention to the exquisite truth of character which he obtains with rare artistry. g. w. * * * * * the editor's best thanks are due to all those publishers who have so kindly and readily come forward with their assistance in the compilation of "children's books and their illustrators." owing to exigences of space reference to several important new books has necessarily been postponed. * * * * * [illustration: illustration from "national rhymes." by gordon browne (gardner, darton and co. 1897)] for younger readers by martha finley elsie dinsmore. with illustrations by h. c. christy. large 8vo, cloth. $1.50. elsie at home. similar in general style to the previous "elsie" books. 16mo, cloth. $1.25. by rafford pyke. the adventures of mabel. for children of five and six. with many illustrations by melanie elizabeth norton. large 8vo. $1.75. by barbara yechton. derick. illustrated. large 12mo, cloth. $1.50. by amanda m. douglas. children at sherburne house, 12mo, cloth. $1.50. nan. a sequel to "a little girl in old new york." illustrated. 12mo, cloth. $1.50. by elizabeth stuart phelps. gipsy's year at the golden crescent. uniform with the previous volumes of the same series. fully illustrated. large 12mo, cloth. $1.50. by elizabeth w. champney. witch winnie in venice. with many illustrations. large 12mo, cloth. $1.50. pierre and his poodle. with numerous illustrations. 12mo, cloth. $1.00. by beatrice harraden. untold tales of the past. by beatrice harraden, author of "ships that pass in the night," "hilda strafford," etc. illustrated. cloth. probably $1.50. _the above are published by_ dodd, mead & company, fifth ave. & 21st street, new york * * * * * four capital books aaron in the wildwoods a delightful new thimblefinger story of aaron while a "runaway," by joel chandler harris, author of "_little mr. thimblefinger and his queer country_," "_mr. rabbit at home_," "_the story of aaron_," _etc._ with 24 full-page illustrations by oliver herford. square 8vo. $2.00. little-folk lyrics by frank dempster sherman. holiday edition. a beautiful book of very charming poems for children, with 16 exquisite illustrations. 12mo. $1.50. being a boy by charles dudley warner. with an introduction and 32 capital full-page illustrations from photographs by clifton johnson. 12mo, gilt top. $2.00. an unwilling maid a capital story of the revolution, for girls, by jeanie gould lincoln, author of "_marjorie's quest_," "_a genuine girl_," _etc._ with illustrations. $1.25. few recent stories surpass it in the fortunate blending of vivacity and sweetness and stern loyalty to duty and tender and pathetic experiences. it is fascinatingly written and every chapter increases its delightfulness.--_the congregationalist, boston._ _sold by booksellers, sent, postpaid, by_ houghton, mifflin & co., _boston_ * * * * * new books for boys and girls _three new historical tales by e. everett green, author of "the young pioneers," etc._ a clerk at oxford, and his adventures in the baron's war. with a plan of oxford in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and a view of the city from an old print. 8vo, extra cloth. $1.50. sister: a chronicle of fair haven. with eight illustrations by j. finnemore. 8vo, extra cloth. $1.50. tom tufton's travels. with illustrations by w. s. stacey. 8vo, extra cloth, $1.25. _two new books by herbert hayens, author of "clevely sahib," "under the lone star," etc._ an emperor's doom; or the patriots of mexico. a tale of the downfall of maximilian, with eight illustrations by a. j. b. salmon. 8vo, extra cloth. $1.50. soldiers of the legion. a tale of the carlist war. 8vo, extra cloth, illustrated. $1.25. the island of gold. a sailor's yarn. by gordon stables, m. d., r. n., author of "every inch a sailor," "how jack mckenzie won his epaulettes," etc. with six illustrations by allan stuart. 8vo, extra cloth. $1.25. poppy. a tale. by mrs. isla sitwell, author of "in far japan," "the golden woof," etc. with illustrations. 8vo, cloth extra. $1.25. vandrad the viking; or the feud and the spell. a tale of the norsemen. by i. storer clouston. with six illustrations by herbert payton. 8vo, cloth. 80 cts. the vanished yacht. by e. harcourt burrage. cloth extra. $1.00. little tora, the swedish schoolmistress, and other stories. by mrs. woods baker, author of "fireside sketches of swedish life," "the swedish twins," etc. cloth. 60 cts. a book about shakespeare. written for young people. by i. n. mcilwraith. with numerous illustrations. cloth extra. 60 cts. across greenland's icefields. an account of the discoveries by nansen and peary. with portraits of nansen and other illustrations. 8vo, cloth. 80 cts. breaking the record. the story of north polar expeditions by the nova zembla and spitzbergen routes. by m. douglass, author of "across greenland's icefields," etc. with numerous illustrations. cloth extra. 80 cts. _for sale by all booksellers, or sent prepaid on receipt of price, send for complete catalogue,_ thomas nelson & sons, publishers, 33 e. 17th st. (union sq.), n. y. childrens' books =the blackberries= thirty-two humorous drawings in color, with descriptive verses, by _e. w. kemble_ the famous delineator of "kemble's coons." large quarto, 9ã�12, on plate paper; cover in color. $1.50. =kemble's coons= drawings by _e. w. kemble_. a series of 30 beautiful half-tone reproductions, printed in sepia, of drawings of colored children and southern scenes, by e. w. kemble, the well-known character artist. large quarto, 9â½ã�12 inches; handsomely bound in brown buckram and japan vellum printed in color. price, $2.00. =the delft cat= _by robert howard russell._ three stories for children profusely illustrated by f. berkeley smith. printed on hand-made, deckle-edge linen paper with attractive cover in delft colors. price, 75 cents. [illustration] =chip's dogs= a collection of humorous drawings by the late _f. p. w. bellew_ ("chip"), whose amusing sketches of dogs were so well known. a new and improved edition now ready. large quarto, 9â½ã�12 inches, on plate paper, handsomely bound. price, $1.00. =the autobiography of a monkey= a laughable conception in 30 full-page and 40 small drawings by _hy. mayer_, with verses by _albert bigelow paine_. large quarto, 7ã�9, with cover in color. price, $1.25. =the tiddledywink's poetry book= illustrated by _charles howard johnson_. a book of nonsense rhymes by _mr. bangs_, accompanied by most amusing pictures. large quarto, with illuminated covers, 30 full-page illustrations, colored borders to text. boards. price, $1.00. =the mantel piece minstrels= _by john kendrick bangs._ a most attractive little volume containing four of mr. bangs' inimitably humorous stories, profusely illustrated with unique drawings by _f. berkeley smith_; printed on hand-made, deckle-edge linen paper, and tastefully bound in illuminated covers. 32mo. price, 75 cents. =the dumpies= discovered and drawn by _frank verbeck; albert bigelow paine_, historian. an entertaining tale in prose and verse, as fascinating as "the brownies." large quarto, 8ã�11, with 130 illustrations and cover in color. price, $1.25. =tiddledywink tales= _by john kendrick bangs._ a charming book for children. the drawings by _charles howard johnson_ are quite in sympathy with the humor of the book. full cloth, gilt, 236 pp. 12mo. price, $1.25. =in camp with a tin soldier= _by john kendrick bangs._ a sequel to tiddledywink tales. illustrated by _t. m. ashe_, jimmieboy's adventures in the camp of the tin soldiers are most amusing. full cloth, gilt, 236 pp. 12mo. price, $1.25. =half hours with jimmieboy= _by john kendrick bangs._ illustrated by _frank verbeck_, _peter newell_ and others. sixteen short stories record the interesting adventures of the hero with all sorts of folks; dwarfs, dudes, giants, bicyclopã¦dia birds and snowmen. full cloth, 112 pp. 12mo. price, $1.25. =the slambangaree= ten stories for children by _r. k. munkittrick_. on hand-made deckle-edge linen paper. price, 75 cents. =in savage africa= _by e. j. glave_, one of stanley's pioneer officers. with an introduction by henry m. stanley. beautifully illustrated with seventy-five wood cuts, half-tones and pen-and-ink sketches by the author, _bacher_, _bridgman_, _kemble_ and _taber_. large octavo, full cloth, gilt. price, $1.50. =an alphabet= _by william nicholson._ color plate for each letter in the alphabet. popular edition on stout cartridge paper, $1.50. library edition, made on dutch hand-made paper; mounted and bound in cloth. price, $3.75. _r. h. russell, new york_ the wayside press, springfield, mass. * * * * * transcriber's note: obvious punctuation errors repaired. advertising page, "navel" changed to "naval" (the naval cadet) advertising page, "facination" changed to "fascination" (his usual fascination) advertising page, "irresistable" changed to "irresistible" (that is irresistible) advertising page, under the golden galleon, "rainy" changed to "rainey" (by william rainey, r. i.) page 18, "n" changed to "in" (in comparison with all) page 47, "keat's" changed to "keats's" (or "keats's poems") page 54, twice, "de" changed to "de" (gather from mr. de) (mr. de morgan's process) page 70, "tiddlewink" changed to "tiddledywink" (sequel to tiddledywink tales) varied hyphenation was retained: woodcuts, wood-cuts and today, to-day and folklore, folk-lore. the ex-libris series. edited by gleeson white. the decorative illustration of books. by walter crane. [illustration: g bell and sons] of the decorative illustration of books old and new by walter crane [illustration] london: george bell and sons york street, covent garden, w.c. new york: 66 fifth avenue mdcccxcv printed at the chiswick press by charles whittingham & co. tooks court, chancery lane, london, e.c. and first published december, 1896 second edition, revised, feb. 1901 third edition, revised, jan. 1905 preface. this book had its origin in the course of three (cantor) lectures given before the society of arts in 1889; they have been amplified and added to, and further chapters have been written, treating of the very active period in printing and decorative book-illustration we have seen since that time, as well as some remarks and suggestions touching the general principles and conditions governing the design of book pages and ornaments. it is not nearly so complete or comprehensive as i could have wished, but there are natural limits to the bulk of a volume in the "ex-libris" series, and it has been only possible to carry on such a work in the intervals snatched from the absorbing work of designing. within its own lines, however, i hope that if not exhaustive, the book may be found fairly representative of the chief historical and contemporary types of decorative book-illustration. in the selection of the illustrations, i have endeavoured to draw the line between the purely graphic aim, on the one hand, and the ornamental aim on the other--between what i should term the art of _pictorial statement_ and the art of _decorative treatment_; though there are many cases in which they are combined, as, indeed, in all the most complete book-pictures, they should be. my purpose has been to treat of illustrations which are also book-ornaments, so that purely graphic design, as such, unrelated to the type, and the conditions of the page, does not come within my scope. as book-illustration pure and simple, however, has been treated of in this series by mr. joseph pennell, whose selection is more from the graphic than the decorative point of view, the balance may be said to be adjusted as regards contemporary art. i must offer my best thanks to mr. gleeson white, without whose most valuable help the book might never have been finished. he has allowed me to draw upon his remarkable collection of modern illustrated books for examples, and i am indebted to many artists for permission to use their illustrations, as well as to messrs. george allen, bradbury, agnew and co., j. m. dent and co., edmund evans, geddes and co., hacon and ricketts (the vale press), john lane, lawrence and bullen, sampson low and co., macmillan and co., elkin mathews, kegan paul and co., walter scott, charles scribner's sons, and virtue and co., for their courtesy in giving me, in many cases, the use of the actual blocks. to mr. william morris, who placed his beautiful collection of early printed books at my disposal, from which to choose illustrations; to mr. emery walker for help in many ways; to mr. john calvert for permission to use some of his father's illustrations; and to mr. a. w. pollard who has lent me some of his early italian examples, and has also supervised my bibliographical particulars, i desire to make my cordial acknowledgments. walter crane. kensington: _july 18th, 1896_. note to third edition. a reprint of this book being called for, i take the opportunity of adding a few notes, chiefly to chapter iv., which will be found further on with the numbers of the pages to which they refer. as touching the general subject of the book one may, perhaps, be allowed to record with some satisfaction that the study of lettering, text-writing, and illumination is now seriously taken up in our craft-schools. the admirable teaching of mr. johnston of the central school of arts and crafts and the royal college of art in this connection cannot be too highly spoken of. we have had, too, admirable work, in each kind, from mr. reuter, mr. mortimer, mr. treglown, mr. alan vigers, mr. graily hewitt, and mr. a. e. r. gill; and mrs. traguair and miss kingsford are remarkable for the beauty, delicacy, and invention of their work as illuminators among the artists who are now pursuing this beautiful branch of art. so that the ancient crafts of the scribe and illuminator may be said to have again come to life, and this, taken in connection with the revival of printing as an art, is an interesting and significant fact. as recent contributions to the study of lettering we have mr. lewis f. day's recent book of alphabets, and mr. g. woolliscroft rhead's sheets for school use. i have to deplore the loss of my former helper in this book, mr. gleeson white, since the work first appeared. his extensive knowledge of, and sympathy with the modern book illustrators of the younger generation was remarkable, and as a designer himself he showed considerable skill and taste in book-decoration, chiefly in the way of covers. as a most estimable and amiable character he will always be remembered by his friends. walter crane. kensington: _june, 1904_. contents. chapter i.--of the evolution of the illustrative and decorative impulse from the earliest times; and of the first period of decoratively illustrated books in the illuminated mss. of the middle ages. 1. chapter ii.--of the transition, and of the second period of decoratively illustrated books, from the invention of printing in the fifteenth century onwards. 45. chapter iii.--of the period of the decline of decorative feeling in book design after the sixteenth century, and of the modern revival. 125. chapter iv.--of recent development of decorative book illustration, and the modern revival of printing as an art. 185. chapter v.--of general principles in designing book ornaments and illustrations: consideration of arrangement, spacing and treatment. 279. index. 329. [illustration] list of illustrations. german school, xvth century. page "leiden christi." (bamberg, 1470) 3 boccaccio, "de claris mulieribus." (ulm, 1473) 7, 11 "buch von den sieben todsünden." (augsburg, 1474) 15 "speculum humanæ vitæ." (augsburg, _cir._ 1475) 17 bible. (cologne, 1480) 21 terrence: "eunuchus." (ulm, 1486) 27 "chronica hungariæ." (augsburg, 1488) 35 "hortus sanitatis." (mainz, 1491) 39 "chroneken der sassen." (mainz, 1492) 41 bible. (lübeck, 1494) 47 "æsop's fables." (ulm, 1498) 53 flemish and dutch schools, xvth century. "spiegel onser behoudenisse." (kuilenburg, 1483) 25 "life of christ." (antwerp, 1487) 31 french school, xvth century. "la mer des histoires." initial. (paris, 1488) 37 "paris et vienne." (paris, _cir._ 1495) 51 italian school, xvth century. "de claris mulieribus." (ferrara, 1497) 54 tuppo's "æsop." (naples, 1485) 55 p. cremonese's "dante." (venice, 1491) 56 "discovery of the indies." (florence, 1493) 57 "fior di virtù." (florence, 1498) 58 stephanus caesenas: "expositio beati hieronymi in psalterium." (venice, 1498) 59 "poliphili hypnerotomachia." (venice, 1499) 63, 65 ketham's "fasciculus medicinæ." (venice, 1493) 295 pomponius mela. (venice, 1478) 297 italian school, xvith century. artist unknown. bernadino corio. (milan, minuziano, 1503) 67 school of bellini: "supplementum supplementi chronicarum, etc." (venice, 1506) 69 "the descent of minerva": from the quatriregio. (florence, 1508) 71 aulus gellius. (venice, 1509) 73 quintilian. (venice, 1512) 75 ottaviano dei petrucci. (fossombrone, 1513) 77 ambrosius calepinus. (tosculano, 1520) 121 artist unknown: portrait title: ludovico dolci, 1561. (venice, giolito, 1562) 133 german school, xvith century. albrecht dürer: "kleine passion." (nuremberg, 1512) 81, 83, 85 albrecht dürer: "plutarchus chaeroneus." (nuremberg, 1513) 87 albrecht dürer: "plutarchus chaeroneus." (nuremberg, 1523) 89 hans holbein: "dance of death." (lyons, 1538) 91, 92 hans holbein: title-page: gallia. (basel, _cir._ 1524) 93 hans holbein: bible cuts. (lyons, 1538) 95, 96 ambrose holbein: "neues testament." (basel, 1523) 97 hans burgmair: "der weiss könig." (1512-14) 99 hans burgmair: "iornandes de rebus gothorum." (augsburg, 1516) 101 hans burgmair: "pliny's natural history." (frankfort, 1582) 103 hans burgmair: "meerfahrt zu viln onerkannten inseln," etc. (augsburg, 1509) 105 hans baldung grün: "hortulus animæ." (strassburg, 1511) 107, 108, 109, 110 hans wächtlin: title page. (strassburg, 1513) 111 hans sebald beham: "das papstthum mit seinen gliedern." (nuremberg, 1526) 113 reformation der bayrischen landrecht. (munich, 1518) 117 fuchsius: "de historia stirpium." (basel, 1542) 123 virgil solis: bible. (frankfort, 1563) 131 johann otmar: "pomerium de tempore." (augsburg, 1502) 147 french school, xvith century. oronce finé: "quadrans astrolabicus." (paris, 1534) 127 modern illustration. william blake: "songs of innocence," 1789 137 william blake: "phillip's pastoral" 139 edward calvert: original woodcuts: "the lady and the rooks," "the return home," "chamber idyll," "the flood," "ideal pastoral life," "the brook," 1827-29 141, 143 dante gabriel rossetti: "tennyson's poems," 1857 151 dante gabriel rossetti: "early italian poets," 1861 153 albert moore: "milton's ode on the nativity," 1867 155 henry holiday: cover for "aglaia," 1893 157 randolph caldecott: headpiece to "bracebridge hall," 1877 158 kate greenaway: title page of "mother goose" 159 arthur hughes: "at the back of the north wind," 1871 160, 161 arthur hughes: "mercy" ("good words for the young," 1871) 304 robert bateman: "art in the house," 1876 162, 163, 164, 165 heywood sumner: peard's "stories for children," 1896 167, 170 charles keene: "a good fight." ("once a week," 1859) 169 louis davis: "sleep, baby, sleep" ("english illustrated magazine," 1892) 171 henry ryland: "forget not yet" ("english illustrated magazine," 1894) 173 frederick sandys: "the old chartist" ("once a week," 1861) 175 m. j. lawless: "dead love" ("once a week," 1862) 177 walter crane: grimm's "household stories," 1882 179 walter crane: "princess fiorimonde," 1880 181 walter crane: "the sirens three," 1886 183 selwyn image: "scottish art review," 1889 187 william morris and walter crane: "the glittering plain," 1894 191, 290, 291 c. m. gere: "midsummer" ("english illustrated magazine," 1893) 195 c. m. gere: "the birth of st. george" 197 arthur gaskin: "hans andersen," 1893 199 e. h. new: "bridge street, evesham" 201 inigo thomas: "the formal garden," 1892 204, 205 henry payne: "a book of carols," 1893 209 f. mason: "huon of bordeaux," 1895 211 gertrude, m. bradley: "the cherry festival," 213 mary newill: porlock 215 celia levetus: a bookplate 217 c. s. ricketts: "hero and leander," 1894 219 c. s. ricketts: "daphnis and chloe," 1893 223 c. h. shannon: "daphnis and chloe," 1893 224 aubrey beardsley: "morte d'arthur," 1893 225, 226, 227 edmund j. sullivan: "sartor resartus," 1898 228 patten wilson: a pen drawing 229 laurence housman: "the house of joy," 1895 231 l. fairfax muckley: "frangilla" 233 charles robinson: "a child's garden of verse," 1895 235, 237, 239 j. d. batten: "the arabian nights," 1893 241, 242 r. anning bell: "a midsummer night's dream," 1895 243 r. anning bell: "beauty and the beast," 1894 245 r. spence: a pen drawing 247 a. garth jones: "a tournament of love," 1894 249 william strang: "baron munchausen," 1895 251, 253 h. granville fell: "cinderella," 1894 254 john duncan: "apollo's schooldays" ("the evergreen," 1895) 255 john duncan: "pipes of arcady" ("the evergreen," 1895) 257 robert burns: "the passer-by" ("the evergreen," 1895) 259 mary sargant florence: "the crystal ball," 1894 261 paul woodroffe: "ye second book of nursery rhymes," 1896 263 paul woodroffe: "ye book of nursery rhymes," 1895 265 m. rijsselberghe: "dietrich's almanack," 1894 266 walter crane: "spenser's faerie queen," 1896 269, 281, 283, 285 howard pyle: "otto of the silver hand" 271, 273 will. h. bradley: covers for "the inland printer," 1894 274 will. h. bradley: prospectus for "bradley his book," 1896 275 will. h. bradley: design for "the chap book," 1895 277 alan wright: headpieces from "the story of my house," 1892 309, 341 the untitled tailpieces throughout this volume are from grimm's "household stories," illustrated by walter crane. (macmillan, 1882.) appendix of half-tone blocks. i. book of kells. irish, vith century. ii., iii., iv. arundel psalter. english, xivth century. (arundel mss. 83 b. m.) v. epistle of phillipe de comines to richard ii. french, xivth century. (royal mss. 20 b. vi. b. m.) vi., vii. bedford hours. (mss. 18, 850 b. m.) viii. romance of the rose. english, late xvth century. (hast. mss. 4, 425.) ix. choir book. siena. italian, xvth century. x., xi. hokusai. japanese, xixth century. [illustration] chapter i. of the evolution of the illustrative and decorative impulse from the earliest times; and of the first period of decoratively illustrated books in the illuminated mss. of the middle ages. my subject is a large one, and touches more intimately, perhaps, than other forms of art, both human thought and history, so that it would be extremely difficult to treat it exhaustively upon all its sides. i shall not attempt to deal with it from the historical or antiquarian points of view more than may be necessary to elucidate the artistic side, on which i propose chiefly to approach the question of design as applied to books--or, more strictly, the book page--which i shall hope to illustrate by reproductions of characteristic examples from different ages and countries. i may, at least, claim to have been occupied, in a practical sense, with the subject more or less, as part of my work, both as a decorator and illustrator of books, for the greater part of my life, and such conclusions as i have arrived at are based upon the results of personal thought and experience, if they are also naturally coloured and influenced from the same sources. all forms of art are so closely connected with life and thought, so bound up with human conditions, habits, and customs; so intimately and vividly do they reflect every phase and change of that unceasing movement--the ebb and flow of human progress amid the forces of nature we call history--that it is hardly possible even for the most careless stroller, taking any of the by-paths, not to be led insensibly to speculate on their hidden sources, and an origin perhaps common to them all. the story of man is fossilized for us, as it were, or rather preserved, with all its semblance of life and colour, in art and books. the procession of history reaching far back into the obscurity of the forgotten or inarticulate past, is reflected, with all its movement, gold and colour, in the limpid stream of design, that mirror-like, paints each passing phase for us, and illustrates each act in the drama. in the language of line and of letters, of symbol and picture, each age writes its own story and character, as page after page is turned in the book of time. here and there the continuity of the chapters is broken, a page is missing, a passage is obscure; there are breaks and fragments--heroic torsos and limbs instead of whole figures. but more and more, by patient research, labour, and comparison, the voids are being filled up, until some day perhaps there will be no chasm of conjecture in which to plunge, but the volume of art and human history will be as clear as pen and pencil can make it, and only left for a present to continue, and a future to carry to a completion which is yet never complete. [sidenote: illuminated mss.] if painting is the looking-glass of nations and periods, pictured-books may be called the hand-glass which still more intimately reflects the life of different centuries and peoples, in all their minute and homely detail and quaint domesticity, as well as their playful fancies, their dreams, and aspirations. while the temples and the tombs of ancient times tell us of the pomp and splendour and ambition of kings, and the stories of their conquests and tyrannies, the illuminated mss. of the middle ages show us, as well as these, the more intimate life of the people, their sports and their jests, their whim and fancy, their work and their play, no less than the mystic and religious and ceremonial side of that life, which was, indeed, an inseparable part of it; the whole worked in as with a kind of embroidery of the pen and brush, with the most exquisite sense of decorative beauty. [illustration: german school. xvth century. leiden christi. (bamberg, albrecht pfister, 1470.)] mr. herbert spencer, in the course of his enunciation of the philosophy of evolution, speaks of the book and the newspaper lying on the table of the modern citizen as connected through a long descent with the hieroglyphic inscriptions of the ancient egyptians, and the picture-writing of still earlier times. we might go (who knows how much further?) back into prehistoric obscurity to find the first illustrator, pure and simple, in the hunter of the cave, who recorded the incidents of his sporting life on the bones of his victims. we know that the letters of our alphabet were once pictures, symbols, or abstract signs of entities and actions, and grew more and more abstract until they became arbitrary marks--the familiar characters that we know. letters formed into words; words increased and multiplied with ideas and their interchange; ideas and words growing more and more abstract until the point is reached when the jaded intellect would fain return again to picture-writing, and welcomes the decorator and the illustrator to relieve the desert wastes of words marshalled in interminable columns on the printed page. in a journey through a book it is pleasant to reach the oasis of a picture or an ornament, to sit awhile under the palms, to let our thoughts unburdened stray, to drink of other intellectual waters, and to see the ideas we have been pursuing, perchance, reflected in them. thus we end as we begin, with images. temples and tombs have been man's biggest books, but with the development of individual life (as well as religious ritual, and the necessity of records,) he felt the need of something more familiar, companionable, and portable, and having, in the course of time, invented the stylus, and the pen, and tried his hand upon papyrus, palm leaf, and parchment, he wrote his records or his thoughts, and pictured or symbolized them, at first upon scrolls and rolls and tablets, or, later, enshrined them in bound books, with all the beauty that the art of writing could command, enriched and emphasized with the pictorial and ornamental commentary in colours and gold. as already indicated, it is my purpose to deal with the artistic aspects of the book page, and therefore we are not now concerned with the various forms of the book itself, as such, or with the treatment of its exterior case, cover, or binding. it is the open book i wish to dwell on--the page itself as a field for the designer and illustrator--a space to be made beautiful in design. [illustration: german school. xvth century. from boccaccio, de claris mulieribus. (ulm, johann zainer, 1473.)] [sidenote: the two great divisions.] both decorated and illustrated books may be divided broadly into two great periods: i. the ms., or period before printing. ii. the period of printed books. both illustrate, however, a long course of evolution, and contain in themselves, it might be said, a compendium--or condensation--of the history of contemporary art in its various forms of development. the first impulse in art seems to answer to the primitive imitative impulse in children--the desire to embody the familiar forms about them--to characterize them in line and colour. the salient points of an animal, for instance, being first emphasized--as in the bone scratchings of the cave men--so that children's drawings and drawings of primitive peoples present a certain family likeness, allowing for difference of environment. they are abstract, and often almost symbolic in their characterization of form, and it is not difficult to imagine how letters and written language became naturally evolved through a system of hieroglyphics, starting from the unsystemized but irrepressible tendency of the human to record his linear ideas of rhythm on the one hand, or his impressions of nature on the other. it would seem that the illustrator or picture writer came first in the order of things, and the book afterwards--like the system we have heard of under modern editors of magazines, of the picture being done first and then written up to, or down to, by the author. side by side with the evolution of letters and calligraphic art went on the evolution of the graphic power and the artistic sense, developing on the one hand towards close imitation of nature and dramatic incident, and on the other towards imaginative beauty, and systematic, organic ornament, more or less built upon a geometric basis, but ultimately bursting into a free foliation and flamboyant blossom, akin in inventive richness and variety to a growth of nature herself. the development of these two main directions of artistic energy may be followed throughout the whole world of art, constantly struggling, as it were, for the ascendancy, now one and now the other being paramount; but the history of their course, and the effect of their varying influences is particularly marked in the decoration and illustration of books. although as a rule the decorative sense was dominant throughout the illuminated books of the middle ages, the illustrator, in the form of the miniaturist, is in evidence, and in some, especially in the later mss., finally conquers, or rather absorbs, the decorator. there is a ms. in the egerton collection in the british museum (no. 943), "the divina commedia" of dante, with miniatures by italian artists of the fourteenth century, which may be taken as an early instance of the ascendancy of the illustrator, the miniatures being placed somewhat abruptly on the page, and with unusually little framework or associated ornament; and although more or less decorative in the effect of their simple design, and frank and full colour, the main object of their artists was to illustrate rather than to decorate the text. [illustration: german school. xvth century. from boccaccio, de claris mulieribus. (ulm, johann zainer, 1473.)] [sidenote: the book of kells.] the celtic genius, under the influence of christianity, and as representing the art of the early christian western civilization--exemplified in the remarkable designs in the book of kells--was, on the other hand, strictly ornamental in its manifestations, suggesting in its richness, and in the intricacy and ingenuity of its involved patterns, as well as the geometric forms of many of its units, a relation to certain characteristics of eastern as well as primitive greek art. the book of kells derives its name from the columban monastery of kells or kenlis, originally cennanas, a place of ancient importance in the county of meath, ireland, and it is supposed to have been the great gospel brought to the christian settlement by its founder, st. columba, and perhaps written by that saint, who died in the year 597. the original volume is in the library of trinity college, dublin. in one of the pages of this book is represented the greek monogram of christ, and the whole page is devoted to three words, christi autem generatio. it is a remarkable instance of an ornamental initial spreading over an entire page. the effect of the whole as a decoration is perhaps what might be called heavy, but it is full of marvellous detail and richness, and highly characteristic of celtic forms of ornamental design (_see_ no. 1, appendix). the work of the scribe, as shown in the form of the ordinary letters of the text, is very fine. they are very firm and strong in character, to balance the closely knit and firmly built ornamentation of the initial letters and other ornaments of the pages. we feel that they have a dignity, a distinction, and a character all their own. there is a page in the same book where the symbols of the evangelists are inclosed in circles, and panelled in a solid framing occupying the whole page, which suggests byzantine feeling in design. the full pages in the earlier illuminated mss. were often panelled out in four or more compartments to hold figures of saints, or emblems, and in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries such panels generally had small patterned diapered backgrounds, on dark blue, red, green, or burnished gold. the anglo-saxon mss. show traces of the influence of the traditions of classic art drawn through the byzantine, or from the roman sources, which naturally affected the earliest forms of christian art as we see its relics in the catacombs. these classical traditions are especially noticeable in the treatment of the draperies clinging in linear and elliptical folds to express the limbs. in fact, it might be said that, spread westward and northward by the christian colonies, this classical tradition in figure design lingered on, until its renewal at the dawn of the renaissance itself, and the resurrection of classical art in italy, which, uniting with a new naturalism, grew to that wonderful development which has affected the art of europe ever since. the charter of foundation of newminster, at winchester, by king edgar, a.d. 966, written in gold, is another very splendid early example of book decoration. it has a full-page miniature of the panelled type above mentioned, and elaborate border in gold and colours by an english artist. it is in the british museum, and may be seen open in case 2 in the king's library. [sidenote: anglo-saxon ms.] "the gospels," in latin. a ms. of the eleventh century, with initials and borders in gold and colours, by english artists, is another fine specimen of the early kind. here the titles of each gospel, boldly inscribed, are inclosed in a massively designed border, making a series of full title pages of a dignified type. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "buch von den sieben todsünden und den sieben tugenden." (augsburg, bämler, 1474.)] as examples of illustrated books, according to the earlier mediæval ideas, we may look at twelfth and thirteenth century "herbals," wherein different plants, very full and frank in colour and formal in design, are figured strictly with a view to the ornamentation of the page. there is a very fine one, described as written in england in the thirteenth century, in the british museum. decoration and illustration are here one and the same. a magnificent specimen of book decoration of the most splendid kind is the "arundel psalter" (arundel ms. 83, brit. mus.), given by robert de lyle to his daughter audry, as an inscription in the volume tells us, in 1339. here scribe, illuminator, and miniaturist are all at their best, whether one and the same or different persons. it is, moreover, english work. there is no doubt about the beauty of the designs, and the variety and richness of the decorative effect. like all the psalters, the book commences with a calendar, and full pages follow, panelled out and filled in with subjects from the life of christ. a particularly splendid full-page is that of the virgin and child under a gothic canopy, with gold diapered background. there are also very interestingly designed genealogical trees, and fine arrangements of double columned text-pages with illuminated ornament (_see_ nos. 2, 3, and 4, appendix). [illustration: german school. xvth century. speculum humanæ vitæ. (augsburg, günther zainer, _circa_ 1475.) (_size of original, 6-5/8 in. × 10-5/16 in._)] [sidenote: xiiith and xivth century mss.] the tenison psalter (addit. ms. 24686) is a specimen of english thirteenth century work. "probably executed for alphonso, son of edmund i., on his contemplated marriage with margaret daughter of florentius, count of holland, which was frustrated by the prince's death on 1st august, 1224." the full-page miniatures arranged in panels--in some instances four on a page, with alternate burnished gold and dark blue diapered backgrounds behind the figures, and in others six on a page, the miniature much smaller, and set in a larger margin of colour, alternate red and blue--are very full, solid, and rich in colour with burnished gold. the book is further interesting, as giving excellent and characteristic instances of another and very different treatment of the page (and one which appears to have been rather peculiarly english in style), in the spiny scrolls which, often springing from a large illuminated initial letter upon the field of the text, spreads upon and down the margin, or above and below, often holding in its branching curves figures and animals, which in this ms. are beautifully and finely drawn. note the one showing a lady of the time in pursuit of some deer. in the thirteenth century books the text is a solid tower or column, from which excursions can be made by the fancy and invention of the designer, up and down and above and beneath, upon the ample vellum margins; in some cases, indeed, additional devices appear to have been added by other and later hands than those of the original scribe or illuminator. there is a very remarkable apocalypse (brit. mus. mss. 17353; formerly belonging to the carthusian house of vau dieu between liège and aix) by french artists of the early fourteenth century, which has a series of very fine imaginative and weird designs (suggestive of orcagna), highly decorative in treatment, very full and frank in colour, and firm in outline. the designs are in oblong panels, inclosed in linear coloured borders at the head of each page, and occupying about two-thirds of it, the text being written in double columns beneath each miniature, with small illuminated initials. the backgrounds of the designs are diapered on grounds of dark green and red alternately. the imaginative force and expression conveyed by these designs--strictly formal and figurative, and controlled by the ornamental traditions of the time--is very remarkable. the illustrator and decorator are here still one. queen mary's psalter (brit. mus. ms. royal 2, b. vii.), again, is interesting as giving instances of a very different and lighter treatment of figure designs. we find in this ms., together with illuminations in full colours and burnished gold, a series of pale tinted illustrations in bible history drawn with a delicate pen line. the method of the illuminators and miniaturists seems always to have been to draw their figures and ornaments clearly out first with a pen before colouring. [illustration: german school. xvth century. bible, heinrich quentel. (cologne, 1480.)] in the full-coloured miniatures the pen lines are not visible, but in this ms. they are preserved with the delicate tinted treatment. the designs i speak of are placed two on a page, occupying it entirely. they are inclosed in vermilion borders, terminated at each corner with a leaf. there is a very distinct and graceful feeling about the designs. the same hand appears to have added on the lower margins of the succeeding text pages a series of quaint figures--combats of grotesque animals, hunting, hawking, and fishing scenes, and games and sports, and, finally, biblical subjects. here, again, i think we may detect in the early illustrators a tendency to escape from the limitations of the book page, though only a tendency. a fine ornamental page combining illumination with miniature is given in the "epistle of philippe de comines to richard ii." at the end of the fourteenth century. the figures, interesting historically and as examples of costume, are relieved upon a diapered ground. the text is in double columns, with square initials, and the page is lightened by open foliation branching out upon the margin from the straight spiney border strips, which on the inner side terminate in a dragon. [sidenote: the bedford book of hours.] as a specimen of early fifteenth century work, both for illuminator, scribe, and miniaturist, it would be difficult to find a more exquisite book than the bedford hours (brit. mus. ms. add. 18850), dated 1422, said to be the work of french artists, though produced in england. the kalendar, which occupies the earlier pages, is remarkable for its small and very brilliant and purely coloured miniatures set like gems in a very fine, delicate, light, open, leafy border, bright with burnished gold trefoil leaves, which are characteristic of french illuminated books of this period (_see_ nos. 5 and 6, appendix). there is an elaborate full-page miniature containing the creation and fall, which breaks over the margin here and there. the thirteenth and fourteenth century miniaturists frequently allowed their designs to break over the framework of their diapered grounds or panels in an effective way, which pleasantly varied the formality of framed-in subjects upon the page, especially where a flat margin of colour between lines inclosed them; and some parts of the groups broke over the inner line while keeping within the limits of the outer one. very frequently, as in this ms., a general plan is followed throughout in the spacing of the pages, though the borders and miniatures in detail show almost endless variation. in such splendid works as this we get the complete and harmonious co-operation and union between the illustrator and the decorator. the object of each is primarily to beautify his page. the illuminator makes his borders and initial letters branch and bud, and put forth leaves and flowers spreading luxuriantly up and down the margin of his vellum pages (beautiful even as the scribe left them) like a living growth; while the miniaturist makes the letter itself the shrine of some delicate saint, or a vision of some act of mercy or martyrdom; while the careless world plays hide and seek through the labyrinthine borders, as the seasons follow each other through the kalendar, and the peasant ploughs, and sows, and reaps, and threshes out the corn, while gay knights tourney in the lists, or, with ladies in their quaint attire, follow the spotted deer through the greenwood. [sidenote: merry england.] in these beautiful liturgical books of the middle ages, as we see, the ornamental feeling developed with and combined the illustrative function, so that almost any illuminated psalter or book of hours will furnish not only lovely examples of floral decoration in borders and initials of endless fertility of invention, but also give us pictures of the life and manners of the times. in those of our own country we can realize how full of colour, quaint costume, and variety was life when england was indeed merry, in spite of family feuds and tyrannous lords and kings; before her industrial transformation and the dispossession of her people; ere boards of works and poor-law guardians took the place of her monasteries and abbeys; before her streams were fouled with sewage, and her cities blackened with coal smoke--the smoke of the burning sacrificed to commercial competition and wholesale production for profit by means of machine power and machine labour; before she became the workshop and engine-room of the world. [illustration: dutch school. xvth century. spiegel onser behoudenisse, kuilenburg. (jan veldener, 1483.)] these books glowing with gold and colour tell of days when time was no object, and the pious artist and scribe could work quietly and lovingly to make a thing of beauty with no fear of a publisher or a printer before his eyes, or the demands of world market. in the midst of our self-congratulation on the enormous increase of our resources for the rapid and cheap production of books, and the power of the printing press, we should do well not to forget that if books of those benighted centuries of which i have been speaking were few, comparatively, they were fit, though few--they were things of beauty and joys for ever to their possessors. a prayer-book was not only a prayer-book, but a picture-book, a shrine, a little mirror of the world, a sanctuary in a garden of flowers. one can well understand their preciousness apart from their religious use, and many have seen strange eventful histories no doubt. the earl of shrewsbury lost his prayer-book (the talbot prayer-book) and his life together on the battle-field at castillon (about thirty miles from bordeaux) in 1453. this book, as mr. quaritch states, was carried away by a breton soldier, and was only re-discovered in brittany a few years ago. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "deutsche uebersetzung des eunuchus des terentius." (ulm, dinckmut, 1486.)] [sidenote: missals.] it has been suggested that the large coloured and illuminated initial letters in liturgical books had their origin as guides in taking up the different parts of the service; and, as i learn from mr. micklethwaite, in some of the missals, where the crucifixion is painted in an illuminated letter, a simple cross is placed below for the votary to kiss instead of the picture, as it was found in practice, when only the picture was there, the tendency was to obliterate it by the recurrence of this form of devotion. as an example of the influence of naturalism which had begun to make itself felt in art towards the end of the fifteenth century, we may cite the romance of the rose (harl. mss. 4425), in the british museum, which has two fine full-page miniatures with elaborate borderings, full of detail and colour, and which are also illustrative of costume (_see_ no. 8, appendix). the text pages show the effect of double columns with small highly-finished miniatures (occupying the width of one column) interspersed. the style of work is akin to that of the celebrated grimani breviary, now in the library of st. mark's, venice, the miniatures of which are said to have been painted by memling. they are wonderfully rich in detail, and fine in workmanship, and are quite in the manner of the flemish pictures of that period. we feel that the pictorial and illustrative power is gaining the ascendancy, and in its borders of highly wrought leaves, flowers, fruit, and insects, given in full relief with their cast shadows--wonderful as they are in themselves as pieces of work--it is evident to me, at least, that whatever graphic strength and richness of chiaroscuro is gained it is at the distinct cost of the beauty of pure decorative effect upon the page. after the delicate arabesques of the earlier time, these borders look a little heavy, and however great their pictorial or imitative merits, they fail to satisfy the conditions of a page decoration so satisfactorily. perhaps the most sumptuous examples of book decoration of this period are to be found in italy, in the celebrated choir books in the cathedral of siena. they show a rare union of imaginative form, pictorial skill, and decorative sense in the miniaturist, united with all the italian richness and grace in the treatment of early renaissance ornament, and in its adaptation to the decoration of the book page (_see_ no. 9, appendix). these miniatures are the work of girolamo da cremona, and liberale da verona. at least, these two are described as "the most copious and indefatigable of the artists employed on the corali." payments were made to them for the work in 1468, and again in 1472-3, which fixes the date. [illustration: flemish school. xvth century. "life of christ." (antwerp, gheraert leeu, 1487.) (_original, 7-3/8 in. × 5-1/8 in._)] [sidenote: illuminated mss.] i am not ignoring the possibility of a certain division of labour in the illuminated ms. the work of the scribe, the illuminator, and the miniaturist are distinct enough, while equally important to the result. mr. j. w. bradley, who has compiled a dictionary of miniaturists, speaking of calligrapher, illuminator, and miniaturist, says:--"each of these occupations is at times conjoined with either or both of the others," and when that is so, in giving the craftsman his title, he decides by the period of his work. for instance, from the seventh to the tenth centuries he would call him calligrapher; eleventh to fifteenth centuries, illuminator; fifteenth to sixteenth centuries, miniaturist. transcription he puts in another category as the work of the copyist scribe. but whatever division of labour there may or may not have been, there was no division in the harmony and unity of the effect. if in some cases the more purely ornamental parts, such as the floral borders and initials, were the work of one artist, the text of another, and the miniatures of another, all i can say is, that each worked together as brethren in unity, contributing to the beauty of a harmonious and organic whole; and if such division of labour can be ascertained to have been a fact, it goes to prove the importance of some co-operation in a work of art, and its magnificent possibilities. the illuminated ms. books have this great distinction and advantage in respect of harmony of text and decoration, the text of the calligrapher always harmonizing with the designs of the illuminator, it being in like manner all through the middle ages a thing of growth and development, acquiring new characteristics and undergoing processes of transformation less obvious perhaps, but not less actual, than the changes in the style and characters of the devices and inventions which accompanied it. the mere fact that every part of the work was due to the hand, that manual skill and dexterity alone has produced the whole, gives a distinction and a character to these ms. books which no press could possibly rival. the difficulty which besets the modern book decorator, illustrator, or designer of printers' ornaments, of getting type which will harmonize properly with his designs, did not exist with the mediæval illuminator, who must always have been sure of balancing his designs by a body of text not only beautiful in the form of its individual letters, but beautiful and rich in the effect of its mass on the page, which was only enhanced when the initials were relieved with colour on gold, or beautiful pen work which grew out of them like the mistletoe from the solid oak stem. the very pitch of perfection which penmanship, or the art of the calligrapher had reached in the fifteenth century, the calculated regularity and "purgation of superfluities" in the form of the letters, the squareness of their mass in the words, and approximation in length and height, seem to suggest and naturally lead up to the idea of the movable type and the printed page. before, however, turning the next page of our subject, let us take one more general and rapid glance at the ms. books from the point of view of design. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "chronica hungariæ." (augsburg, ratdolt, 1488.)] while examples of the two fields into which art may be said to be always more or less divided--the imitative and the inventive, or the illustrative and the decorative--are not altogether absent in the books of the middle ages, the main tendency and prevailing spirit is decidedly on the inventive and decorative side, more especially in the work of the illuminators from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, and yet this inventive and decorative spirit is often allied with a dramatic and poetic feeling, as well as a sense of humour. we see how full of life is the ornament of the illuminator, how figures, birds, animals, and insects fill his arabesques, how he is often decorator, illustrator, and pictorial commentator in one. [illustration: french school. xvth century. initial from "la mer des histoires." (paris, pierre le rouge, 1488.)] [sidenote: the beautiful page.] even apart from his enrichments, it is evident that the page was regarded by the calligrapher as a space to be decorated--that it should at least, regarded solely as a page of text, be a page of beautiful writing, the mass carefully placed upon the vellum, so as to afford convenient and ample margin, especially beneath. the page of a book, in fact, may be regarded as a flat panel which may be variously spaced out. the calligrapher, the illuminator, and the miniaturist are the architects who planned out their vellum grounds and built beautiful structures of line and colour upon them for thought and fancy to dwell in. sometimes the text is arranged in a single column, as generally in the earlier mss.; sometimes in double, as generally in the gothic and later mss., and these square and oblong panels of close text are relieved by large and small initial letters sparkling in gold and colour, inclosed in their own framework, or escaping from it in free and varied branch work and foliation upon the margin, and set with miniatures like gems, as in the bedford hours, the larger initials increasing to such proportions as to inclose a more important miniature--a subject-picture in short--a book illustration in the fullest sense, yet strictly a part of a general scheme of the ornamentation of the page. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "hortus sanitatis." (mainz, jacob meidenbach, 1491.)] [sidenote: the miniaturists.] floral borders, which in some instances spread freely around the text and fill the margins, unconfined though not uninfluenced by rectangular lines or limits from a light and open, yet rich and delicate tracery of leaves and fanciful blossoms (as in the bedford hours); are in others framed in with firm lines (tenison psalter, p. 11); and in later fifteenth century mss. with gold lines and mouldings, as the treatment of the page becomes more pictorial and solid in colour and relief. sometimes the borders form a distinct framework, inclosing the text and dividing its columns, as in "the book of hours of rené of anjou" (egerton ms. 1070), and the same design is sometimes repeated differently coloured. gradually the miniaturist--the picture painter--although at first almost as formally decorative as the illuminator--asserts his independence, and influences the treatment of the border, which becomes a miniature also, as in the grimani breviary, the romance of the rose, and the choir books of siena, until at last the miniature or the picture is in danger of being more thought of than the book, and we get books of framed pictures instead of pictured or decorated books. in the grimani breviary the miniature frequently occupies the whole page with a single subject-picture; or the miniature is superimposed upon a pictured border, which, strengthened by rigid architectural lines and tabernacle work, form a rich frame. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "chroneken der sassen." (mainz, schöffer, 1492.)] all these varieties we have been examining are, however, interesting and beautiful in their own way in their results. in considering any form of art of a period which shows active traditions, real life and movement, natural growth and development, we are fascinated by its organic quality, and though we may detect the absorption or adaptation of new elements and new influences from time to time leading to changes of style and structure of design, as well as changed temper and feeling, as long as this natural evolution continues, each variety has its own charm and its own compensations; while we may have our preferences as to which approaches most nearly to the ideal of perfect adaptability, and, therefore, of decorative beauty. in the progressive unfolding which characterizes a living style, all its stages must be interesting and possess their own significance, since all fall into their places in the great and golden record of the history of art itself. [illustration] chapter ii. of the transition, and of the second period of decoratively illustrated books, from the invention of printing in the fifteenth century onwards. we have seen to what a pitch of perfection and magnificence the decoration and illustration of books attained during the middle ages, and the splendid results to which art in the three distinct forms--calligraphy, illumination, and miniature--contributed. we have traced a gradual progression and evolution of style through the period of ms. books, both in the development of writing and ornament. we have noted how the former became more and more regular and compact in its mass on the page, and how in the latter the illustrative or pictorial size grew more and more important, until at the close of the fifteenth century we had large and elaborately drawn and naturalistic pictures framed in the initial letters, as in the choir books of siena, or occupying the whole page with a single subject, as in the grimani breviary. the tree of design, springing from small and obscure germs, sends up a strong stem, branches and buds in the favourable sun, and finally breaks into a beautiful free efflorescence and fruitage. then we mark a fresh change. the autumn comes after the summertide, winter follows autumn, till the new life, ever ready to spring from the husk of the old, puts forth its leaves, until by almost imperceptible degrees and changes, and the silent growth of new forces, the face of the world is changed for us. so it was with the change that came upon european art towards the end of the fifteenth century, the result of many causes working together; but as regards art as applied to books, the greatest of these was of course the invention and application of printing. like most great movements in art or life, it had an obscure beginning. its parentage might be sought in the woodcuts of the earlier part of the fifteenth century applied to the printing of cards. the immediate forerunners of printed books were the block books. characteristic specimens of the quaint works may be seen displayed in the king's library, british museum. the art of these block books is quite rude and primitive, and, contrasted with the highly-finished work of the illuminated ms. of the same time, might almost belong to another period. these are the first tottering steps of the infant craft; the first faint utterances, soon to grow into strong, clear, and perfect speech, to rule the world of books and men. [illustration: german school. xvth century. from the lübeck bible. (lübeck, steffen arndes, 1494.)] [sidenote: the earliest printers.] germany had not taken any especial or distinguished part in the production of mss. remarkable for artistic beauty or original treatment; but her time was to come, and now, in the use of an artistic application of the invention of printing, and the new era of book decoration and illustration, she at once took the lead. seeing that the invention itself is ascribed to one of her own sons, it seems appropriate enough, and natural that printing should grow to quick perfection in the land of its birth; so that we find some of the earliest and greatest triumphs of the press coming from german printers, such as gutenberg, fust, and schoeffer, not to speak yet of the wonderful fertility of decorative invention, graphic force, and dramatic power of german designers, culminating in the supreme genius of albrecht dürer and hans holbein. the prosperous german towns, cologne, mainz, frankfort, strassburg, augsburg, bamberg, halberstadt, nuremberg, and ulm, all became famous in the history of printing, and each had its school of designers in black and white, its distinctive style in book-decoration and printing. italy, france, switzerland, and england, however, all had their share, and a glorious share, in the triumph of printing in its early days. the presses of venice, of florence, and of rome and naples, of paris, and of basel, and of our own william caxton, at westminster, must always be looked upon as in the van of the early progress of the art, and the richness of the decorative invention and beauty, in the case of the woodcut adornments used by the printers of venice and florence especially, gives them in the last years of the fifteenth century and the early years of the sixteenth a particular distinction. 1454 appears to be the earliest definite date that can be fixed on to mark the earliest use of printing. in that year, the mainz "indulgences" were in circulation, but the following year is more important, as to it is assigned the issue, from the press of gutenberg and fust at mainz, of the famous mazarin bible, a copy of which is in the british museum. mr. bullen says, "the copy which first attracted notice in modern times was discovered in the library of cardinal mazarin"--hence the name. it is noticeable as showing how transitional was the change in the treatment of the page. the scribe has been supplanted--the marshalled legions of printed letters have invaded his territory and driven him from his occupation; but the margin is still left for the illuminator to spread his coloured borders upon, and the initial letters wait for the touch of colour from his hand. the early printers evidently regarded their art as providing a substitute for the ms. book. they aimed at doing the work of the scribe and doing it better and more expeditiously. no idea of a new departure in effect seems to have been entertained at first, to judge from such specimens as these. [illustration: french school. xvth century. from paris et vienne. (paris, jehan treperel, c. 1495.)] [sidenote: the mainz psalter.] another early printed book is the mainz psalter. it is printed on vellum, and comes from the press of fust and schoeffer in 1457. it is remarkable not only as the first printed psalter and as the first book printed with a date, but also as being the first example of printing in colours. the initial letter b is the result of this method, and it affords a wonderful instance of true register. the blue of the letter fitted cleanly into the red of the surrounding ornament with a precision which puzzles our modern printers, and it is difficult to understand how such perfection could have been attained. mr. emery walker has suggested to me that the blue letter itself might have been cut out, inked, and dropped in from the back of the red block when that was in the press, and so the two colours printed together. if this could be done with sufficient precision, it would certainly account for the exactitude of the register. apart from this interesting technical question, however, the page is a very beautiful one, and the initial, with its solid shape of figured blue, inclosed in the delicate red pen-like tracery climbing up and down the margin, is a charming piece of page decoration. the original may be seen in one of the cases in the king's library, british museum. we have here an instance of the printer aiming at directly imitating and supplanting by his craft the art of the calligrapher and illuminator, and with such a beauty and perfection of workmanship as must have astonished them and given them far more reason to regard the printer as a dangerous rival than had (as it is said) the early wood engravers, who were unwilling to help the printer by their art for fear his craft would injure their own, which seems somewhat extraordinary considering how closely allied both wood engraver and printer have been ever since. the example of the mainz psalter does not seem to have been much followed, and as regards the application of colour, it was as a rule left as a matter of course to be added by the miniaturist, who evidently declined as an artist after he had got into the way of having his designs in outline provided for him ready-made by the printer; or, rather, perhaps the accomplished miniature printer, having carried his art as applied to books about as far as it would go, became absorbed as a painter of independent pictures, and the printing of books fell into inferior hands. there can be no doubt that the devices and decorations of the early printers were intended to be coloured in emulation of illuminated and miniatured mss., and were regarded, in fact, as the pen outlines of the illuminator, only complete when filled in with colours and gold. it appears to have been only by degrees that the rich and vigorous lines of the woodcut, as well as the black and white effect, became admired for their own sake--so slowly moves the world! [sidenote: german illustration.] a good idea of the general character of the development of the wood (and metal) cut in book and illustration and decoration in germany, from 1470 (leiden christi, pfister, bamberg, 1470) to (virgil solis' bible) 1563, may be gained from a study of the series of reproductions given in this and the preceding chapter, in chronological order, with the names, dates, and places, as well as the particular characteristics of the style of the different designers and printers. [illustration: german school. xvth century. "das buch und leben des hochberühmten fabeldichters æsopi." (ulm, 1498.[1])] [1] this is the date of the copy from which the illustration is reproduced. the first edition of the book was, however, probably issued about 1480. [sidenote: italian illustrations.] the same may be said in regard to the italian series which follows, and those from basel and paris. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. de claris mulieribus. (ferrara, 1497.)] perhaps the most interesting examples of the use of early printing as a substitute for illumination and miniature are to be found in the books of hours which were produced at paris in the later years of the fifteenth and the early years of the sixteenth centuries (1487-1519 about) by vérard, du pré, philip pigouchet, kerver, and hardouyn. specimens of these books may be seen in the british museum, and at the art library at south kensington museum. the originals are mostly printed on vellum. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. tuppo's æsop. (naples, 1485.)] [sidenote: borders and ornaments.] the effect of the richly designed borders on black dotted grounds is very pleasant, but these books seem to have been intended to be illuminated and coloured. we find in some copies that the full-page printed pictures are coloured, being worked up as miniatures, and the semi-architectural borderings with renaissance mouldings and details are gilded flat, and treated as the frame of the picture. there is one which has the mark of the printer gillet hardouyn (g. h. on the shield), on the front page. in another copy (1515) this is painted and the framework gilded; the subject is nessus the centaur carrying off deianira, the wife of hercules; a sign of the tendency to revive classical mythology which had set in, in this case, in curious association with a christian service-book. it is noticeable how soon the facility for repetition by the press was taken advantage of, and a design, especially if on ornamental borderings of a page, often repeated several times throughout a book. these borderings and ornaments being generally in separate blocks as to headings, side panels, and tail-pieces, could easily be shifted and a certain variety obtained by being differently made up. here we may see commercialism creeping in. considerations of profit and economy no doubt have their effect, and mechanical invention comes in to cheapen not only labour, but artistic invention also. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. p. cremonese's "dante." (venice, november, 1491.)] [illustration: italian school. xvth century. the discovery of the indies. (florence, 1493.)] [illustration: italian school. xvth century. fior di virtù. 1498 (florence, 1493?)] [sidenote: the renaissance.] it took some time, however, to turn the printer into the manufacturer or tradesman pure and simple. nothing is more striking than the high artistic character of the early printed books. the invention of printing, coming as it did when the illuminated mss. had reached the period of its greatest glory and perfection, with the artistic traditions of fifteen centuries poured, as it were, into its lap, filling its founts with beautiful lettering, and guiding the pencil of its designers with a still unbroken sense of fitness and perfect adaptability; while as yet the influence of the revival of classic learning and mythology was only felt as the stirring and stimulating breath of new awakening spring--the aroma of spice-laden winds from unknown shores of romance--or as the mystery and wonder of discovery, standing on the brink of a half-disclosed new world, and fired with the thought of its possibilities- "or like stout cortez when with eagle eyes he stared at the pacific." had the discovery of printing occurred two or three centuries earlier, it would have been curious to see the results. but after all, an invention never lives until the world is ready to adopt it. it is impossible to say how many inventions are new inventions. "ask and ye shall have," or the practical application of it, is the history of civilization. necessity, the stern mother, compels her children to provide for their own physical and intellectual necessities, and in due time the hour and the man (with his invention) arrives. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. stephano caesenate peregrini inventore (s.c. p.i.). (venice, de gregoriis, 1498.)] classical mythology and gothic mysticism and romance met together in the art and books of the early renaissance. ascetic aspiration strives with frank paganism and nature worship. the gods of ancient greece and rome seemed to awake after an enchanted sleep of ages, and reappear again unto men. italy, having hardly herself ever broken with the ancient traditions of classical art and religion, became the focus of the new light, and her independent republics, such as florence and venice, the centres of wealth, culture, refinement, and artistic invention. turkish conquest, too, had its effect on the development of the new movement by driving greek scholars and the knowledge of the classical writers of antiquity westward. these were all materials for an exceptional development of art, and, above all, of the art of the printer, and the decoration and illustration of books. the name of aldus, of venice, is famous among those of the early renaissance printers. perhaps the most remarkable book, from this or any press, for the beauty of its decorative illustration, is the _poliphili hypnerotomachia_--"the dream of poliphilus"--printed in 1499, an allegorical romance of love in the manner of those days. the authorship of the design has been the subject of much speculation. i believe they were attributed at one time to mantegna, and they have also been ascribed to one of the bellini. the style of the designer, the quality of the outline, the simplicity yet richness of the designs, their poetic feeling, the mysticism of some, and frank paganism of others, places the series quite by themselves. the first edition is now very difficult to obtain, and might cost something like 100 guineas. my illustrations are taken from the copy in the art library at south kensington museum, and are from negatives taken by mr. griggs, for the science and art department, who have issued a set of reproductions in photo-lithography, by him, of the whole of the woodcuts in the volume, of the original size, at the price, i believe, of 5_s._ 6_d._ here is an instance of what photographic reproduction can do for us--when originals of great works are costly or unattainable we can get reproductions for a few shillings, for all practical purposes as good for study as the originals themselves. if we cannot, in this age, produce great originals, we can at least reproduce them--perhaps the next best thing. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. poliphilus. (venice, aldus, 1499.)] [illustration: italian school. =tertivs= xvth century. poliphilus. (venice, aldus, 1499.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. alessandro minuziano. (milan, designer unknown, 1503.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. school of giov. bellini. (venice, georgius de rusconibus, 1506.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. the descent of minerva, from the quatriregio. (florence, 1508.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. aulus gellius, printed by giov. tacuino. (venice, 1509.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. quintilian. (venice, georgius de rusconibus, 1512.)] [illustration: italian school. xvith century. ottaviano dei petrucci. (fossombrone, 1513.)] there is a french edition of poliphilus printed at paris, by kerver, in 1561,[2] which has a frontispiece designed by jean cousin. the illustrations, too, have all been redrawn, and are treated in quite a different manner from the venetian originals--but they have a character of their own, though of a later, florid, and more self-conscious type, as might be expected from paris in the latter half of the sixteenth century. the initial letters of a series of chapters in the book spell, if read consecutively, francisco columna (f.r.a.n.c.i.s.c.o. c.o.l.v.m.n.a.)--the name of the writer of the romance. [2] the first french edition is dated 1546. whether such designs as these were intended to be coloured is doubtful. they are very satisfactory as they are in outline, and want nothing else. the book may be considered as an illustrated one, drawings of monuments, fountains, standards, emblems, and devices are placed here and there in the text, but they are so charmingly designed and drawn that the effect is decorative, and being in open line the mechanical conditions are perfectly fulfilled of surface printing with the type. [sidenote: caxton.] after the beautiful productions of the german, italian (of which some reproductions are given here), and french printers, our own william caxton's first books seem rather rough, though not without character, and, at any rate, picturesqueness, if they cannot be quoted as very accomplished examples of the printer's art. the first book printed in england is said to be caxton's "dictes and sayings of the philosophers," printed by him at westminster in 1477. a noticeable characteristic of the early printed books is the development of the title page. whereas the mss. generally did without one, with the advent of printing the title page became more and more important, and even if there were no other illustrations or ornaments in a book, there was often a woodcut title. such examples as some here given convey a good idea of what charming decorative feeling these title page designs sometimes displayed, and those greatest of designers and book decorators and illustrators, albrecht dürer and hans holbein, showed their power and decorative skill, and sense of the resources of the woodcut, in the designs made by them for various title pages. the noble designs of the master craftsman of nuremberg, albrecht dürer, are well known. his extraordinary vigour of drawing, and sense of its resources as applied to the woodcut, made him a great force in the decoration and illustration of books, and many are the splendid designs from his hand. three designs from the fine series of the little passion and two of his title pages are given, which show him on the strictly decorative side. the title dated 1523 may be compared with that of oronce finé (paris, 1534). there appears to have been a return to this convoluted knotted kind of ornament at this period. it appears in italian mss. earlier, and may have been derived from byzantine sources. [illustration: german school. xvith century. albrecht dürer, "kleine passion." (nuremberg, 1512.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. albrecht dürer, "kleine passion." (nuremberg, 1512.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. albrecht dürer, "kleine passion." (nuremberg, 1512.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. albrecht dürer. (nuremberg, heinrich steyner, 1513.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. designed by albrecht dürer. (nuremberg, 1523.)] [sidenote: hans holbein.] there is a fine title page designed by holbein, printed by petri, at basle, in 1524. it was originally designed and used for an edition of the new testament, printed by the same adam petri in 1523. at the four corners are the symbols of the evangelists; the arms of the city of basle are in the centre of the upper border, and the printer's device occupies a corresponding space below. figures of ss. peter and paul are in the niches at each side. but the work always most associated with the name of holbein is the remarkable little book containing the series of designs known as the "dance of death," the first edition of which was printed at lyons in 1538. the two designs here given are printed from the blocks cut by bonner and byfield (1833). these cuts are only about 2-1/2 by 2 inches, and yet an extraordinary amount of invention, graphic power, dramatic and tragic force, and grim and satiric humour, is compressed into them. they stand quite alone in the history of art, and give a wonderfully interesting and complete series of illustrations of the life of the sixteenth century. holbein is supposed to have painted this "dance of death" in the palace of henry viii., erected by cardinal wolsey at whitehall, life size; but this was destroyed in the fire which consumed nearly the whole of that palace in 1697. [illustration: ger. school. xvith cent. holbein. "dance of death." the nun. (lyons, 1538.)] the bible cuts of hans holbein are also a very fine series, and remarkable for their breadth and simplicity of line, as well as decorative effect on the page. [illustration: ger. school. xvith cent. holbein, "dance of death." the ploughman. (lyons, 1538.)] it is interesting to note that holbein's father and grandfather both practised engraving and painting at augsburg, while his brother ambrose was also a fertile book illustrator. hans holbein the elder married a daughter of the elder burgmair, father of the famous hans burgmair, examples of whose fine and vigorous style of drawing are given. [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans holbein. (basel, adam petri, _circa_ 1524.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans holbein. hist. vet. test. iconibus illustrata.] [sidenote: the german masters.] [sidenote: the german tradition.] albrecht dürer and holbein, indeed, seem to express and to sum up all the vigour and power of design of that very vigorous and fruitful time of the german renaissance. they had able contemporaries, of course, among whom are distinguished, lucas cranach (the elder) born 1470, and hans burgmair, already named, who was associated with dürer in the work of the celebrated series of woodcuts, "the triumphs of maximilian;" one of the fine series of "der weiss könig," a noble title page, and a vigorous drawing of peasants at work in a field, here represent him. other notable designers were hans sebald beham, hans baldung grün, hans wächtlin, jost amman, and others, who carried on the german style or tradition in design to the end of the sixteenth century. this tradition of convention was technically really the mode of expression best fitted to the conditions of the woodcut and the press, under which were evolved the vigorous pen line characteristic of the german masters. it was a living condition in which each could work freely, bringing in his own fresh observation and individual feeling, while remaining in collective harmony. [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans holbein. bible.] [illustration: german school. xvith century. ambrose holbein. "das gantze neue testament," etc. (basel, 1523.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans burgmair. "der weiss könig" (1512-14).] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans burgmair. (augsburg, 1516.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans burgmair. "historia mundi naturalis," pliny. (frankfort, 1582.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans burgmair. "die meerfahrt zu viln onerkannten inseln und kunigreichen." (augsburg, 1509.)] [sidenote: printers' marks] [sidenote: emblem books.] the various marks adopted by the printers themselves are often decorative devices of great interest and beauty. the french printers, gillett hardouyn and thielman kerver, for instance, had charming devices with which they generally occupied the front page of their books of hours. others were pictorial puns and embodied the name of the printer under some figure, such as that of petri of basle, who adopted a device of a stone, which the flames and the hammer stroke failed to destroy; or the mark of philip le noir--a black shield with a negro crest and supporter; or the palm tree of palma isingrin. others were purely emblematic and heraldic, such as the dolphin twined round the anchor, of aldus, with the motto "_propera tarde_"--"hasten slowly." this, and another device of a crab holding a butterfly by its wings, with the same signification, are both borrowed from the favourite devices of two of the early emperors of rome--augustus and titus. this symbolic, emblematic, allegorizing tendency which had been more or less characteristic of both art and literature, in various degrees, from the most ancient times, became more systematically cultivated, and collections of emblems began to appear in book form in the sixteenth century. the earliest being that of alciati, the first edition of whose book appeared in 1522, edition after edition following each other from various printers and places from that date to 1621, with ever-increasing additions, and being translated into french, german, and italian. mr. henry green, the author of "shakespeare and the emblem writers" (written to prove shakespeare's acquaintance with the emblem books, and constant allusions to emblems), said of alciati's book that "it established, if it did not introduce, a new style for emblem literature--the classical, in the place of the simply grotesque and humorous, or of the heraldic and mystic." [illustration: hans baldung grün. "hortulus animæ." (strassburg, martin flach, 1511.)] [illustration: hans baldung grün. "hortulus animæ." (strassburg, martin flach, 1511.)] [illustration: hans baldung grün. "hortulus animæ." (strassburg, martin flach, 1511.)] [illustration: hans baldung grün. "hortulus animæ." (strassburg, martin flach, 1511.)] there is an edition of alciati printed at lyons (bonhomme), 1551, a reprint of which was published by the holbein society in 1881. the figure designs and the square woodcut subjects are supposed to be the work of solomon bernard--called the little bernard--born at lyons in 1522. these are surrounded by elaborate and rather heavy decorative borders, in the style of the later renaissance, by another hand, some of them bearing the monogram p.v., which has been explained to mean either pierino del vaga, the painter (a pupil of raphael's), or petro de vingles, a printer of lyons. [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans wächtlin. (strassburg, mathias schürer, 1513.)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. hans sebald beham. "das papstthum mit seinen gliedern." (nuremberg, hans wandereisen, 1526.)] these borders, as we learn from a preface to one of the editions ("ad lectorem"--roville's latin text of the emblems), were intended as patterns for various craftsmen. "for i say this is their use, that as often as any one may wish to assign fulness to empty things, ornament to base things, speech to dumb things, and reason to senseless things, he may, from a little book of emblems, as from an excellently well-prepared hand-book, have what he may be able to impress on the walls of houses, on windows of glass, on tapestry, on hangings, on tablets, vases, ensigns, seals, garments, the table, the couch, the arms, the sword, and lastly, furniture of every kind." [sidenote: emblems.] an emblem has been defined ("cotgrave's dictionary," art. "emblema") as "a picture and short posie, expressing some particular conceit;" and by francis quarles as "but a silent parable;" and bacon, in his "advancement of learning," says:--"embleme deduceth conceptions intellectuall to images sensible, and that which is sensible more fully strikes the memory, and is more easily imprinted than that which is intellectual." [sidenote: the copper-plate.] all was fish that fell into the net of the emblem writer or deviser; hieroglyphic, heraldry, fable, mythology, the ancient egyptians, homer, ancient greece and rome, christianity, or pagan philosophy, all in their turn served "to point a moral and adorn a tale." as to the artistic quality of the designs which are found in these books, they are of very various quality, those of the earlier sixteenth century with woodcuts being naturally the best and most vigorous, corresponding in character to the qualities of the contemporary design. holbein's "dance of death," or rather "images and storied aspects of death," its true title, might be called an emblem book, but very few can approach it in artistic quality. some of the devices in early editions of the emblem books of giovio, witney, and even the much later quarles have a certain quaintness; but though such books necessarily depended on their illustrations, the moral and philosophic, or epigrammatic burden proved in the end more than the design could carry, when the impulse which characterized the early renaissance had declined, and design, as applied to books, became smothered with classical affectation and pomposity, and the clear and vigorous woodcut was supplanted by the doubtful advantage of the copper-plate. the introduction of the use of the copper-plate marks a new era in book illustration, but as regards their decoration, one of distinct decline. while the surface-printed block, whether woodcut or metal engraving (by which method many of the early book illustrations were rendered) accorded well with the conditions of the letter-press printing, as they were set up with the type and printed by the same pressure in the same press. with copper-plate quite other conditions came in, as the paper has to be pressed into the etched or engraved lines of the plate, instead of being impressed by the lines in relief of the wood or the metal. thus, with the use of copper-plate illustrations in printed books, that mechanical relation which exists between a surface-printed block and the letter-press was at once broken, as a different method of printing had to be used. the apparent, but often specious, refinement of the copper-plate did not necessarily mean extra power or refinement of draughtsmanship or design, but merely thinner lines, and these were often attained at the cost of richness and vigour, as well as decorative effect. [illustration: german school. xvith century. reformation der ba[:y]rischen landrecht. (munich, 1518.)] the first book illustrated with copper-plate engravings, however, bears an early date--1477. ["el monte sancto di dio." niccolo di lorenzo, florence]. in this case it was reserved for the full page pictures. the method does not seem to have commended itself much to the book designers, and did not come into general use until the end of the sixteenth century, with the decline of design. the encyclopædic books of this period--the curious compendiums of the knowledge of those days--were full of entertaining woodcuts, diagrams, and devices, and the various treatises on grammar, arithmetic, geometry, physiology, anatomy, astronomy, geography, were made attractive by them, each section preceded perhaps by an allegorical figure of the art or science discoursed of in the costume of a grand dame of the period. the herbals and treatises on animals were often filled with fine floral designs and vigorous, if sometimes half-mythical, representations of animals. [sidenote: fuchsius.] [sidenote: herbals.] there are fine examples of plant drawing in a beautiful herbal ("fuchsius: de historia stirpium"; basle, isingrin, 1542). they are not only faithful and characteristic as drawings of the plants themselves, but are beautiful as decorative designs, being drawn in a fine free style, and with a delicate sense of line, and well thrown upon the page. at the beginning of the book is a woodcut portrait of the author, leonard fuchs--possibly the fuchsia may have been named after him--and at the end is another woodcut giving the portrait of the artist, the designer of the flowers, and the draughtsman on wood and the formschneider, or engraver on wood, beneath, who appears to be fully conscious of his own importance. the first two are busy at work, and it will be noticed the artist is drawing from the flower itself with the point of a brush, the brush being fixed in a quill in the manner of our water-colour brushes. the draughtsman holds the design or paper while he copies it upon the block. the portraits are vigorously drawn in a style suggestive of hans burgmair. good examples of plant drawing which is united with design are also to be found in matthiolus (venice, 1583), and in a kreuterbuch (strasburg, 1551), and in gerard's herbal, of which there are several editions. as examples of design in animals, there are some vigorous woodcuts in a "history of quadrupeds," by conrad gesner, printed by froschover, of zurich, in 1554. the porcupine is as like a porcupine as need be, and there can be no mistake about his quills. the drawings of birds are excellent, and one of a crane (as i ought, perhaps, more particularly to know) is very characteristic. [illustration: italian school. xvith century. (tosculano, alex. paganini, 1520.) (_comp. dürer's title page, nuremberg, 1523._)] [illustration: german school. xvith century. "fuchsius: de historia stirpium." (basle, isingrin, 1542.)] [sidenote: the new spirit.] but we have passed the rubicon--the middle of the sixteenth century. ripening so rapidly, and blossoming into such excellence and perfection as did the art of the printer, and design as applied to the printed page, through the woodcut and the press, their artistic character and beauty was somewhat short-lived. up to about this date (1554 was the date of our last example), as we have seen, to judge only from the comparatively few specimens given here, what beautiful books were printed, remarkable both for their decorative and illustrative value, and often uniting these two functions in perfect harmony; but after the middle of the sixteenth century both vigour and beauty in design generally may be said to have declined. whether the world had begun to be interested in other things--and we know the great discovery of columbus had made it practically larger--whether discovery, conquest, and commerce more and more filled the view of foremost spirits, and art was only valued as it illustrated or contributed to the knowledge of or furtherance of these; whether the reformation or the spirit of protestantism, turning men's minds from outward to inward things, and in its revolt against the half paganized catholic church--involving a certain ascetic scorn and contempt for any form of art which did not serve a direct moral purpose, and which appealed to the senses rather than to the emotions or the intellect--practically discouraged it altogether. whether that new impulse given to the imagination by the influence of the revival of classical learning, poetry, and antique art, had become jaded, and, while breaking with the traditions and spirit of gothic or mediæval art, began to put on the fetters of authority and pedantry, and so, gradually overlaid by the forms and cerements of a dead style, lost its vigour and vitality--whether due to one or all of these causes, certain it is that the lamp of design began to fail, and, compared with its earlier radiance, shed but a doubtful flicker upon the page through the succeeding centuries. chapter iii. of the period of the decline of decorative feeling in book design after the sixteenth century, and of the modern revival. as i indicated at the outset of the first chapter, my purpose is not to give a complete historical account of the decoration and illustration of books, but rather to dwell on the artistic treatment of the page from my own point of view as a designer. so far, however, the illustrations i have given, while serving their purpose, also furnished a fair idea of the development of style and variation of treatment of both the ms. and printed book under different influences, from the sixth to the close of the sixteenth century, but now i shall have to put on a pair of seven-league boots, and make some tremendous skips. we have seen how, at the period of the early renaissance, two streams met, as it were, and mingled, with very beautiful results. the freedom, the romance, the naturalism of the later gothic, with the newly awakened classical feeling, with its grace of line and mythological lore. the rich and delicate arabesques in which italian designers delighted, and which so frequently decorated, as we have seen, the borders of the early printer, owe also something to oriental influence, as indeed their name indicates. the decorative beauty of these early renaissance books were really, therefore, the outcome of a very remarkable fusion of ideas and styles. printing, as an art, and book decoration attained a perfection it has not since reached. the genius of the greatest designers of the time was associated with the new invention, and expressed itself with unparalleled vigour in the woodcut; while the type-founder, being still under the influence of a fine traditional style in handwriting, was in perfect harmony with the book decorator or illustrator. even geometric diagrams were given without destroying the unity of the page, as may be seen in early editions of euclid, and we have seen what faithful and characteristic work was done in illustrations of plants and animals, without loss of designing power and ornamental sense. [sidenote: the classical influence.] this happy equilibrium of artistic quality and practical adaptation after the middle of the sixteenth century began to decline. there were designers, like oronce finé and geoffroy tory, at paris, who did much to preserve the traditions in book ornament of the early italian printers, while adding a touch of grace and fancy of their own, but for the most part the taste of book designers ran to seed after this period. the classical influence, which had been only felt as one among other influences, became more and more paramount over the designer, triumphing over the naturalistic feeling, and over the gothic and eastern ornamental feeling; so that it might be said that, whereas mediæval designers sought after colour and decorative beauty, renaissance designers were influenced by considerations of line, form, and relief. this may have been due in a great measure to the fact that the influence of the antique and classical art was a sculpturesque influence, mainly gathered from statues and relievos, gems and medals, and architectural carved ornaments, and more through roman than greek sources. while suggestions from such sources were but sparingly introduced at first, they gradually seemed to outweigh all other motives with the later designers, whose works often suggest that it is impossible to have too much roman costume or too many roman remains, which crowd their bible subjects, and fill their borders with overfed pediments, corpulent scrolls, and volutes, and their interstices with scattered fragments and attitudinizing personifications of classical mythology. the lavish use of such materials were enough to overweight even vigorous designers like virgil solis, who though able, facile, and versatile as he was, seems but a poor substitute for holbein. [illustration: french school. xvith century. designed by oronce finé. (paris, simon de colines, 1534.) (_comp. dürer's title to plutarch, 1513, and st. ambrosius, 1520._)] [sidenote: the renaissance.] what was at first an inspiriting, imaginative, and refining influence in art became finally a destructive force. the youthful spirit of the early renaissance became clouded and oppressed, and finally crushed with a weight of pompous pedantry and affectation. the natural development of a living style in art became arrested, and authority, and an endeavour to imitate the antique, took its place. the introduction of the copper-plate marked a new epoch in book illustration, and wood-engraving declined with its increased adoption, which, in the form it took, as applied to books, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was certainly to the detriment and final extinction of the decorative side. [sidenote: copper-plate.] it has already been pointed out how a copper-plate, requiring a different process of printing, and exhibiting as a necessary consequence such different qualities of line and effect, cannot harmonize with type and the conditions of the surface-printed page, since it is not in any mechanical relation with them. this mechanical relation is really the key to all good and therefore organic design; and therefore it is that design was in sounder condition when mechanical conditions and relations were simpler. a new invention often has a dislocating effect upon design. a new element is introduced, valued for some particular facility or effect, and it is often adopted without considering how--like a new element in a chemical combination--it alters the relations all round. copper-plate engraving was presumably adopted as a method for book-illustration for its greater fineness and precision of line, and its greater command of complexity in detail and chiaroscuro, for its purely pictorial qualities, in short, and its adoption corresponded to the period of the ascendancy of the painter above other kind of artists. [illustration: german school. late xvith century. virgil solis, bible. (frankfort, sigm. feyrabend, 1563.)] [illustration: venetian school. late xvith century. artist unknown. (venice, g. giolito, 1562.)] as regards the books of the seventeenth century, while "of making many books there was no end," and however interesting for other than artistic reasons, but few would concern our immediate purpose. woodcuts, headings, initials, tail-pieces, and printers' ornaments continued to be used, but greatly inferior in design and beauty of effect to those of the sixteenth century. the copper-plates introduced are quite apart from the page ornaments, and can hardly be considered decorative, although in the pompous title-pages of books of this period they are frequently formal and architectural enough, and, as a rule, founded more or less upon the ancient arches of triumph of imperial rome. histories and philosophical works, especially towards the end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, were embellished with pompous portraits in frames of more or less classical joinery, with shields of arms, the worse for the decorative decline of heraldry, underneath. the specimen given is a good one of its type from a venetian book of 1562, and gives the earlier form of this kind of treatment. travels and topographical works increased, until by the middle of the eighteenth century we have them on the scale of piranesi's scenic views of the architecture of ancient rome. the love of picturesqueness and natural scenery, or, perhaps, landscape gardening, gradually developing, concentrated interest on qualities the antithesis of constructive and inventive design, and drew the attention more and more away from them, until the painter, pure and simple, took all the artistic honours, and the days of the foundation of academies only confirmed and fixed the idea of art in this restricted sense in the public mind. [sidenote: hogarth.] hogarth, who availed himself of the copper-plate and publication in book form of his pictures, was yet wholly pictorial in his sympathies, and his instincts were dramatic and satiric rather than decorative. able painter and designer as he was in his own way, the interest of his work is entirely on that side, and is rather valuable as illustrating the life and manners of his time than as furnishing examples of book illustration, and his work certainly has no decorative aim, although no doubt quite harmonious in an eighteenth century room. [sidenote: stothard.] chodowiecki, who did a vast quantity of steel frontispieces and illustrations for books on a small scale, with plenty of character, must also be regarded rather as a maker of pictures for books than as a book decorator. he is sometimes mentioned as kindred in style to stothard, but stothard was much more of an idealist, and had, too, a very graceful decorative sense from the classical point of view. his book designs are very numerous, chiefly engraved on steel, and always showing a very graceful sense of line and composition. his designs to rogers' "poems," and "italy," are well-known, and, in their earlier woodcut form, his groups of amorini are very charming. flaxman had a high sense of sculpturesque style and simplicity, and great feeling and grace as a designer, but he can hardly be reckoned as a book decorator. his well-known series to homer, hesiod, æschylus, and dante are strictly distinct series of illustrative designs, to be taken by themselves without reference to their incorporation in, or relation to, a printed book. their own lettering and explanatory text is engraved on the same plate beneath them, and so far they are consistent, but are not in any sense examples of page treatment or spacing. [illustration: xixth century. william blake. "songs of innocence," 1789.] [sidenote: william blake.] we now come to a designer of a very different type, a type, too, of a new epoch, whatever resemblance in style and method there may be in his work to that of his contemporaries. william blake is distinct, and stands alone. a poet and a seer, as well as a designer, in him seemed to awake something of the spirit of the old illuminator. he was not content to illustrate a book by isolated copper or steel plates apart from the text, although in his craft as engraver he constantly carried out the work of others. when he came to embody his own thoughts and dreams, he recurred quite spontaneously to the methods of the maker of the ms. books. he became his own calligrapher, illuminator and miniaturist, while availing himself of the copper-plate (which he turned into a surface printing block) and the printing press for the reproduction of his designs, and in some cases for producing them in tints. his hand-coloured drawings, the borderings and devices to his own poems, will always be things by themselves. his treatment of the resources of black and white, and sense of page decoration, may be best judged perhaps by a reference to his "book of job," which contains a fine series of suggestive and imaginative designs. we seem to read in blake something of the spirit of the mediæval designers, through the sometimes mannered and semi-classic forms and treatment, according to the taste of his time; while he embodies its more daring aspiring thoughts, and the desire for simpler and more humane conditions of life. a revolutionary fire and fervour constantly breaks out both in his verse and in his designs, which show very various moods and impulses, and comprehend a wide range of power and sympathy. sometimes mystic and prophetic, sometimes tragic, sometimes simple and pastoral. blake, in these mixed elements, and the extraordinary suggestiveness of his work and the freedom of his thought, seems nearer to us than others of his contemporaries. in his sense of the decorative treatment of the page, too, his work bears upon our purpose. in writing with his own hand and in his own character the text of his poems, he gained the great advantage which has been spoken of--of harmony between text and illustration. they become a harmonious whole, in complete relation. his woodcuts to phillip's "pastoral," though perhaps rough in themselves, show what a sense of colour he could convey, and of the effective use of white line. [illustration: william blake. woodcut from phillip's "pastoral."] [sidenote: edward calvert.] among the later friends and disciples of blake, a kindred spirit must have been edward calvert, whose book illustrations are also decorations; the masses of black and white being effectively distributed, and they are full of poetic feeling, imagination, and sense of colour. i am indebted for the first knowledge of them to mr. william blake richmond, whose father, mr. george richmond, was a friend of william blake and calvert, as well as of john linnell and of samuel palmer, who carried on the traditions of this english poetic school to our own times; especially the latter, whose imaginative drawings--glowing sunsets over remote hill-tops, romantic landscapes, and pastoral sentiment--were marked features in the room of the old water colour society, up to his death in 1881. his etched illustrations to his edition of "the eclogues of virgil," are a fine series of beautifully designed and poetically conceived landscapes; but they are strictly a series of pictures printed separately from the text. palmer himself, in the account of the work given by his son, when he was planning the work, wished that william blake had been alive to have designed his woodcut headings to the "eclogues."[3] [3] a memoir of edward calvert has since been published by his son, fully illustrated, and giving the little engravings just spoken of. they were engraved by calvert himself, it appears, and i am indebted to his son, mr. john calvert, for permission to print them here. [sidenote: thomas bewick.] to thomas bewick and his school is due the revival of wood-engraving as an art, and its adaptation to book illustration, quite distinct, of course, from the old knife-work on the plank. bewick had none of the imaginative poetry of the designers just named, although plenty of humour and satire, which he compressed into his little tail-pieces. he shows his skill as a craftsman in the treatment of the wood block, in such works as his "british birds;" but here, although the wood-engraving and type may be said to be in mechanical relation, there is no sense of decorative beauty or ornamental spacing whatever, and, as drawings, the engravings have none of the designer's power such as we found in the illustrations of gesner and matthiolus at basle, in the middle of the sixteenth century. there is a very literal and plain presentment of facts as regards the bird and its plumage, but with scarcely more than the taste of the average stuffer and mounter in the composition of the picture, and no regard whatever to the design of the page as a whole. [illustration: xixth century. edward calvert. the return home. the flood. the chamber idyll. from the original blocks designed and engraved on wood by edward calvert. brixton, 1827-8-9.] [illustration: xixth century. edward calvert. the lady and the rooks. ideal pastoral life. the brook. from the blocks designed and engraved on wood by edward calvert. brixton, 1827-8-9.] it was, however, a great point to have asserted the claims of wood-engraving, and demonstrated its capabilities as a method of book illustration. [sidenote: the school of bewick.] bewick founded a school of very excellent craftsmen, who carried the art to a wonderful degree of finish. in both his and their hands it became quite distinct from literal translation of the drawing, which, unless in line, was treated by the engraver with a line, touch, and quality all his own, the use of white line,[4] and the rendering of tone and tint necessitating a certain power of design on his part, and giving him as important a position as the engraver on steel held in regard to the translation of a painted picture. [4] a striking instance of the use of white line is seen in the title page "pomerium de tempore," printed by johann otmar, augsburg, as early as 1502. it is possible, however, that this is a metal engraving. it is given overleaf. such a book as northcote's "fables," published 1828-29, each fable having a head-piece drawn on wood from northcote's design by william harvey--a well-known graceful designer and copious illustrator of books up to comparatively recent times--and with initial letters and tail-pieces of his own, shows the outcome of the bewick school. finally "fineness of line, tone, and finish--a misused word," as mr. w. j. linton says, "was preferred to the simple charm of truth." the wood engravers appeared to be anxious to vie with the steel engravers in the adornment of books, and so far as adaptation was concerned, they had certainly all the advantage on their side. the ornamental sense, however, had everywhere declined; pictorial qualities, fineness of line, and delicacy of tone, were sought after almost exclusively. [sidenote: stothard and turner.] such books as rogers's "poems" and "italy," with vignettes on steel from thomas stothard and j. m. w. turner, are characteristic of the taste of the period, and show about the high-water mark of the skill of the book engravers on steel. stothard's designs are the only ones which have claims to be decorative, and he is always a graceful designer. turner's landscapes, exquisite in themselves, and engraved with marvellous delicacy, do not in any sense decorate the page, and from that point of view are merely shapeless blots of printers' ink of different tones upon it, while the letterpress bears no relation whatever to the picture in method of printing or design, and has no independent beauty of its own. book illustrations of this type--and it was a type which largely prevailed during the second quarter of the century--are simply pictures without frames. [illustration: german school. xvith century. johann otmar. (augsburg, 1502.)] [sidenote: w. j. linton.] no survey of book illustration would be complete which contained no mention of william james linton--whom i have already quoted. i may be allowed to speak of him with a peculiar regard and respect, as i may claim him as a very kind early friend and master. as a boy i was, in fact, apprenticed to him for the space of three years, not indeed with the object of wielding the graver, but rather with that of learning the craft of a draughtsman on wood. this, of course, was before the days of the use of photography, which has since practically revolutionized the system not only of drawing for books but of engraving also. it was then necessary to draw on the block itself, and to thoroughly understand what kind of work could be treated by the engraver. i shall always regard those early years in mr. linton's office as of great value to me, as, despite changes of method and new inventions, it gave me a thorough knowledge of the mechanical conditions of wood-engraving at any rate, and has implanted a sense of necessary relationship between design, material, and method of production--of art and craft, in fact--which cannot be lost, and has had its effect in many ways. mr. linton, too, is himself a notable historic link, carrying on the lamp of the older traditions of wood-engraving to these degenerate days, when whatever wonders of literal translation, and imitation of chalk, charcoal, or palette and brushes, it has exhibited under spell of american enterprise--and i am far from denying its achievements as such--it cannot be said to have preserved the distinction and independence of the engraver as an artist or original designer in any sense. when not extinguished altogether by some form of automatic reproductive process, he is reduced to the office of "process-server"--he becomes the slave of the pictorial artist. the picturesque sketcher loves his "bits" and "effects," which, moreover, however sensational and sparkling they may be in themselves, have no reference as a rule to the decoration of the page, being in this sense no more than more or less adroit splashes of ink upon it, which the text, torn into an irregularly ragged edge, seems instinctively to shrink from touching, squeezing itself together like the passengers in a crowded omnibus might do, reluctantly to admit a chimney-sweep. while, by his early training and practice, he is united with the bewick school, mr. linton--himself a poet, a social and political thinker, a scholar, as well as designer and engraver--having been associated with the best-known engravers and designers for books during the middle of the century, and having had art of such a different temper and tendency as that of rossetti pass through his hands, and seen the effect of many new impulses, is finally face to face with what he himself has called the "american new departure." he is therefore peculiarly and eminently qualified for the work to which he has addressed himself--his great work on "the masters of wood engraving," which appeared in 1889, and is in every way complete as a history, learned in technique, and sumptuous as a book. i have not mentioned gustave doré, who fills so large a space as an illustrator of books, because though possessed of a weird imagination, and a poetic feeling for dramatic landscapes and grotesque characters, as well as extraordinary pictorial invention, the mass of his work is purely scenic, and he never shows the decorative sense, or considers the design in relation to the page. his best and most spirited and sincere work is represented by his designs in the "contes drolatiques." [sidenote: the pre-raphaelites.] the new movement in painting in england, known as the pre-raphaelite movement, which dates from about the middle years of our century, was in every way so remarkable and far-reaching, that it is not surprising that it should leave its mark upon the illustrations of books; particularly upon that form of luxury known as the modern gift-book, which, in the course of the twenty years following 1850, often took the shape of selections from or editions of the poets plentifully sprinkled with little pictorial vignettes engraved on wood. birket foster, john gilbert, and john tenniel were leading contributors to these collections. in 1857 appeared an edition of "tennyson's poems" from the house of moxon. this work, while having the general characteristics of the prevailing taste--an accidental collection of designs, the work of designers of varying degrees of substance, temper, and feeling, casually arranged, and without the slightest feeling for page decoration or harmony of text and illustration--yet possessed one remarkable feature which gives it a distinction among other collections, in that it contains certain designs of the chief leaders of the pre-raphaelite movement, d. g. rossetti, millais and holman hunt. [illustration: dante gabriel rossetti. from tennyson's poems. (moxon, 1857.)] i give one of the rossetti designs, "sir galahad"; the "s. cecilia" and the "morte d'arthur" were engraved by the brothers dalziel, the "sir galahad" by mr. w. j. linton. it seems to me that the last gives the spirit and feeling of rossetti, as well as his peculiar touch, far more successfully. these designs, in their poetic imagination, their richness of detail, sense of colour, passionate, mystic, and romantic feeling, and earnestness of expression mark a new epoch. they are decorative in themselves, and, though quite distinct in feeling, and original, they are more akin to the work of the mediæval miniaturist than anything that had been seen since his days. even here, however, there is no attempt to consider the page or to make the type harmonize with the picture, or to connect it by any bordering or device with the book as a whole, and being sandwiched with drawings of a very different tendency, their effect is much spoiled. in one or two other instances where rossetti lent his hand to book illustration, however, he is fully mindful of the decorative effect of the page. i remember a title page to a book of poems by miss christina rossetti, "goblin market," which emphatically showed this. the title-page designed for his "early italian poets" (given here), and his sonnet on the sonnet too, in which the design encloses the text of the poem, written out by himself, are other instances. [illustration: dante gabriel rossetti. design for a title page.] [sidenote: dalziel's bible gallery.] some of the designs made for a later work (dalziel's bible gallery, about 1865-70) also show the effect of the pre-raphaelite influence, as well as, in the case of the designs of sir frederic leighton and mr. poynter, the influence of continental ideas and training. i saw some of these drawings on the wood at the time, i remember. for study and research, and richness of resource in archæological detail, as well as firmness of drawing, i thought mr. poynter's designs were perhaps the most remarkable. a strikingly realized picture, and a bright and successful wood-engraving, is ford madox brown's design of "elijah and the widow's son." there is a dramatic intensity of expression about his other one also, "the death of eglon." still, at best, we find that these are but carefully studied pictures rendered on the wood. the pre-raphaelite designs show the most decorative sense, but they are now issued quite distinct from the page, whatever was the original intention, and while they may, as to scale and treatment, be justly considered as book illustrations, and as examples of our more important efforts in that direction at that time, they are not page decorations. one may speak here of an admirable artist we have lost, mr. albert moore, who so distinguished himself for his refined decorative sense in painting, and the outline group of figures given here shows that he felt the conditions of the book page and the press also. [illustration: albert moore. from milton's ode on christ's nativity. (nisbet, 1867.)] [sidenote: henry holiday.] mr. henry holiday is also a decorative artist of great refinement and facility. he has not done very much in book illustration, but his illustrations to lewis carroll's "hunting of the snark" were admirable. his decorative feeling in black and white, however, is marked, as may be seen in the title to "aglaia." [illustration: henry holiday. cover for a magazine.] [sidenote: toy books.] as, until recently, i suppose i was scarcely known out of the nursery, it is meet that i should offer some remarks upon children's books. here, undoubtedly, there has been a remarkable development and great activity of late years. we all remember the little cuts that adorned the books of our childhood. the ineffaceable quality of these early pictorial and literary impressions afford the strongest plea for good art in the nursery and the schoolroom. every child, one might say every human being, takes in more through his eyes than his ears, and i think much more advantage might be taken of this fact. if i may be personal, let me say that my first efforts in children's books were made in association with mr. edmund evans. here, again, i was fortunate to be in association with the craft of colour-printing, and i got to understand its possibilities. the books for babies, current at that time--about 1865 to 1870--of the cheaper sort called toy books were not very inspiriting. these were generally careless and unimaginative woodcuts, very casually coloured by hand, dabs of pink and emerald green being laid on across faces and frocks with a somewhat reckless aim. there was practically no choice between such as these and cheap german highly-coloured lithographs. the only attempt at decoration i remember was a set of coloured designs to nursery rhymes by mr. h. s. marks, which had been originally intended for cabinet panels. bold outlines and flat tints were used. mr. marks has often shown his decorative sense in book illustration and printed designs in colour, but i have not been able to obtain any for this book. it was, however, the influence of some japanese printed pictures given to me by a lieutenant in the navy, who had brought them home from there as curiosities, which i believe, though i drew inspiration from many sources, gave the real impulse to that treatment in strong outlines, and flat tints and solid blacks, which i adopted with variations in books of this kind from that time (about 1870) onwards. since then i have had many rivals for the favour of the nursery constituency, notably my late friend randolph caldecott, and miss kate greenaway, though in both cases their aim lies more in the direction of character study, and their work is more of a pictorial character than strictly decorative. the little preface heading from his "bracebridge hall" gives a good idea of caldecott's style when his aim was chiefly decorative. miss greenaway is the most distinctly so perhaps in the treatment of some of her calendars. [illustration: randolph caldecott. headpiece to "bracebridge hall." (macmillan, 1877.)] [illustration: kate greenaway. key block of title-page of "mother goose." (routledge, n.d.)] [sidenote: children's books.] children's books and so-called children's books hold a peculiar position. they are attractive to designers of an imaginative tendency, for in a sober and matter-of-fact age they afford perhaps the only outlet for unrestricted flights of fancy open to the modern illustrator, who likes to revolt against "the despotism of facts." while on children's books, the poetic feeling in the designs of e. v. b. may be mentioned, and i mind me of some charming illustrations to a book of mr. george macdonald's, "at the back of the north wind," designed by mr. arthur hughes, who in these and other wood engraved designs shows, no less than in his paintings, how refined and sympathetic an artist he is. mr. robert bateman, too, designed some charming little woodcuts, full of poetic feeling and controlled by unusual taste. they were used in macmillan's "art at home" series, though not, i believe, originally intended for it. [illustration: arthur hughes. from "at the back of the north wind." (strahan, 1871.)] [sidenote: japanese influence.] [sidenote: japanese illustration.] there is no doubt that the opening of japanese ports to western commerce, whatever its after effects--including its effect upon the arts of japan itself--has had an enormous influence on european and american art. japan is, or was, a country very much, as regards its arts and handicrafts with the exception of architecture, in the condition of a european country in the middle ages, with wonderfully skilled artists and craftsmen in all manner of work of the decorative kind, who were under the influence of a free and informal naturalism. here at least was a living art, an art of the people, in which traditions and craftsmanship were unbroken, and the results full of attractive variety, quickness, and naturalistic force. what wonder that it took western artists by storm, and that its effects have become so patent, though not always happy, ever since. we see unmistakable traces of japanese influences, however, almost everywhere--from the parisian impressionist painter to the japanese fan in the corner of trade circulars, which shows it has been adopted as a stock printers' ornament. we see it in the sketchy blots and lines, and vignetted naturalistic flowers which are sometimes offered as page decorations, notably in american magazines and fashionable etchings. we have caught the vices of japanese art certainly, even if we have assimilated some of the virtues. [illustration: arthur hughes. from "at the back of the north wind." (strahan, 1871.)] in the absence of any really noble architecture or substantial constructive sense, the japanese artists are not safe guides as designers. they may be able to throw a spray of leaves or a bird or fish across a blank panel or sheet of paper, drawing them with such consummate skill and certainty that it may delude us into the belief that it is decorative design; but if an artist of less skill essays to do the like the mistake becomes obvious. granted they have a decorative sense--the _finesse_ which goes to the placing of a flower in a pot, of hanging a garland on a wall, or of placing a mat or a fan--taste, in short, that is a different thing from real constructive power of design, and satisfactory filling of spaces. [illustration: robert bateman. from "art in the house." (macmillan, 1876.)] when we come to their books, therefore, marvellous as they are, and full of beauty and suggestion--apart from their naturalism, _grotesquerie_, and humour--they do not furnish fine examples of page decoration as a rule. the fact that their text is written vertically, however, must be allowed for. this, indeed, converts their page into a panel, and their printed books become rather what we should consider sets of designs for decorating light panels, and extremely charming as such. [illustration: robert bateman. from "art in the house." (macmillan, 1877.)] these drawings of hokusai's (_see_ nos. 10 and 11, appendix), the most vigorous and prolific of the more modern and popular school, are striking enough and fine enough, in their own way, and the decorative sense is never absent; controlled, too, by the dark border-line, they do fill the page, which is not the case always with the flowers and birds. however, i believe these holes, blanks, and spaces to let are only tolerable in a book because the drawing where it does occur is so skilful (except where the effect is intentionally open and light); and from tolerating we grow to like them, i suppose, and take them for signs of mastery and decorative skill. in their smaller applied ornamental designs, however, the japanese often show themselves fully aware of a systematic plan or geometric base: and there is usually some hidden geometric relation of line in some of their apparently accidental compositions. their books of crests and pattern plans show indeed a careful study of geometric shapes, and their controlling influence in designing. [sidenote: japanese printing.] as regards the history and use of printing, the japanese had it from the chinese, who invented the art of printing from wooden blocks in the sixth century. "we have no record," says professor douglas,[5] "as to the date when metal type was first used in china, but we find korean books printed as early as 1317 with movable clay or wooden type, and just a century later we have a record of a fount of metal type being cast to print an 'epitome of the eighteen historical records of china.'" printing is supposed to have been adopted in japan "after the first invasion of the korea by the armies of hideyoshi, in the end of the sixteenth century, when large quantities of movable type books were brought back by one of his generals, which formed the model upon which the japanese worked."[6] [5] guide to the chinese and japanese illustrated books in the british museum. [6] satow. "history of printing in japan." [illustration: robert bateman. from "art in the house." (macmillan, 1876.)] i have mentioned the american development of wood-engraving. its application to magazine illustration seems certainly to have developed or to have occurred with the appearance of very clever draughtsmen from the picturesque and literal point of view. [illustration: robert bateman. from "art in the house." (macmillan, 1876.)] [sidenote: joseph pennell.] the admirable and delicate architectural and landscape drawings of mr. joseph pennell, for instance, are well known, and, as purely illustrative work, fresh, crisp in drawing, and original in treatment, giving essential points of topography and local characteristics (with a happy if often quaint and unexpected selection of point of view, and pictorial limits), it would be difficult to find their match, but very small consideration or consciousness is shown for the page. if he will pardon my saying so, in some instances the illustrations are, or used to be, often daringly driven through the text, scattering it right and left, like the effect of a coach and four upon a flock of sheep. in some of his more recent work, notably in his bolder drawings such as those in the "daily chronicle," he appears to have considered the type relation much more, and shows, especially in some of his skies, a feeling for a radiating arrangement of line. [sidenote: american draughtsmen.] our american cousins have taught us another mode of treatment in magazine pages. it is what i have elsewhere described as the "card-basket style." a number of naturalistic sketches are thrown accidentally together, the upper ones hiding the under ones partly, and to give variety the corner is occasionally turned down. there has been a great run on this idea of late years, but i fancy it is a card trick about "played out." however opinions may vary, i think there cannot be a doubt that in elihu vedder we have an instance of an american artist of great imaginative powers, and undoubtedly a designer of originality and force. this is sufficiently proved from his large work--the illustrations to the "rubaiyat of omar khayyam." although the designs have no persian character about them which one would have thought the poem and its imagery would naturally have suggested, yet they are a fine series, and show much decorative sense and dramatic power, and are quite modern in feeling. his designs for the cover of "the century magazine" show taste and decorative feeling in the combination of figures with lettering. mr. edwin abbey is another able artist, who has shown considerable care for his illustrated page, in some cases supplying his own lettering; though he has been growing more pictorial of late: mr. alfred parsons also, though he too often seems more drawn to the picture than the decoration. mr. heywood sumner shows a charming decorative sense and imaginative feeling, as well as humour. on the purely ornamental side, the accomplished decorations of mr. lewis day exhibit both ornamental range and resource, which, though in general devoted to other objects, are conspicuous enough in certain admirable book and magazine covers he has designed. [illustration: heywood sumner. from "stories for children," by frances m. peard. (allen, 1896.)] [illustration: charles keene. illustration to "the good fight." ("once a week," 1859.) (_by permission of messrs. bradbury, agnew and co._)] [illustration: heywood sumner. from "stories for children," by f. m. peard. (allen, 1896.)] [sidenote: the "english illustrated magazine."] "the english illustrated magazine," under mr. comyns carr's editorship, by its use of both old and modern headings, initials and ornaments, did something towards encouraging the taste for decorative design in books. among the artists who designed pages therein should be named henry ryland and louis davis, both showing graceful ornamental feeling, the children of the latter artist being very charming. [illustration: louis davis. from the "english illustrated magazine" (1892).] [illustration: henry ryland. from the "english illustrated magazine" (1894).] but it would need much more space to attempt to do justice to the ability of my contemporaries, especially in the purely illustrative division, than i am able to give. [sidenote: "once a week."] the able artists of "punch," however, from john leech to linley sambourne, have done much to keep alive a vigorous style of drawing in line, which, in the case of mr. sambourne, is united with great invention, graphic force, and designing power. in speaking of "punch," one ought not to forget either the important part played by "once a week" in introducing many first-rate artists in line. in its early days we had charles keene illustrating charles reade's "good fight," with much feeling for the decorative effect of the old german woodcut. such admirable artists as m. j. lawless and frederick sandys--the latter especially distinguished for his splendid line drawings in "once a week" and "the cornhill;" one of his finest is here given, "the old chartist," which accompanied a poem by mr. george meredith. indeed, it is impossible to speak too highly of mr. sandys' draughtsmanship and power of expression by means of line; he is one of our modern english masters who has never, i think, had justice done to him. [illustration: f. sandys. "the old chartist." ("once a week," 1861.)] [illustration: m. j. lawless. "dead love." ("once a week," 1862.)] i can only just briefly allude to certain powerful and original modern designers of germany, where indeed, the old vigorous traditions of woodcut and illustrative drawing seem to have been kept more unbroken than elsewhere. on the purely character-drawing, pictorial and illustrative side, there is of course menzel, thoroughly modern, realistic, and dramatic. i am thinking more perhaps of such men as alfred rethel, whose designs of "death the friend" and "death the enemy," two large woodcuts, are well known. i remember also a very striking series of designs of his, a kind of modern "dance of death," which appeared about 1848, i think. schwind is another whose designs to folk tales are thoroughly german in spirit and imagination, and style of drawing. oscar pletsch, too, is remarkable for his feeling for village life and children, and many of his illustrations have been reproduced in this country. more recent evidence, and more directly in the decorative direction, of the vigour and ornamental skill of german designers, is to be found in those picturesque calendars, designed by otto hupp, which come from munich, and show something very like the old feeling of burgmair, especially in the treatment of the heraldry. i have ventured to give a page or two here from my own books, "grimm," "the sirens three," and others, which serve at least to show two very different kinds of page treatment. in the "grimm" the picture is inclosed in formal and rectangular lines, with medallions of flowers at the four corners, the title and text being written on scrolls above and below. in "the sirens three" a much freer and more purely ornamental treatment is adopted, and a bolder and more open line. a third, the frontispiece of "the necklace of princess fiorimonde," by miss de morgan, is more of a simple pictorial treatment, though strictly decorative in its scheme of line and mass. [sidenote: the influence of photography.] the facile methods of photographic-automatic reproduction certainly give an opportunity to the designer to write out his own text in the character that pleases him, and that accords with his design, and so make his page a consistent whole from a decorative point of view, and i venture to think when this is done a unity of effect is gained for the page not possible in any other way. indeed, the photograph, with all its allied discoveries and its application to the service of the printing press, may be said to be as important a discovery in its effects on art and books as was the discovery of printing itself. it has already largely transformed the system of the production of illustrations and designs for books, magazines, and newspapers, and has certainly been the means of securing to the artist the advantage of possession of his original, while its fidelity, in the best processes, is, of course, very valuable. its influence, however, on artistic style and treatment has been, to my mind, of more doubtful advantage. the effect on painting is palpable enough, but so far as painting becomes photographic, the advantage is on the side of the photograph. it has led in illustrative work to the method of painting in black and white, which has taken the place very much of the use of line, and through this, and by reason of its having fostered and encouraged a different way of regarding nature--from the point of view of accidental aspect, light and shade, and tone--it has confused and deteriorated, i think, the faculty of inventive design, and the sense of ornament and line; having concentrated artistic interest on the literal realization of certain aspects of superficial facts, and instantaneous impressions instead of ideas, and the abstract treatment of form and line. [illustration: walter crane. from grimm's "household stories." (macmillan, 1882.)] [illustration: walter crane. frontispiece. "princess fiorimonde" (macmillan, 1880).] [illustration: walter crane. "the sirens three" opening page. (macmillan, 1886.)] [sidenote: a decorative ideal.] this, however, may be as much the tendency of an age as the result of photographic invention, although the influence of the photograph must count as one of the most powerful factors of that tendency. thought and vision divide the world of art between them--our thoughts follow our vision, our vision is influenced by our thoughts. a book may be the home of both thought and vision. speaking figuratively, in regard to book decoration, some are content with a rough shanty in the woods, and care only to get as close to nature in her more superficial aspects as they can. others would surround their house with a garden indeed, but they demand something like an architectural plan. they would look at a frontispiece like a façade; they would take hospitable encouragement from the title-page as from a friendly inscription over the porch; they would hang a votive wreath at the dedication, and so pass on into the hall of welcome, take the author by the hand and be led by him and his artist from room to room, as page after page is turned, fairly decked and adorned with picture, and ornament, and device; and, perhaps, finding it a dwelling after his desire, the guest is content to rest in the ingle nook in the firelight of the spirit of the author or the play of fancy of the artist; and, weaving dreams in the changing lights and shadows, to forget life's rough way and the tempestuous world outside. [illustration] chapter iv. of the recent development of decorative book illustration and the modern revival of printing as an art. since the three cantor lectures, which form the substance of the foregoing chapters, were delivered by me at the rooms of the society of arts, some six or seven years have elapsed, and they have been remarkable for a pronounced revival of activity and interest in the art of the printer and the decorative illustrator, the paper-maker, the binder, and all the crafts connected with the production of tasteful and ornate books. publishers and printers have shown a desire to return to simpler and earlier standards of taste, and in the choice and arrangement of the type to take a leaf out of the book of some of the early professors of the craft. there has been a passion for tall copies and handmade paper; for delicate bindings, and first editions. there has grown up, too, quite a literature about the making of the book beautiful--whereof the ex-libris series alone is witness. we have, besides, the history of early printed books by mr. gordon duff, of early illustrated books by mr. pollard. the book-plate has been looked after by mr. egerton castle, and by a host of eager collectors ever since. mr. pennell is well known as the tutelary genius who takes charge of illustrators, and discourses upon them at large, and mr. strange bids us, none too soon, to become acquainted with our alphabets. i have not yet heard of any specialist taking up his parable upon "end papers," but, altogether, the book has never perhaps had so much writing outside of it, as it were, before. [sidenote: modern typography.] a brilliant band of illustrators and ornamentists have appeared, too, and nearly every month or so we hear of a new genius in black and white, who is to eclipse all others. for all that, even in the dark ages, between the mid-nineteenth century and the early eighties, one or two printers or publishers of taste have from time to time attempted to restrain the wild excesses of the trade-printer, with his terribly monotonous novelties in founts of type, alternately shouting or whispering, anon in the crushing and aggressive heaviness of block capitals, and now in the attenuated droop of italics. sad havoc has been played with the decorative dignity of the page, indeed, as well as with the form and breed of roman and gothic letters: one might have imagined that some mischievous printer's devil had thrown the apple of discord among the letters of the alphabet, so ingeniously ugly were so many modern so-called "fancy" types. we have had good work from the edinburgh houses, from messrs. r. and r. clark, and messrs. constable, and in london from the chiswick press, for instance, ever since the old days of its connection with the tasteful and well printed volumes from the house of pickering. various artists, too, in association with their book designs, from d. g. rossetti onwards, have designed their own lettering to be in decorative harmony with their designs. the century guild, with its "hobby horse" and its artists, like mr. horne and mr. selwyn image, did much to keep alive true taste in printing and book decoration, when they were but little understood.[7] there have been printers, too, such as mr. daniel at oxford, and de vinne at new york, who have from different points of view brought care and selection to the choice of type and the printing of books, and have adapted or designed type. [7] and they elicited a response from across the water in the shape of "the knight errant," the work of a band of young enthusiasts at boston, mass., of which mr. lee and mr. goodhue may be named as leading spirits--the latter being the designer of the cover of "the knight errant," and the former the printer. [illustration: selwyn image. from title-page. "the scottish art review" (scott, 1889).] [sidenote: the kelmscott press.] but the field for extensive artistic experiment in these directions was tolerably clear when mr. william morris turned his attention to printing, and, in 1891, founded the kelmscott press. so far as i am aware, he has been the first to approach the craft of practical printing from the point of view of the artist, and although, no doubt, the fact of being a man of letters as well was an extra advantage, his particular success in the art of printing is due to the former qualification. a long and distinguished practice as a designer in other matters of decorative art brought him to the nice questions of type design, its place upon the page, and its relation to printed ornament and illustration, peculiarly well equipped; while his historic knowledge and discrimination, and the possession of an extraordinarily rich and choice collection of both mediæval mss. and early printed books afforded him an abundant choice of the best models. in the results which have been produced at the kelmscott press we trace the effect of all these influences, acting under the strongest personal predilection, and a mediæval bias (in an artistic sense) which may be said to be almost exclusive. the kelmscott roman type ("golden") perhaps rather suggests that it was designed to anticipate and to provide against the demand of readers or book fanciers who could stand nothing else than roman, while the heart of the printer really hankered after black letter. but compare this "golden" type with most modern lower case founts, up to the date of its use, and its advantages both in form and substance are remarkable. modern type, obeying, i suppose, a resistless law of evolution, had reached, especially with american printers, the last stage of attenuation. the type of the kelmscott press is an emphatic and practical protest against this attenuation; just as its bold black and white ornaments and decorative woodcuts in open line are protests against the undue thinness, atmospheric effect, and diaphanous vignetting by photographic process and tone-block of much modern illustration, which may indeed _illustrate_, but does not _ornament_ a book. the paper, too, hand-made, rough-surfaced, and tough, is in equally strong contrast to the shiny hot-pressed machine-made paper, hitherto so much in vogue for the finer kinds of printing, and by which it alone became possible. the two kinds--the two ideals of printing--are as far apart as the poles. those who like the smooth and thin, will not like the bold and rough; but it looks as if the kelmscott standard had marked the turn of the tide, and that, judging from the signs of its influence upon printers and publishers generally, the feeling is running strongly in that direction. (one would think the human eyesight would benefit also.) this is the more remarkable since the kelmscott books are by no means issued at "popular prices," are limited in number, and for the most part are hardly for the general reader--unless that ubiquitous person is more erudite and omnivorous than is commonly credited. [illustration: william morris & walter crane. a page from "the glittering plain." (kelmscott press, 1894.)] books, however, which may be called monumental in the national and general sense, have been printed at the kelmscott press, such as shakespeare's "poems," more's "utopia"; and mr. morris's _magnum opus_, the folio chaucer, enriched by the designs of burne-jones, has recently been completed.[8] [8] completed, indeed, it might almost be said, with the life of the craftsman. it is sad to have to record, while these pages were passing through the press, our master printer--one of the greatest englishmen of our time--is no more. in mr. morris's ornaments and initials, nearly always admirably harmonious in their quantities with the character and mass of the type, we may perhaps trace mixed influences in design. in the rich black and white scroll and floral borders surrounding the title and first pages, we seem to see the love of close-filling and interlacement characteristic of celtic and byzantine work, with a touch of the feeling of the practical textile designer, which comes out again in the up-and-down, detached bold page ornaments, though here combined with suggestions from early english illuminated ms. these influences, however, only add to the distinctive character and richness of the effect, and no attempt is made to get beyond the simple conditions of bold black and white designs for the woodcut and the press. mr. morris adopts the useful canon in printing that the true page is what the open book displays--what is generally termed a double page. he considers them practically as two columns of type, necessarily separate owing to the construction of the book, but together as it lies open, forming a page of type, only divided by the narrow margin where the leaves are inserted in the back of the covers. we thus get the _recto_ and the _verso_ pages or columns, each with their distinctive proportions of margin, as they turn to the right or the left from the centre of the book--the narrowest margins being naturally inwards and at the top, the broadest those outwards and at the foot, which latter should be deepest of all. it may be called _the handle_ of the book, and there is reason in the broad margin, though also gracious to the eye, since the hand may hold the book without covering any of the type. it is really the due consideration of the necessity of these little utilities in the construction and use of a thing which enables the modern designer--separated as he is from the actual maker--to preserve that distinctive and organic character in any work so valuable, and always so fruitful in artistic suggestion, and this i think holds true of all design in association with handicraft. the more immediate and intimate--one might occasionally say imitative--influence of the kelmscott press may be seen in the extremely interesting work of a group of young artists who own their training to the birmingham school of art, as developed under the taste and ability of mr. taylor. three of these, mr. c. m. gere, mr. e. h. new, and mr. gaskin, have designed illustrations for some of mr. morris's kelmscott books, so that the connection of ideas is perfectly sequent and natural, and it is only as might be expected that the school should have the courage of their artistic opinions, and boldly carry into practice the results of their kelmscott inspirations, by printing a journal themselves, "the quest." [illustration: c. m. gere. from the "english illustrated magazine" (1893).] [illustration: (_by permission of the corporation of liverpool._) c. m. gere. from a drawing from his picture "the birth of st. george."] [illustration: arthur gaskin. from "hans andersen." (allen, 1893.)] [illustration: edmund h. new. process block from the original pen drawing.] [sidenote: the birmingham school.] mr. gere, mr. gaskin, and mr. new may be said to be the leaders of the birmingham school. mr. gere has engraved on wood some of his own designs, and he thoroughly realizes the ornamental value of bold and open line drawing in association with lettering, and is a careful and conscientious draughtsman and painter besides. a typical instance of his work is the "finding of st. george." mr. gaskin's christmas book, "king wenceslas," is, perhaps, his best work so far as we have seen. the designs are simple and bold, and in harmony with the subject, and good in decorative character. his illustrations to hans christian andersen's "fairy tales" are full of a naïve romantic feeling, and have much sense of the decorative possibilities of black and white drawing. mrs. gaskin's designs for children's books show a quaint fancy and ornamental feeling characteristic of the school. mr. new's feeling is for quaint streets and old buildings, which he draws with conscientious thoroughness, and attention to characteristic details of construction and local variety, without any reliance on accidental atmospheric effects, but using a firm open line and broad, simple arrangements of light and shade, which give them a decorative look as book illustrations. it is owing to these qualities that they are ornamental, and not to any actual ornament. indeed, in those cases where he has introduced borders to frame his pictures, he does not seem to me to be so successful as an ornamentist pure and simple, though in his latest work, the illustrations to mr. lane's edition of isaac walton's "compleat angler," there are pretty headings and tasteful title scrolls, as well as good drawings of places. [illustration: inigo thomas. from "the formal garden." (macmillan, 1892.)] the question of border is, however, always a most difficult one. one might compare the illustrative drawings of architecture and gardens of mr. inigo thomas in mr. reginald blomfield's work on gardens, with mr. new, as showing, with considerable decorative feeling, and feeling for the subject, a very different method of drawing, one might say more pictorial in a sense, the line being much thinner and closer, and in effect greyer and darker. the introduction of the titles helps the ornamental effect. [illustration: inigo thomas. from "the formal garden." (macmillan, 1892.)] among the leading artists of the birmingham school must be mentioned mr. h. payne, mr. bernard sleigh and mr. mason for their romantic feeling in story illustrations; miss bradley for her inventive treatment of crowds and groups of children; miss winifred smith for her groups of children and quaint feeling; mrs. arthur gaskin also for her pretty quaint fancies in child-life; miss mary newill for her ornamental rendering of natural landscape, as in the charming drawing of porlock; and miss celia levetus for her decorative feeling. it may, at any rate, i think be claimed for it, that both in method, sentiment, and subject, it is peculiarly english, and represents a sincere attempt to apply what may be called traditional principles in decoration to book illustration. among the recent influences tending to foster the feeling for the treatment of black and white design and book illustrations, _primarily from the decorative point of view_, the arts and crafts exhibition society may claim to have had some share, and they have endeavoured, by the tendency of the work selected for exhibition as well as by papers and lectures by various members on this point, to emphasize its importance and to spread clear principles, even at the risk of appearing partial and biased in one direction, and leaving many clever artists in black and white unrepresented. [sidenote: illustration and decoration.] now for graphic ability, originality, and variety, there can be no doubt of the vigour of our modern black and white artists. it is the most vital and really popular form of art at the present day, and it, far more than painting, deals with the actual life of the people; it is, too, thoroughly democratic in its appeal, and, associated with the newspaper and magazine, goes everywhere--at least, as far as there are shillings and pence--and where often no other form of art is accessible. but graphic power and original point of view is not always associated with the decorous ornamental sense. it is, in fact, often its very antithesis, although, on the other hand, good graphic drawing, governed by a sense of style to which economy or simplicity of line often leads, has ornamental quality. i should say at once that sincere graphic or naturalistic drawing, with individual character and style, is always preferable to merely lifeless, purely imitative, and tame repetition in so-called decorative work. [illustration: henry payne. from "a book of carols." (allen, 1893.)] [illustration: f. mason. from "huon of bordeaux." (allen, 1895.)] [illustration: gertrude m. bradley. the cherry festival. (from a pen drawing.)] [illustration: mary newill. porlock. (from a pen drawing.)] [sidenote: decorative principles.] while i claim that certain decorative considerations such as plan, scale balance, proportion, quantity, relation to type, are essential to really beautiful book illustration, i do not in the least wish to ignore the clever work of many contemporary illustrators because they only care to be illustrators pure and simple, and prefer to consider a page of paper, or any part of it unoccupied by type, as a fair field for a graphic sketch, with no more consideration for its relation to the page itself or the rest of the book, than an artist usually feels when he jots down something from life in his sketch-book. [illustration: celia levetus. a bookplate.] i think that book illustration should be something more than a collection of accidental sketches. since one cannot ignore the constructive organic element in the formation--the idea of the book itself--it is so far inartistic to leave it out of account in designing work intended to form an essential or integral part of that book. i do not, however, venture to assert that decorative illustration can only be done in _one_ way--if so, there would be an end in that direction to originality or individual feeling. there is nothing absolute in art, and one cannot dogmatize, but it seems to me that in all designs certain conditions must be acknowledged, and not only acknowledged but accepted freely, just as one would accept the rules of a game before attempting to play it. the rules, the conditions of a sport or game, give it its own peculiar character and charm, and by means of them the greatest amount of pleasure and keenest excitement is obtained in the long run, just as by observing the conditions, the limitations of an art or handicraft, we shall extract the greatest amount of pleasure for the worker and beauty for the beholder. [sidenote: the dial.] many remarkable designers in black and white of individuality and distinction, and with more or less strong feeling for decorative treatment, have arisen during the last few years. among these ought to be named messrs. ricketts and shannon, whose joint work upon "the dial" is sufficiently well known. they, too, have taken up printing as an art, mr. ricketts having designed his own type and engraved his own drawings on wood. they are excellent craftsmen as well as inventive and original artists of remarkable cultivation, imaginative feeling and taste. there is a certain suggestion of inspiration from william blake in mr. shannon sometimes, and of german or italian fifteenth century woodcuts in the work of mr. ricketts. the weird designs of mr. reginald savage should also be noted, as well as the charming woodcuts of mr. sturge moore. [illustration: c s. ricketts. from "hero and leander." (the vale press.)] another very remarkable designer in black and white is mr. aubrey beardsley. his work shows a delicate sense of line, and a bold decorative use of solid blacks, as well as an extraordinarily weird fancy and grotesque imagination, which seems occasionally inclined to run in a morbid direction. although, as in the case of most artists, one can trace certain influences which have helped in the formation of their style, there can be no doubt of his individuality and power. the designs for the work by which mr. beardsley became first known, i believe, the "morte d'arthur," alone are sufficient to show this. there appears to be a strong mediæval decorative feeling, mixed with a curious weird japanese-like spirit of _diablerie_ and grotesque, as of the opium-dream, about his work; but considered as book-decoration, though it is effective, the general abstract treatment of line, and the use of large masses of black and white, rather suggest designs intended to be carried out in some other material, such as inlay or enamel, for instance, in which they would gain the charm of beautiful surface and material, and doubtless look very well. mr. beardsley shows different influences in his later work in the "savoy," some of which suggests a study of eighteenth century designers, such as callot or hogarth, and old english mezzotints. [sidenote: the studio.] [sidenote: contemporary illustrators.] "the studio," which, while under the able and sympathetic editorship of mr. gleeson white, first called attention (by the medium of mr. pennell's pen) to mr. beardsley's work, has done good service in illustrating the progress of decorative art, both at home and abroad, and has from time to time introduced several young artists whose designs have thus become known to the public for the first time, such as mr. patten wilson, mr. laurence housman, mr. fairfax muckley, and mr. charles robinson, who all have their own distinctive feeling: the first for bold line drawings after the old german method with an abundance of detail; the second for remarkable taste in ornament, and a humorous and poetic fancy; the third for a very graceful feeling for line and the decorative use of black and white--especially in the treatment of trees and branch work, leaves and flowers associated with figures. mr. j. d. batten has distinguished himself for some years past as an inventive illustrator of fairy tales. in his designs, perhaps, he shows more of the feeling of the story-teller than the decorator in line, on the whole; his feeling as a painter, perhaps, not making him quite content with simple black and white; and, certainly, his charming tempera picture of the sleeping maid and the dwarfs, and his excellent printed picture of eve and the serpent, printed by mr. fletcher in the japanese method, might well excuse him if that is the case. mr. henry ford is another artist who has devoted himself with much success to fairy tale pictures in black and white, being associated with the fairy books of many different colours issued under the fairy godfather's wand (or pen) of mr. andrew lang. he, too, i think perhaps, cares more for the "epic" than the "ornamental" side of illustration; he generally shows a pretty poetical fancy. at the head, perhaps, of the newer school of decorative illustrators ought to be named mr. robert anning bell, whose taste and feeling for style alone gives him a distinctive place. he has evidently studied the early printers and book-decorators in outline of venice and florence to some purpose; by no means merely imitatively, but with his own type of figure and face, and fresh natural impressions, observes with much taste and feeling for beauty the limitations and decorative suggestions in the relations of line-drawing and typography. many of his designs to "the midsummer night's dream" are delightful both as drawings and as decorative illustrations. [illustration: charles ricketts. from "daphnis and chloe." (the vale press.)] the newest book illustrator is perhaps mr. charles robinson, whose work appears to be full of invention, though i have not yet had sufficient opportunities of doing it justice. he shows quaint and sometimes weird fancy, a love of fantastic architecture, and is not afraid of outline and large white spaces. [illustration: c. h. shannon. from "daphnis and chloe." (the vale press.)] mr. r. spence shows considerable vigour and originality. he distinguished himself first by some pen drawings which won the gold medal at the national competitions at south kensington, in which a romantic feeling and dramatic force was shown in designs of mediæval battles, expressed in forcible way, consistent with good line and effect in black and white. his design of the legend of st. cuthbert in "the quarto" is perhaps the most striking thing he has done. i am enabled to print one of his characteristic designs of battles. [illustration: aubrey beardsley. from the "morte d'arthur." (j. m. dent and co.)] mr. a. jones also distinguished himself about the same time as mr. spence in the national competition, and showed some dramatic and romantic feeling. the design given shows a more ornamental side. [illustration: aubrey beardsley. from the "morte d'arthur." (dent.)] mr. william strang, who has made his mark in etching as a medium for designs full of strong character and weird imagination, also shows in his processed pen drawings vigorous line and perception of decorative value, as in the designs to "munchausen," two of which are here reproduced. [sidenote: the evergreen.] the publication of "the evergreen" by patrick geddes and his colleagues at edinburgh has introduced several black and white designers of force and character--mr. robert burns and mr. john duncan, for instance, more particularly distinguishing themselves for decorative treatment in which one may see the influences of much fresh inspiration from nature. [illustration: aubrey beardsley. from the "morte d'arthur." (dent.)] [sidenote: contemporary illustrators.] miss mary sargant florence shows power and decorative feeling in her outline designs to "the crystal ball." mr. granville fell must be named among the newer school of decorative illustrators; and mr. paul woodroffe, who also shows much facility of design and feeling for old english life in his books of nursery rhymes; his recent work shows much refinement of drawing and feeling. miss alice b. woodward ought also to be named for her clever treatment of mediæval life in black and white. more recently, perhaps the most remarkable work in book illustration has been that of mr. e. j. sullivan, whose powerful designs to carlyle's "sartor resartus" are full of vigour and character. force and character, again, seem the leading qualities in the striking work of another of our recent designers in black and white, mr. nicholson, who also engraves his own work. [illustration: edmund j. sullivan. from "sartor resartus." (bell.)] mr. gordon craig adds printing to the crafts of black and white design and engraving, and has a distinctive feeling of his own. the revival in england of decorative art of all kinds during the last five and twenty years, culminating as it appears to be doing in book-design, has not escaped the eyes of observant and sympathetic artists and writers upon the continent. the work of english artists of this kind has been exhibited in germany, in holland, in belgium and france, and has met with remarkable appreciation and sympathy. [illustration: patten wilson. from the pen drawing.] [illustration: laurence housman. title-page of "the house of joy." (kegan paul, 1895.)] [illustration: l. fairfax muckley. from "frangilla." (elkin mathews.)] [illustration: charles robinson. from "a child's garden of verse." (lane, 1895.)] [illustration: charles robinson. from "a child's garden of verse." (lane, 1895.)] [illustration: charles robinson. from a "child's garden of verse." (lane, 1895.)] [sidenote: belgium.] in belgium, particularly, where there appears to be a somewhat similar movement in art, the work of the newer school of english designers has awakened the greatest interest. the fact that m. oliver georges destrée has made sympathetic literary studies of the english pre-raphaelites and their successors, is an indication of this. the exhibitions of the "xx^e siècle," "la libre æsthetique," at brussels and liège, are also evidence of the repute in which english designers are held. [illustration: j. d. batten. from "the arabian nights." (j. m. dent and co.)] [sidenote: the continent.] in holland, too, a special collection of the designs of english book illustrators has been exhibited at the hague and other towns under the auspices of m. loffelt. [illustration: j. d. batten. from "the arabian nights." (j. m. dent and co.)] at paris, also, the critics and writers on art have been busy in the various journals giving an account of the arts and crafts movement, the kelmscott press, and the school of english book-decorators in black and white, and the recent exhibitions of "l'art nouveau" and "le livre moderne" at paris are further evidence of the interest taken there in english art. [illustration: r. anning bell. from "a midsummer night's dream." (j. m. dent and co., 1895.)] [illustration: r. anning bell. from "beauty and the beast." (j. m. dent and co., 1894.)] [illustration: r. spence. from a pen drawing.] [illustration: alfred jones. a title-page.] [illustration: william strang. from "baron munchausen." (lawrence and bullen.)] [illustration: william strang. from "munchausen" (lawrence and bullen).] without any vain boasting, it is interesting to note that whereas most artistic movements affecting england are commonly supposed to have been imported from the continent, we are credited at last with a genuine home growth in artistic development. although, regarded in the large sense, country or nationality is nothing to art (being at its best always cosmopolitan and international) yet in the history of design, national and local varieties, racial characteristics and local developments must always have their value and historic interest. [illustration: h. granville fell. from "cinderella." (j. m. dent and co.)] [sidenote: belgium.] we may, perhaps, take it as a sympathetic response to english feeling, the appearance of such books as m. rijsselberghe's almanack, with its charming designs in line, from the house of dietrich at brussels. m. fernand knopff's work, original as it is, shows sympathy with the later english school of poetic and decorative design of which d. g. rossetti may be said to have been the father, though in book-illustration proper i am not aware that he has done much. in holland in black and white design there is m. g. w. dijsselhof and m. r. n. roland holst. [illustration: john duncan. from "the evergreen." (geddes and co., 1895.)] [illustration: john duncan. from "the evergreen." (geddes and co., 1895.)] [illustration: robert burns. from "the evergreen." (geddes and co., 1895.)] [illustration: mary sargant florence. from "the crystal ball." (bell, 1894.)] [illustration: paul woodroffe. from "second book of nursery rhymes." (george allen, 1896.)] [illustration: paul woodroffe. from "nursery rhymes." (bell, 1895.)] [sidenote: germany.] in germany, such original and powerful artists as josef sattler and franz stück; the former seemingly inheriting much of the grim and stern humour of the old german masters, as well as their feeling for character and treatment of line, while his own personality is quite distinct. while sattler is distinctly gothic in sympathy, stück seems more to lean to the pagan or classical side, and his centaurs and graces are drawn with much feeling and character. we have already mentioned the "munich calendar," designed by otto hupp, which is well known for the vigour and spirit with which the artist has worked after the old german manner, with bold treatment of heraldic devices, and has effectively used colour with line work. the name of seitz appears upon some effectively designed allegorical figures, one of gutenberg at his press. [sidenote: "jugend."] "jugend," a copiously illustrated journal published at munich by dr. hirth, shows that there are many clever artists with a more or less decorative aim in illustration, which in others seems rather overgrown with grotesque feeling and morbid extravagance, but there is an abundance of exuberant life, humour, whimsical fancy and spirit characteristic of south germany. [illustration: m. rijsselberghe.] "ver sacrum," the journal of the group of the "secession" artists of vienna, gives evidence of considerable daring and resource in black and white drawing, though mainly of an impressionistic or pictorial aim. m. larisch, of vienna, has distinguished himself by his works upon the artistic treatment and spacing of letters which contain examples of the work of different artists both continental and english. french artists in decoration of all kinds have been so largely influenced or affected by the japanese, and have so generally approached design from the impressionistic, dramatic, or accidental-individualist point of view, that the somewhat severe limits imposed by a careful taste in all art with an ornamental purpose, does not appear to have greatly attracted them. at all times it would seem that the dramatic element is the dominant one in french art, and this, though of course quite reconcilable with the ornament instinct, is seldom found perfectly united with it, and, where present, generally gets the upper hand. the older classical or renaissance ornamental feeling of designers like galland and puvis de chavannes seems to be dying out, and the modern _chic_ and daring of a cheret seems to be more characteristic of the moment. [sidenote: grasset.] yet, on the other hand, among the newer french school, we find an artist of such careful methods and of such strong decorative instinct as grasset, on what i should call the architectural side in contradistinction to the impressionistic. his work, though quite characteristically french in spirit and sentiment, is much more akin in method to our english decorative school. in fact, many of grasset's designs suggest that he has done what our men have done, studied the art of the middle ages from the remains in his own country, and grafted upon this stock the equipment and sentiment of a modern. [sidenote: lettering.] in his book illustrations he seems, however, so far as i know, to lean rather towards illustrations pure and simple, rather than decoration, and exhibits great archæological resource as well as romantic feeling in such designs as those to "les cinq fils d'aymon." the absence of book decoration in the english sense, in france, however, may be due to the want of beauty or artistic feeling in the typographer's part of the work. modern french type has generally assumed elongated and meagre forms which are not suggestive of rich decorative effect, and do not combine with design: nor, so far as i have been able to observe, does there seem to be any feeling amongst the designers for the artistic value of lettering, or any serious attempt to cultivate better forms. the poster-artist, to whom one would think, being essential to his work, the value of lettering in good forms would appeal, generally tears the roman alphabet to tatters, or uses extremely debased and ugly varieties. more recently, however, french designers and printers appear to be giving attention to the subject, and newly designed types are appearing; one firm at paris having issued a fount designed by eugene grasset. the charming designs of boutet de monvel should be named as among the most distinctive of modern french book illustrations, for their careful drawing and decorative effect, although, being in colours, they hardly belong to the same category as the works we have been considering, and the relation of type to pictures leaves something to be desired. a respect for form and style in lettering, is, i take it, one of the most unmistakable indications of a good decorative sense. a true ornamental instinct can produce a fine ornamental effect by means of a mass of good type or ms. lettering alone: and considered as accompaniments or accessories to design they are invaluable, as presenting opportunities of contrast or recurrence in mass or line to other elements in the composition. to the decorative illustrator of books they are the unit or primal element from which he starts. [illustration: walter crane. from spenser's "faerie queene." (george allen, 1896.)] [sidenote: italy.] the publication at venice of "l'arte della stampa nel renascimento italiano venezia," by ferd. ongania--a series of reproductions of woodcuts, ornaments, initials, title-pages, etc., from some of the choicest of the books of the early venetian and florentine printers, may perhaps be taken as a sign of the growth of a similar interest in book decoration in that country, unless, like other works, it is intended chiefly for the foreign visitor. a sumptuously printed quarterly on art, which has of late made its appearance at rome, "il convito," seems to show an interest in the decorative side, and does not confine its note on illustrations to italian work, but gives reproductions from the works of d. g. rossetti, and from elihu vedder's designs to "the rubaiyat of omar khayyam." certainly if the possession of untold treasures of endlessly beautiful invention in decorative art, and the tradition of ancient schools tend to foster and to stimulate original effort, one would think that it should be easier for italian artists than those of other countries to revive something of the former decorative beauty of the work of her printers and designers in the days of aldus and ratdolt, of the bellini and botticelli. it does not appear to be enough, however, to possess the seed merely; or else one might say that where a museum is, there will the creative art spring also; it is necessary to have the soil also; to plough and sow, and then to possess our souls in patience a long while ere the new crop appears, and ere it ripens and falls to our sickle. it is only another way of saying, that art is the outcome of life, not of death. artists may take motives or inspiration from the past, or from the present, it matters not, so long as their work has life and beauty--so long as it is organic, in short. [illustration: howard pyle. from "otto of the silver hand." (scribner.)] [sidenote: howard pyle.] i have already alluded to the movement in boston among a group of cultured young men--mr. lee the printer and his colleagues--more or less inspired by "the hobby horse" and the kelmscott press, which resulted in the printing of "the knight errant." [illustration: howard pyle. from "otto of the silver hand." (scribner.)] some years before, however, mr. howard pyle distinguished himself as a decorative artist in book designs, which showed, among other more modern influences, a considerable study of the method of albert dürer. i give a reproduction which suggests somewhat the effect of the famous copperplate of erasmus. he sometimes uses a lighter method, such as is shown in the drawings to "the one horse shay." of late in his drawings in the magazines, mr. pyle has adopted the modern wash method, or painting in black and white, in which, however able in its own way, it is distinctly at a considerable loss of individuality and decorative interest.[9] [9] i am informed that the adoption of the wash method is not recent with mr. pyle, but that he adapts his method to his matter. this does not, however, affect the opinion expressed as to the relative artistic value of wash and line work. [illustration: will. h. bradley. a cover design. (chicago, 1894.)] [illustration: will. h. bradley. prospectus of "bradley his book." (springfield, mass., 1896.)] [illustration: will. h. bradley. design for "the chap-book." (chicago, 1895.)] [sidenote: "the inland printer."] [sidenote: american artists.] another artist of considerable invention and decorative ability has recently appeared in america, mr. will. h. bradley, whose designs for "the inland printer" of chicago are remarkable for careful and delicate line-work, and effective treatment of black and white, and showing the influence of the newer english school with a japanese blend. [illustration] chapter v. of general principles in designing book ornaments and illustrations: considerations of arrangement, spacing, and treatment. it may not be amiss to add a few words as a kind of summary of general principles to which we seem to be naturally led by the line of thought i have been pursuing on this subject of book decoration. as i have said, there is nothing final or absolute in design. it is a matter of continual re-arrangement, re-adjustment, and modification or even transformation of certain elements. a kind of imaginative chemistry of forms, masses, lines, and quantities, continually evolving new combinations. but each artistic problem must be solved on its merits, and as each one varies and presents fresh questions, it follows that no absolute rules or principles can be laid down to fit particular cases, although as the result of, and evolved out of, practice, certain general guiding principles are valuable, as charts and compasses by which the designer can to a certain extent direct his course. to begin with, the enormous variety in style, aim, and size of books, makes the application of definite principles difficult. one must narrow the problem down to a particular book, of a given character and size. apart from the necessarily entirely personal and individual questions of selection of subject, motive, feeling or sentiment, consider the conditions of the book-page. take an octavo page--such as one of those of this volume. although we may take the open book with the double-columns as the page proper, in treating a book for illustration, we shall be called upon sometimes to treat them as single pages. but whether single or double, each has its limits in the mass of type forming the full page or column which gives the dimensions of the designer's panel. the whole or any part of this panel may be occupied by design, and one principle of procedure in the ornamental treatment of a book is to consider any of the territory not occupied by the type as a fair field for accompanying or terminating design--as, for instance, at the ends of chapters, where more or less of the type page is left blank. unless we are designing our own type, or drawing our lettering as a part of the design, the character and form of the type will give us a sort of gauge of degree, or key, to start with, as to the force of the black and white effect of our accompanying designs and ornaments. for instance, one would generally avoid using heavy blacks and thick lines with a light open kind of type, or light open work with very heavy type. (even here one must qualify, however, since light open pen-work has a fine and rich effect with black letters sometimes.) [illustration: walter crane. from spenser's "faerie queene." (george allen, 1896.)] [illustration: walter crane. from spenser's "faerie queene." (george allen, 1896.)] [illustration: walter crane. from spenser's "faerie queene." (george allen, 1896.)] my own feeling--and designing must always finally be a question of individual feeling--is rather to acknowledge the rectangular character of the type page in the shape of the design; even in a vignette, by making certain lines extend to the limits, so as to convey a feeling of rectangular control and compactness, as in the tail-piece given here from "the faerie queene." [sidenote: of end papers.] but first, if one may, paradoxically, begin with "end paper" as it is curiously called, there is the lining of the book. here the problem is to cover two leaves entirely in a suggestive and agreeable, but not obtrusive way. one way is to design a repeating pattern much on the principle of a small printed textile, or miniature wall-paper, in one or more colours. something delicately suggestive of the character and contents of the book is in place here, but nothing that competes with the illustrations proper. it may be considered as a kind of quadrangle, forecourt, or even a garden or grass plot before the door. we are not intended to linger long here, but ought to get some hint or encouragement to go on into the book. the arms of the owner (if he is fond of heraldry, and wants to remind the potential book borrower to piously return) may appear hereon--the book-plate. if we are to be playful and lavish, if the book is for christmastide or for children, we may catch a sort of fleeting butterfly idea on the fly-leaves before we are brought with becoming, though dignified curiosity, to a short pause at the half-title. having read this, we are supposed to pass on with somewhat bated breath until we come to the double doors, and the front and full title are disclosed in all their splendour. [sidenote: of frontispieces and title pages.] even here, though, the whole secret of the book should not be let out, but rather played with or suggested in a symbolic way, especially in any ornament on the title-page, in which the lettering should be the chief ornamental feature. a frontispiece may be more pictorial in treatment if desired, and it is reasonable to occupy the whole of the type page both for the lettering of title and the picture in the front; then, if richness of effect is desired, the margin may be covered also almost to the edge of the paper by inclosing borders, the width of these borders varying according to the varying width of the paper margin, and in the same proportions, _recto_ and _verso_ as the case may be, the broad side turning outwards to the edge of the book each way. this is a plan adopted in the opening of the kelmscott books, of which that of "the glittering plain," given here, may be taken as a type. though mr. morris places his title page on the left to face the opening of first chapter, and does not use a frontispiece, he obtains a remarkably rich and varied effect of black and white in his larger title pages by placing in his centre panel strong black gothic letters; or, as in the case of the kelmscott chaucer, letters in white relief upon a floral arabesque adapted to the space, and filling the field with a lighter floral network in open line, and enclosing this again with the rich black and white marginal border. [illustration: from "the story of the glittering plain."] [illustration: william morris and walter crane. (kelmscott press, 1894.)] if i may refer again to my own work, in the designs to "the faerie queene" the full-page designs are all treated as panels of figure design, or pictures, and are enclosed in fanciful borders, in which subsidiary incidents of characters of the poem are introduced or suggested, somewhat on the plan of mediæval tapestries. a reduction of one of these is given above. [sidenote: of outline and borders.] a full-page design may, thus inclosed and separated from the type pages, bear carrying considerably further, and be more realized and stronger in effect than the ornaments of the type page, just as in the illuminated mss. highly wrought miniatures were worked into inclosing borders on the centres of large initial letters, which formed a broad framework, branching into light floral scroll or leaves upon the margin and uniting with the lettering. much depends upon the decorative scheme. with appropriate type, a charming, simple, and broad effect can be obtained by using outline alone, both for the figure designs or pictures, and the ornament proper. the famous designs of the "hypnerotomachia poliphili," 1499, may be taken as an instance of this treatment; also the "fasciculus medicinæ," 1495, "æsop's fables," 1493, and other books of the venetian printers of about this date or earlier, which are generally remarkable for fine quality of their outline and the refinement and grace of their ornaments. one of the most effective black and white page borders of a purely ornamental kind is one dated 1478, inclosing a page of roman type, (_see_ illustration, venice, 1478, pomponius mela). a meandering arabesque of a rose-stem leaf and flower, white on a black ground, springing from a circle in the broad margin at the bottom, in which are two shields of arms. a tolerably well known but most valuable example. [sidenote: of designing type.] the opening chapter of a book affords an opportunity to the designer of producing a decorative effect by uniting ornament with type. he can place figure design in a frieze-shaped panel (say of about a fourth of the page) for the heading, and weight it by a bold initial letter designed in a square, from which may spring the stem and leaves of an arabesque throwing the letter into relief, and perhaps climbing up and down the margin, and connecting the heading with the initial. the initialed page from "the faerie queene" is given as an example of such treatment. the title, or any chapter inscription, if embodied in the design of the heading, has a good effect. harmony between type and illustration and ornament can never, of course, be quite so complete as when the lettering is designed and drawn as a part of the whole, unless the type is designed by the artist. it entails an amount of careful and patient labour (unless the inscriptions are very brief) few would be prepared to face, and would mean, practically, a return to the principle of the block book. [illustration: italian school. xvth century. ketham's "fasciculus medicinæ." (venice, de gregoriis, 1493.)] [illustration: italian school. xvth century. pomponius mela. (venice, ratdolt, 1478.)] even in these days, however, books have been entirely produced by hand, and, for that matter, if beauty were the sole object, we could not do better than follow the methods of the scribe, illuminator, and miniaturist of the middle ages. but the world clamours for many copies (at least in some cases), and the artist must make terms with the printing press if he desires to live. it would be a delightful thing if every book were different--a millennium for collectors! perhaps, too, it might be a wholesome regulation at this stage if authors were to qualify as scribes (in the old sense) and write out their own works in beautiful letters! how it would purify literary style! there is no doubt that great attention has been given to the formation of letters by designers in the past. [sidenote: the dürer alphabets.] albrecht dürer, in his "geometrica," for instance, gives an elaborate system for drawing the roman capitals, and certainly produces by its means a fine alphabet in that type of letter, apparently copied from ancient roman inscriptions. he does the same for the black letters also.[10] [10] reproduced in "alphabets," by e. f. strange (pp. 244-250), ex-libris series. bell. for the roman capitals he takes a square, and divides it into four equal parts for the a. the horizontal line across the centre gives the crossbar. the sides of the square are divided into eighths, and one eighth is measured at the top of vertical dividing line, one eighth again from each bottom corner of the square to these points, the limbs of the a, are drawn; the up stroke and cross-bar being one-sixteenth, the down stroke being one-eighth of the square in thickness. circles of one-fourth of the square in diameter are struck at the top of the a where the limbs meet, and at lower corners, to form the outside serifs of the feet, the inside serifs being formed by circles of one-sixteenth diameter; and so the a is complete. various sub-divisions of the square are given as guides in the formation of the other letters less symmetrical, and two or three forms are given of some, such as the o, and the r, q, and s; but the same proportions of thick and thin strokes are adhered to, and the same method of forming the serifs. for the black letter (lower case german) text the proportions are five squares for the short letters i, n, m, u, the space between the strokes of a letter like u being one-third the thickness of the stroke, the top and bottom one being covered with one square, set diamond-wise. eight squares for the long letters l, h, b; the tops cut off diagonally, the feet turned diamond-wise. this is interesting as showing the care and sense of proportion which may be expended upon the formation of lettering. it also gives a definite standard. the division of eighths and fourths in the roman capital is noteworthy, too, in connection with the eight-heads standard of proportion for the human body; and the square basis reminds one of vitruvius, and demonstration of the inclosure of the human figure with limbs in extension by the square and the circle. those interested in the history of the form of lettering cannot do better than consult mr. strange's book on "alphabets" in this series. it might be possible to construct an actual theory of the geometric relation of figure design, ornamental forms, and the forms of lettering, text, or type upon them, but we are more concerned with the free artistic invention for the absence of which no geometric rules can compensate. the invention, the design, comes first in order, the rules and principles are discovered afterwards, to confirm and establish their truth--would that they did not also sometimes crystallize their vitality! i have spoken of the treatment of headings and initials at the opening of a chapter. in deciding upon such an arrangement the designer is more or less committed to carrying it out throughout the book, and would do well to make his ornamental spaces, and the character, treatment, and size of his initials agree in the corresponding places. this would still leave plenty of room for variety of invention in the details. the next variety of shape in which he might indulge would be the half-page, generally an attractive proportion for a figure design, and if repeated on the opposite page or column, the effect of a continuous frieze can be given, which is very useful where a procession of figures is concerned, and the slight break made by the centre margin is not objectionable. the same plan may be adopted when it is desired to carry a full-page design across, or meet it by a corresponding design opposite. [sidenote: of head and tail-pieces.] then we come to the space at the end of the chapter. for my part, i can never resist the opportunity for a tailpiece if it is to be a fully illustrated work, though some would let it severely alone, or be glad of the blank space to rest a bit. i think this lets one down at the end of the chapter too suddenly. the blank, the silence, seems too dead; one would be glad of some lingering echo, some recurring thought suggested by the text; and here is the designer's opportunity. it is a tight place, like the person who is expected to say the exactly fit thing at the right moment. neither too much, or too little. a quick wit and a light hand will serve the artist in good stead here. [sidenote: of tail-pieces.] page-terminations or tailpieces may of course be very various in plan, and their style correspond with or be a variant of the style of the rest of the decorations of the book. certain types are apt to recur, but while the bases may be similar, the superstructure of fancy may vary as much as we like. there is what i should call the mouse-tail termination, formed on a gradually diminishing line, starting the width of the type, and ending in a point. printers have done it with dwindling lines of type, finishing with a single word or an aldine leaf. then there is the plan of boldly shutting the gate, so to speak, by carrying a panel of design right across, or filling the whole of the remaining page. this is more in the nature of additional illustration to carry on the story, and might either be a narrow frieze-like strip, or a half, or three-quarter page design as the space would suggest. there is the inverted triangular plan, and the shield or hatchment form. the garland or the spray, sprig, leaf, or spot, or the pen flourish glorified into an arabesque. the medallion form, or seal shape, too, often lends itself appropriately to end a chapter with, where an inclosed figure or symbol is wanted. one principle in designing isolated ornaments is useful: to arrange the subject so that its edges shall touch a graceful boundary, or inclosing shape, whether the boundary is actually defined by inclosing lines or frame-work or not. floral, leaf, and escutcheon shapes are generally the best, but free, not rigidly geometrical. the value of a certain economy of line can hardly be too much appreciated, and the perception of the necessity of recurrence of line, and a re-echoing in the details of leading motives in line and mass. it is largely upon such small threads that decorative success and harmonious effect depend, and they are particularly closely connected with the harmonious disposition of type and ornamental illustration which we have been considering. [sidenote: the end.] it would be easy to fill volumes with elaborate analysis of existing designs from this point of view, but designs, to those who feel them, ought to speak in their own tongue for themselves more forcibly than any written explanation or commentary; and, though of making of many books there is no end, every book must have its end, even though that end to the writer, at least, may seem to leave one but at the beginning. [illustration] [illustration: arthur hughes. from "good words for the young." (strahan, 1871.)] [sidenote: notes for new edition.] chap. iv. of the recent development, etc., p. 189. in addition to the names of the modern printers and presses mentioned in this chapter must now be added those of several workers in the field of artistic printing who have distinguished themselves since the kelmscott press. mr. cobden sanderson has turned from the outside adornment of the book to the inside, and, in association with mr. emery walker, whose technical knowledge and taste was so valuable on the kelmscott press, has founded "the doves press" at hammersmith, and has issued books remarkable for the pure severity of their typography, founded mainly upon jenson. mr. st. john hornby also must be named, more particularly for his revival of a very beautiful italian type founded upon the type of sweynheim and pannartz, the first printers in italy. the greek type designed by the late robert proctor, based on the alcala fount used in the new testament of the complutensian polyglot bible of 1514, should be mentioned as the only modern attempt to improve the printing of greek, with the exception of mr. selwyn image's, which perhaps suffered by being cut very small to suit commercial exigences. mr. c. r. ashbee, too, has established a very extensive printery, "the essex house press," which he has since transplanted to chipping camden. he had the assistance of several of the workers from the kelmscott press, and has produced many excellently printed books of late years, such as the benvenuto cellini, and including such elaborate productions as edward vi.'s prayer book, with wood-engravings and initials and ornaments as well as the type of his own design. an interesting series of the english poets, also, with frontispieces by various artists, has been issued from this press. p. 218. the death of aubrey beardsley since the notice of his work was written must be recorded, and it would seem as if the loss of this extraordinary artist marked the decadence of our modern decadents. a perhaps equally remarkable designer, however, whose work has a certain kinship in some features with beardsley's, is mr. james syme, whose work has not before been noticed in this book. he has a powerful and weird imagination associated with grotesque and satirical design, and considerable skill in the use of line and black and white effect. p. 267. in writing of book illustrators in france, a leading place should be given to m. boutet de monvel, whose delicate drawing, tasteful colouring, and sense of decorative effect, combined with abundant resource in variety of costume, and skilful treatment of crowds, mediæval battle scenes, and ceremonial groups are seen to full advantage in his recent "ste. jean d'arc," although no particular relationship between illustration and type is attempted. p. 268. a recent proof of the revival of taste in book-decoration and artistic printing in italy may be referred to here as showing the influence of the english movement. i mean the edition of gabriele d'annunzio's "francesca da rimini" with illustrations or rather decorations by adolphus de karolis, printed by the fratelli treves in 1902. this book shows unmistakable signs of study of recent english work, as well as of the early printers of venice, and it is strange to think how sometimes artists of one country may come back to an appreciation of a particular period of their own historic art by the aid of foreign spectacles. among the original designers of modern italy may be mentioned g. m. mataloni, who shows remarkable powers of draughtsmanship and invention, largely spent upon posters and ex-libris. italy, too, has an able critic and chronicler of the work of book-designers of all countries in sig. vittorio pica of naples, whose "attraverso gli albi e le cartelle" (istituto italiano d'arti grafiche editore bergamo) is very comprehensive. in vienna prof. larisch recently published a book of alphabets designed by various artists of europe; germany, france, italy, and england being represented. the group of viennese artists known as the "secession" have issued "ver sacrum," a monthly journal, or magazine, giving original designs of various artists more or less in the direction of book-decoration. latterly the designs offered seemed to lose themselves either in an affectation of primitiveness and almost infantine simplicity, or the wildest grotesqueness and eccentricity. appendix. [illustration: headpiece by alan wright.] [illustration: i. irish. vith century. book of kells. [_see page 13._] [illustration: ii. english. xivth century. arundel psalter, 1339. [_see page 16._] [illustration: iii. english. xivth century. arundel psalter, 1339. [_see page 16._] [illustration: iv. english. xivth century. arundel psalter, 1339. [_see page 16._] [illustration: v. french. xivth century. epistle of philippe de comines to richard ii. [_see page 23._] [illustration: vi. french. xvth century. bedford hours, page of calendar, a.d. 1422. [_see page 23._] [illustration: vii. french. xvth century. bedford hours, a.d. 1422. [_see page 23._] [illustration: viii. english. late xvth century. romance of the rose. [_see page 29._] [illustration: ix. italian. xvth century. initial letter, choir book, siena (1468----1472-3). [_see page 30._] [illustration: x. japanese. xixth century. hokusai. [_see page 163._] [illustration: xi. japanese. xixth century. hokusai. [_see page 163._] index. abbey, edwin, 166. _æsop's fables_ (venice, 1493), 293. ---(ulm, 1498), 53. ---(naples, 1485), 55. "aglaia," cover for, 154, 157. alciati's emblems, 109. aldus, 62, 63, 65, 108. alphabet (dürer's), 299. _alphabets_ (bell, 1894), 299, 300. amman, jost, 96. american wood-engraving, 148, 164. _andersen's fairy tales_ (allen, 1893), 199. anglo-saxon mss., 14, _et seq._ apocalypse, ms., 14th cent., 19. _arabian nights_ (dent, 1893), 241, 242. arndes, steffen, 47. _art in the house_ (macmillan, 1876), 160, 162-165. arts and crafts exhibition society, 207. arundel psalter, ms., 16. aulus, gellius (venice, 1509), 73. bämler, 15. bateman, robert, 160, 162-165. batten, j. d., 222, 241, 242. beardsley, aubrey, 218, 221, 225, 226, 227. _beauty and the beast_ (dent, 1894), 245. _bedford hours_, ms., 23, 24, 38. beham, hans sebald, 96, 113. bell, r. a., 222, 243, 245. bellini, giovanni, 62, 69. bernard, solomon, 110. bewick, thomas, 140, 145. bible (cologne, 1480), 21. ---(lübeck, 1494), 47. ---(mainz, 1455), 49. ---(frankfort, 1563), 53, 131. bible cuts (holbein), 92, 95, 96. birmingham school, 203, 204, 207. blake, william, 136-139. block books, 46. blomfield, reginald, 207. boccaccio's _de claris mulieribus_ (ulm, 1473), 7, 11; (ferrara, 1497), 54. bonhomme, 110. _book of carols_ (allen, 1893), 209. books of hours, 23, 24, 38, 54, 107. borders, 204, 293. _bracebridge hall_ (macmillan, 1877), 158. bradley, gertrude m., 207, 213. ---will. h., 274, 275, 277, 278. brown, ford madox, 154. _buch von den sieben todsünden_ (augsburg, 1474), 15. burgmair, hans, 92, 95, 99, 101, 103, 105. burne-jones, sir edward, 193. burns, robert, 226, 259. caesenas, stephanus, 59. caldecott, randolph, 158. calepinus, ambrosius, 121. calvert, edward, 139-143. "card-basket style," the, 165. carroll, lewis, 154. castle, egerton, _english book-plates_, 185. caxton, william, 49, 80. _chaucer_ (kelmscott press, 1896), 193, 288. cheret, m., 267. _child's garden of verse_ (lane, 1895), 235, 237, 239. children's books, 154, 156. china, early printing in, 164. chiswick press, the, 186. chodowiecki, d., 136. _christ, life of_ (antwerp, 1487), 31. _chroneken der sassen_ (mainz, 1492), 41. _chronica hungariæ_ (augsburg, 1488), 35. _cinderella_ (dent, 1894), 254. _cinq fils d'aymon, les_, 268. clark, r. and r., 186. columna, francisco, 79. constable, t. and a., 186. _contes drolatiques_, 150. "convito," il, 270. copper-plate engraving, 116, 129, 130. "cornhill," the, 172. cousin, jean, 79. craig, gordon, 228. cranach, lucas, 95. crane, walter, 174, 179, 181, 183, 191, 269, 281, 283, 285, 288, 290, 291. cremonese, p., 56. _crystal ball, the_ (bell, 1894), 227, 261. "daily chronicle," illustrations in the, 165. dalziel brothers, the, 150. dalziel's _bible gallery_, 152. _dance of death_ (holbein's, 1538), 91, 92, 115. daniel, rev. h., of oxford, 189. dante, _divina commedia_ ms., 10. dante (venice, 1491), 56. _daphnis and chloe_ (vale press, 1893), 223, 224. davis, louis, 170, 171. day, lewis, 166. _de claris mulieribus_ (ulm, 1473), 7, 11; (ferrara, 1497), 54. de colines, simon, 127. de gregoriis, 59, 295. _de historia stirpium_ (basel, 1542), 119, 123. _descent of minerva, the_ (1508), 71. destrée, oliver georges, 241. de vinne press, the, 189. "dial," the, 218. _dictes and sayings of the philosophers_ (1477), 80. dijsselhof, g. w., 265. dinckmut, conrad, 27. _discovery of the indies, the_ (florence, 1493), 57. doré, gustave, 149. duff, gordon, _early printed books_, 185. duncan, john, 226, 255, 257. du pré, 54. dürer, albrecht, 49, 80, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 95; his _geometrica_, 294. _early italian poets_ (smith, elder, 1861), 152. edgar, king, newminster charter, 14. emblem books, 109, 110, 115, 116. end-papers, 285. "english illustrated magazine," the, 170, 171, 173, 195. evans, edmund, 156. "evergreen," the, 226, 255, 257, 259. "ex-libris series," the, 185. finé, oronce, 91, 126, 127. _fasciculus medicinæ_ (venice, 1495), 293. fell, h. granville, 227, 254. feyrabend, sigm., 131. _fior di virtù_ (florence, 1493?), 58. flach, martin, 108. flaxman, 136. flemish school, xvth cent., 31. florence, mary sargant, 227, 261. ford, henry, 222. _formal garden, the_ (macmillan, 1892), 204, 205. foster, birket, 150. france, modern illustration in, 267. _frangilla_ (elkin mathews, 1895), 233. french mss., 19, 37. french school, xvth cent., 37, 51, 126, 127. frontispieces, 286. froschover, 120. fuchsius, _de historia stirpium_ (basel, 1542), 119, 123. gaskin, arthur, 199, 203. ---mrs., 203, 207. georgius de rusconibus, 69, 75. gerard's herbal, 120. gere, c. m., 195, 197, 203. german school, xvth cent., 3, 7, 11, 15, 17, 21, 25, 27, 35, 39, 41, 47, 53. ---xvith cent., 81-117, 119, 131, 147. germany, early printing in, 46, 49. ---modern illustration in, 172, 265. gesner, conrad, 120. gilbert, john, 150. giolito, g., 133. giovio's emblems, 116. girolamo da cremona, 30. _glittering plain, the_ (kelmscott press, 1894), 191, 288, 289. _goblin market_ (macmillan, 1862), 152. "good words for the young," 304. gospels, the, in latin, ms., 14. grasset, m., 267, 268. greenaway, kate, 158, 159. grimani breviary, the, 29, 43, 45. _grimm's household stories_ (macmillan, 1882), 174, 179. grün, hans baldung, 96, 107, 108, 109, 110. halberstadt bible, the, 49, 117. hardouyn, gillet, 54, 107. harvey, william, 145. herbals, 16, 119, 120. _hero and leander_ (vale press, 1894), 219. "hobby horse," the, 186, 270. hogarth, 135. hokusai, 163. holbein, hans, 49, 80, 91, 92, 93, 95, 96, 115. ---ambrose, 92, 97. holiday, henry, 154, 157. holland, illustration in, 242, 265. holst, r. n. roland, 265. horne, h. p., 186. _hortulus animæ_(strassburg, 1511), 107, 108, 109, 110. _hortus sanitatis_ (mainz, 1491), 39. _house of joy, the_ (kegan paul, 1895), 231. housman, laurence, 222, 231. hughes, arthur, 159-161, 304. hunt, holman, 150. _hunting of the snark, the_, (macmillan, 1876), 154. _huon of bordeaux_ (allen, 1895), 211. hupp, otto, 174, 263. illuminated mss., 5-10 _et seq._ image, selwyn, 187, 189. _indulgences_ (mainz, 1454), 49. "inland printer," the, 278. isingrin, palma, 108, 119, 123. italian mss., 10, 30. italian school, xvth cent., 54-65. ------xvith cent., 67-78, 121, 133. italy, modern illustration in, 268, 269. japan, early printing in, 163, 164. japanese illustration, 156-164. jones, a. garth, 226, 249. "jugend," 266. keene, charles, 169, 172. _kells, the book of_, 10, 13. kelmscott press, the, 189, 190, 193, 194, 288, 290, 291. kerver, thielman, 54, 79, 107. _king wenceslas_, 203. _kleine passion, die_ (1512), 80, 81, 83, 85. "knight errant," the (boston), 189, 273. knopff, fernand, 254. kreuterbuch (strasburg, 1551), 120. larisch, m., 266. lawless, m. j., 172, 177. leeu, gheraert, 31. _leiden christi_ (bamberg, 1470), 3, 53. leighton, sir frederic, 152. lettering, 268. levetus, celia, 207, 217. liberale da verona, 30. linnell, john, 140. linton, w. j., 146-149, 151. lübeck bible, the, 47. macdonald's _at the back of the north wind_ (strahan, 1871), 159-161. mainz, early printing at, 49. ---indulgences, the, 49. ---psalter, the, 50, 51. margins, 194. marks, h. s., 156. mason, f., 207, 211. matthiolus, 120. mazarine bible, the, 49. _meerfahrt zu viln onerkannten inseln_ (augsburg, 1509), 105. meidenbach, jacob, 39. menzel, adolf, 172. _mer des histoires, la_, ms., 37. _midsummer night's dream, a_ (dent, 1895), 223, 243. millais, sir j. e., 150. _milton's ode on christ's nativity_ (nisbet, 1867), 155. minuziano, alessandro, 67. missals, 29. _monte santo di dio, el_ (florence, 1477), 119. monvel, boutet de, 268. moore, albert, 154, 155. moore, sturge, 218. morris, william, 189, 191, 193, 194, 288, 290, 291. _morte d'arthur_ (dent, 1893), 221, 225, 227, 228. _mother goose_ (routledge), 159. muckley, l. fairfax, 222, 233. _munchausen, baron_ (lawrence and bullen, 1894), 226, 251, 253. neues testament (basel, 1523), 97. new, edmund h., 201, 203, 207. newill, mary, 207, 215. _newminster, charter of foundation of_, ms., 14. niccolo di lorenzo, 119. nicholson, w., 228. northcote's _fables_, 145. _nursery rhymes_ (bell, 1894; allen, 1896), 227, 263, 265. omar khayyam, 166. "once a week," 169, 172, 175, 177. ongania, ferd., 269. otmar, johann, 145, 147. ottaviano dei petrucci, 77. paganini, alex., 121. palmer, samuel, 140. _papstthum mit sienen gliedern_ (nuremberg, 1526), 113. _paris et vienne_, 1495, 51. parsons, alfred, 166. payne, henry, 207, 209. peard's _stories for children_ (allen, 1896), 167, 170. pennell, joseph, 165, 185, 221. petri, adam, 91, 107. pfister, albrecht, 3, 53. philip le noir, 108. _philippe de comines, epistle of_, ms., 23. photography, influence of, 174, 178. pierre le rouge, 37. pigouchet, 54. pletsch, oscar, 174. pliny's _natural history_ (frankfort, 1582), 103. plutarchus chæroneus (1513), 87; (1523), 89. _poliphili hypnerotomachia_ (1499), 62, 63, 65, 293. ----, french edition, 79. pollard, a. w., _early illustrated books_, 185. _pomerium de tempore_ (augsburg, 1502), 147. pomponius mela, 293, 297. poynter, e. j., 152. pre-raphaelites, the, 150. _princess fiorimonde, necklace of_ (macmillan, 1880), 174, 181. printers' marks, 96. psalters, mss., 16, 20, 24. psalter (mainz, 1457), 50, 51. "punch," 170, 172. pyle, howard, 271, 273, 274. _quadrupeds, history of_ (zurich, 1554), 120. quarles' emblems, 115, 116. "quarto," the, 226. quatriregio, 71. queen mary's psalter, ms., 20. quentel, heinrich, 21. "quest," the, 203. quintilian (venice, 1512), 75. ratdolt, erhardt, 35, 297. _reformation der bayrischen landrecht_ (_munich_, 1518), 116. renaissance, the, 61. rené of anjou, book of hours of, 38. rethel, alfred, 172. ricketts, c. s., 218, 219, 223. rijsselberghe, m., 254, 266. robinson, charles, 222, 224, 235, 237, 239. rogers' _poems_, 136, 146. ---_italy_, 136, 146. _romance of the rose_, ms., 29, 43. rossetti, christina, 152. rossetti, d. g., 150, 153. rylands, henry, 173. sambourne, linley, 170. sandys, frederick, 172, 175. _sartor resartus_ (bell, 1898), 228. sattler, josef, 265. savage, reginald, 218. "savoy," the, 221. schöffer, p., 41, 49, 50. schürer, mathias, 111. schwind, m., 172. "scottish art review," the, 187. seitz, professor a., 265. shannon, c. h., 218, 224. siena, choir books of, 30, 43, 45. _sirens three, the_ (macmillan, 1886), 183. sleigh, bernard, 207. smith, winifred, 207. _songs of innocence_ (1789), 137. _speculum humanæ vitæ_ (augsburg, 1475), 17. spence, r., 224, 247. _spenser's faerie queene_ (allen, 1896), 269, 281, 283, 285, 288, 294. _spiegel onser behoudenisse_ (kuilenburg, 1483), 25. steyner, heinrich, 87. stothard, thomas, 136, 146. strang, william, 226, 251, 253. strange, e. f., _alphabets_, 185, 300. stück, franz, 265. "studio," the, 221. sullivan, e. j., 227, 228. sumner, heywood, 166, 167, 171. tacuino, giov., 73. tail-pieces, 301. talbot prayer-book, the, 26. tenison psalter, the, ms., 16, 38. tenniel, sir john, 150. tennyson's _poems_ (moxon, 1857), 150, 151. terence, _eunuchus_, german translation (ulm, 1486), 27. thomas, f. inigo, 204, 205, 207. title page, development of the, 80. tory, geoffroy, 126. _tournament of love, the_ (paris, 1894), 249. treperel, jehan, 51. _triumphs of maximilian, the_, 95. tuppo's æsop, 1485, 55. turner, j. m. w., 146. type as affecting design, 267, 280, 294. vedder, elihu, 166. veldener, jan, 25. ver sacrum, 266. vérard, 54. virgil solis, 131. wächtlin, hans, 96, 111. _walton's "angler"_ (lane, 1896), 204. wandereisen, hans, 113. _weiss könig, der_ (1512-14), 95, 99. white, gleeson, 221. wilson, patten, 221, 229. witney's emblems, 116. _wood-engraving, masters of_ (1889), 149. woodroffe, paul, 227, 263, 265. woodward, alice b., 227. zainer, johann, 7, 11. ---günther, 17. [illustration: headpiece by alan wright.] [illustration] transcriber's note illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text. i have used "=" to denote bolded text. [:y] is used in the text to represent y with an umlaut above it. page headers varied depending on the subjects under discussion. where the headers did not match the chapter title, i have treated the headers as sidenotes. inconsistencies have been retained in formatting, spelling, hyphenation, punctuation, and grammar, except where indicated in the list below: right bracket added before "augsburg" on page x "lubeck" changed to "lübeck" on page x single quote changed to double quote before"morte" on page xiii page number changed from "233" to "283" on page xiii page number changed from "305" and "335" to "309" and "341" on page xiv "liege" changed to "liège" on page 19 "chiaro-oscuro" changed to "chiaroscuro" on page 30 period added after "school" on page 71 period added after "1508" on page 71 period added after "century" on page 73 period added after "century" on page 87 "fusch" changed to "fuchs" on page 119 "fuschia" changed to "fuchsia" on page 119 "wood-cuts" changed to "woodcuts" on page 130 "caligrapher" changed to "calligrapher" on page 138 period added after "1827-8-9" on page 143 period added after "holiday" on page 157 "head-piece" changed to "headpiece" to match table of contents on page 158 "see" italicized on page 163 double quotes changed to single quotes around "epitome of the eighteen historical records of china." followed by a double quote on page 164 "occured" changed to "occurred" on page 164 period added after "strang" on page 251 "opportunites" changed to "opportunities" on page 269 "see" italicized on page 293 "mediaeval" changed to "mediæval" on page 306 "r.a" changed to "r. a." on page 335 comma added after "ms." on page 339 "lorenza" changed to "lorenzo" on page 339 colon changed to semicolon after "1894" on page 339 "pomponious" changed to "pomponius" on page 340 repeated line deleted on page 341 "vèrard" changed to "vérard" on page 341 transcriber's notes inconsistent spellings and hyphenation have been retained as in the original. with the exception of minor changes to format or punctuation, any changes to the text are listed at the end of the book. in this plain text version of the e-book, symbols from the ascii and latin-1 character sets only are used. the following substitutions are made for other symbols in the text: [et] = latin small letter et [oe] and [oe] = oe-ligature (upper and lower case). other conventions used to represent the original text are as follows: italic typeface is indicated by _underscores_. small caps typeface is represented by upper case. superscript typeface is preceded by caret (e.g. y^e) footnotes are numbered in sequence throughout the book and presented at the end of each chapter. * * * * * _books about books_ _edited by a. w. pollard_ early illustrated books [illustration] early illustrated books a history of the decoration and illustration of books in the 15th and 16th centuries by alfred w. pollard [illustration] _second edition_ london kegan paul, trench, trubner & co., ltd. new york: e. p. dutton & co. mdccccxvii _first edition, 1893_ _second edition, revised and corrected_ _may 1917_ _the rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved_ preface this little book was written nearly a quarter of a century ago in the enthusiasm of a first acquaintance with a fascinating subject, and with an honest endeavour to see for myself as many as possible of the books i set out to describe. if i had tried to rewrite it now i might have made it more interesting to experts, but at the cost of destroying whatever merit it possesses as an introductory sketch. i have therefore been content to correct, as thoroughly as i could, its many small errors (not all of my own making), more especially those due to the ascription of books to impossible dates and printers, which before the publication of robert proctor's _index to the early printed books in the british museum_, in 1898, was very difficult to avoid. in these emendations, and in getting the titles of foreign books into better form, i have had much kind help from mr. victor scholderer of the british museum. i am grateful also to mr. e. gordon duff for his leave to use again the chapter on english illustrated books which he kindly wrote for me for the first edition. a. w. p. contents chapter i page rubrishers and illuminators 1 chapter ii the completion of the printed book 22 chapter iii germany--i. 37 chapter iv germany--ii. 56 chapter v italy--i. 79 chapter vi italy--ii. 108 chapter vii france 142 chapter viii the french books of hours 174 chapter ix holland 195 chapter x spain 209 chapter xi england. by e. gordon duff 219 index 249 early illustrated books chapter i rubrishers and illuminators no point in the history of printing has been more rightly insisted on than that the early printers were compelled to make the very utmost of their new art in order to justify its right to exist. when a generation had passed by, when the scribes trained in the first half of the fifteenth century had died or given up the struggle, when printing-presses had invaded the very monasteries themselves, and clever boys no longer regarded penmanship as a possible profession, then, but not till then, printers could afford to be careless, and speedily began to avail themselves of their new license. in the early days of the art no such license was possible, and the striking similarity in the appearance of the printed books and manuscripts produced contemporaneously in any given city or district, is the best possible proof of the success with which the early printers competed with the most expert of the professional scribes. all this is trite enough, but we are somewhat less frequently reminded that, after some magnificent experiments by fust and schoeffer at mainz, the earliest printers deliberately elected to do battle at first with the scribes alone, and that in the fifteenth century the scribes were very far, indeed, from being the only persons engaged in the production of books. the subdivision of labour is not by any means a modern invention; on the contrary, it is impossible to read a list of the medieval guilds in any important town without being struck with the minuteness of the sections into which some apparently quite simple callings were split up. of this subdivision of labour, the complex art of book-production was naturally an instance. for a proof of this, we need go no further than the records of the guild of st. john the evangelist at bruges, in which, according to mr. blades's quotation of the extracts made by van praet, members of at least fourteen branches of industry connected with the manufacture of books joined together for common objects. in the fifteenth century a book of devotions, commissioned by some wealthy book-lover, such as the duke of bedford, might be written by one man, have its rubrics supplied by another, its small initial letters and borders by a third, and then be sent to some famous miniaturist in france or flanders for final completion. the scribe only supplied the groundwork, all the rest was added by other hands, and it was only with the scribe that the early printers competed. the restriction of their efforts to competition with the scribe alone, was not accepted by the first little group of printers until after some fairly exhaustive experiments. the interesting trial leaves, preserved in some copies of the 42-line bible, differ from the rest not only in having their text compressed into two lines less, but also in having the rubrics printed instead of filled in by hand. printing in two colours still involves much extra labour, and it was easier to supply the rubric by hand than to be at the pains of a second impression, even if this could be effected by the comparatively simple process of stamping. except, therefore, in the trial leaves, the rubrics of the first bible are all in manuscript. peter schoeffer, however, when he joined with the goldsmith fust in the production of the magnificent mainz _psalter_ of 1457, was not content to rely on the help of illuminators for his rubrics and capitals, or, as the disuse of the word majuscules makes it convenient to call them, initial letters. accordingly, the psalter appeared not only with printed rubrics, but with the magnificent b at the head of the first psalm, which has so often been copied, and some two hundred and eighty smaller initials, printed in blue and red. schoeffer's initial letters appear again in two editions of the _canon of the mass_ attributed to 1458, in the _psalter_ of 1459, in the _rationale_ of durandus of the same year, and in a _donatus_ printed in the type of the 1462 bible. as mr. duff has pointed out, in some sheets of this bible itself the red initial letters are printed and the outline of the blue ones impressed in blank for the guidance of the illuminator in filling them in. thereafter schoeffer seems to have kept his initials for special occasions, as in the 35-line _donatus_ issued _c._ 1468, perhaps when he was starting business for himself, and in the antiquarian reprints of the _psalter_ in and after 1490. doubtless he was sorry when he could no longer print in the colophon of a book that it was 'venustate capitalium decoratus, rubricationibusque sufficienter distinctus,' but while illuminators were still plentiful, handwork was probably the least expensive process of decoration. it is noteworthy, also, that mr. duff's discovery as regards the 1462 bible brings us down to the beginning of those troublous three years in the history of mainz, during which fust and schoeffer only printed 'bulls and other such ephemeral publications.' when they resumed the printing of important works in 1465 with the _decretals_ of boniface viii. and the _de officiis_ of cicero, schoeffer was content to leave decoration to the illuminator. the firm's expenses were thus diminished, and purchasers were able to economise in the amount of decoration bestowed upon the copy they were buying. it is noteworthy, indeed, that even in 1459, when he was habitually using his printed initial letters, schoeffer did not refuse customers this liberty, for while one of the copies of the _rationale durandi_ at the bibliothèque nationale has the initials printed, in the others they are illuminated by hand. very little attention has as yet been devoted to the study of the illumination and rubrication of printed books, and much patient investigation will be needed before we can attain any real knowledge of the relation of the illuminators to the early printers. professor middleton, in his work on _illuminated manuscripts_, had something to say on the subject, but the pretty little picture he drew of a scene in gutenberg's (?) shop seems to have been rather hastily arrived at. 'the workshop,' he wrote, 'of an early printer included not only compositors and printers, but also cutters and founders of type, illuminators of borders and initials, and skilful binders, who could cover books with various qualities and kinds of binding. a purchaser in gutenberg's shop, for example, of his magnificent bible in loose sheets, would then have been asked what style of illumination he was prepared to pay for, and then what kind of binding, and how many brass bosses and clasps he wished to have.' what evidence there is on the subject hardly favours the theory which professor middleton thus boldly stated as a fact. the names we know in connection with the decoration of the 42-line bible are those of heinrich cremer, vicar of the church of st. stephen at mainz, who rubricated, illuminated, and bound the paper copy now in the bibliothèque nationale, and johann fogel, a well-known binder of the time, whose stamps are found on no fewer than three of the extant copies of this bible. we have no reason to believe that either cremer or fogel was employed in the printer's shop, so that as regards the particular book which he instances, it is hard to see on what ground professor middleton built his assertion. as regards schoeffer's practice after 1462, the evidence certainly points to the majority of his books having been rubricated before they left his hands, but the variety of the styles in the copies i have seen, especially in those on vellum, forbids my believing that they were all illuminated in a single workshop. a copy in the british museum of his 1471 edition of the _constitutions_ of pope clement v. presents us with an instance, rather uncommon in a printed book, though not infrequently found in manuscripts, of an elaborate border and miniatures, sketched out in pencil and prepared for gilding, but never completed. the book could hardly have been sold in this condition, and would not have been returned so from any illuminator's workshop. we must conjecture that it was sold unilluminated to some monastery, where its decoration was begun by one of the monks, but put aside for some cause, and never finished. the utmost on this subject that we can say at present is that as a printer would depend for the sale of his books in the first place on the inhabitants of the town in which he printed, and as these would be most likely to employ an illuminator from the same place, the predominant style of decoration in any book is likely to be that of the district in which it was printed, and if we find the same style predominant in a number of books this may give us a clue to connect them altogether, or to distinguish them from some other group. in this way, for instance, it is possible that some light may be thrown on the question whether the 36-line bible was finished at bamberg or at mainz. certainly the clumsy, heavy initials in the british museum copy are very unlike those which occur in mainz books, and if this style were found to predominate in other copies we should have an important piece of new evidence on a much debated question. but our knowledge that schoeffer had an agency for the sale of his books as far off from the place of their printing as paris, the italian character of the illuminations added to some of his books, and the occurrence of a note in a book printed in italy that the purchaser could not wait to have it illuminated there, but entrusted it to a german artist on his return home, may suffice to warn us against any rash conclusion in the present very meagre state of our knowledge. apart from the question as to where they were executed, the illuminations in books printed in germany are not, as a rule, very interesting. germany was not the home of fine manuscripts during the fifteenth century, and her printed books depend for their beauty on the rich effect of their gothic types, their good paper and handsome margins, rather than on the accessories added by hand. the attempts of the more ambitious miniaturists to depict, within the limits of an initial, st. jerome translating the bible or david playing on the harp, are, for the most part, clumsy and ill-drawn. on the other hand, fairly good scroll-work of flowers and birds is not uncommon. as a rule it surrounds the whole page of text, but in some cases an excellent effect is produced by the stem of the design being brought up between the two columns of a large page, branching out at either end so as to cover the upper and lower margins, those at the sides being left bare. it may be mentioned that much good scroll-work is found on paper copies, the vellum used in early german books being usually coarse and brown, and sometimes showing the imperfections of the skin by holes as large as a filbert, so that it was employed apparently, chiefly for its greater resistance to wear and tear, rather than as a luxurious refinement, as was the case in italy and france. an extreme instance of the superiority of a paper copy to one on vellum may be found by comparing the coarsely-rubricated 42-line bible in the grenville collection at the british museum with the very prettily illuminated copy of the same book in the king's library. the grenville copy is on vellum, the king's on paper; but my own preference has always been for the latter. even in germany, however, good vellum books were sometimes produced, for the printers endeavoured to match the skins fairly uniformly throughout a volume, and a book-lover of taste would not be slow to pick out the best copy. the finest german vellum book with which i am acquainted is the lamoignon copy of the 1462 bible, now in the british museum. this was specially illuminated for a certain conradus dolea, whose name and initials are introduced into the lower border on the first page of the second volume. the scroll-work is excellent, and the majority of the large initials are wisely restricted to simple decorative designs. only in a few cases, as at the beginning of the psalms, where david is as usual playing his harp, is the general good taste which marks the volume disturbed by clumsy figure-work. in turning from the illuminations of the first german books to those printed by jenson and vindelinus de spira at venice we are confronted with an interesting discovery, first noted by the vicomte delaborde in his delightful book _la gravure en italie avant marc-antoine_ (p. 252), carried a little further in the _bibliographie des livres à figures venitiens_, written by the prince d'essling when he was duc de rivoli, then greatly extended by the researches of dr. paul kristeller, some of the results of which, when as yet unpublished, he kindly communicated to me, and finally summed up in the prince d'essling's magnificent work, _les livres à figures venitiens_. in a considerable number--the list given me by dr. kristeller enumerated about forty--of the works published by jenson and vindelinus, from 1469 to 1473, the work of the illuminator has been facilitated in some copies by the whole or a portion of his design having been first stamped for him from a block. the evidence of this stamping is partly in the dent made in the paper or vellum, partly in the numerous little breaks in the lines where the block has not retained the ink; but i was myself lucky enough to find in the grenville copy of the _virgil_ printed at venice by bartholomaeus de cremona in 1472, an uncoloured example of this stamped work, which was reproduced in _bibliographica_, and subsequently by the prince d'essling. a copy of the _pliny_ of 1469 in the bibliothèque nationale, illuminated by means of this device, has an upper and inner border of the familiar white elliptical interlacements on a gold and green ground. in the centre of the lower border is a shield supported by two children, and at the feet of each child is a rabbit. the outer border shows two cornucopias on a green and gold ground. the upper and inner borders are repeated again in the _livy_ and _virgil_ of 1470, in the _valerius maximus_ of 1471, and in the _rhetorica_ of george of trebizond of 1472. in this last book it is joined with another border, first found in the _de officiis_ of cicero of the same year. all these books proceeded from the press of johannes and vindelinus de spira. a quite distinct set of borders are found in jenson's edition of cicero's _epistolae ad familiares_ of 1471; but in an article in the _archivio storico delle arti_ dr. kristeller showed that the lower border of the _pliny_ of 1469, described above, occurs again in a copy of the _de evangelica praeparatione_, printed by jenson in 1470. the apparent distinction of the blocks used in the books of the two firms is thus broken down, and in face of the rarity of the copies thus decorated in comparison with those illuminated by hand, or which have come down to us with their blank spaces still unfilled, it seems impossible to maintain that either the preliminary engraving or the illumination was done in the printer's workshop. we should rather regard the engraving as a labour-saving device employed by some master illuminator to whom private purchasers sent the books they had purchased from the de spiras or jenson for decoration. no instance has as yet been found of a book printed after 1473 being illuminated in this way.[1] apart from the special interest of these particular borders, the illumination in early italian books is almost uniformly graceful and beautiful. interlacements, oftenest of white upon blue, sometimes of gold upon green, are the form of ornament most commonly met with. still prettier than these are the floral borders, tapering off into little stars of gold. elaborate architectural designs are also found, but these, as a rule, are much less pleasing. in the majority of the borders of all three classes a shield, of the graceful italian shape, is usually introduced, sometimes left blank, sometimes filled in with the arms of the owner. more often than not this shield is enclosed in a circle of green bay leaves. the initial letters are, as a rule, purely decorative, the designs harmonising with the borders. in some instances they consist simply of a large letter in red or blue, without any surrounding scroll-work. we must also note that in some copies of books from the presses of the german printers at rome we find large initial letters in red and blue, distinctly german in their design, the work, possibly, of the printers themselves. germany and italy are the only two countries in which illumination plays an important part in the decoration of early books. in england, where the wars of the roses had checked the development of a very promising native school of illuminators, the use of colour in printed books is almost unknown. the early issues from caxton's press, before he began to employ printed initials, are either left with their blanks unfilled, or rubricated in the plainest possible manner. in france, the scholastic objects of the press at the sorbonne, and the few resources of the printers who succeeded it during the next seven or eight years, at first forbade any serious competition with the splendid manuscripts which were then being produced. in holland and spain woodcut initials, which practically gave the death-blow to illumination as a necessary adjunct of a book, were introduced almost simultaneously with the use of type. so far we have considered illumination merely as a means of completing in a not immoderately expensive manner the blanks left by the earliest printers. we may devote a few pages to glancing at the subsequent application of the art to the decoration of special copies intended for presentation to a patron, or commissioned by a wealthy book-lover. the preparation of such copies was practically confined to france and italy. a copy on vellum of the great bible of 1540, presented to henry viii. by his 'loving, faithfull and obedient subject and daylye oratour, anthony marler of london, haberdassher,' has the elaborate woodcut title-page carefully painted over by hand, but this is almost the only english book of which i can think in which colour was thus employed. in germany its use was only too common, but for popular, not for artistic work, for at least two out of every three early german books with woodcut illustrations have the cuts garishly painted over in the rudest possible manner, to the great defacement of the outlines, which we would far rather see unobscured. it is tempting, indeed, to believe that in many cases this deplorable addition must have been the work of the 'domestic' artist; it is certainly rare to find an instance in which it in any way improves the underlying cut. in france and italy, on the other hand, the early printers were confronted by many wealthy book-lovers, accustomed to manuscripts adorned with every possible magnificence, and in a few instances they found it worth while to cater for their tastes. for this purpose they employed the most delicate vellum (very unlike the coarse material used by the germans for its strength) decorating the margins with elaborate borders, and sometimes prefixing a coloured frontispiece. in france this practice was begun by guillaume fichet and jean heynlyn, the managers of the press at the sorbonne. several magnificent copies of early sorbonne books--so sober in their ordinary dress--are still extant, to which fichet has prefixed a large miniature representing himself in his clerical garb presenting a copy of the book to the pope, to our own edward iv., to cardinal bessarion, or to other patrons. in some cases he also prefixed a specially printed letter of dedication, thereby rendering the copy absolutely unique. some twenty years later this practice of preparing special copies for wealthy patrons was resumed by antoine vérard, whose enterprise has bequeathed to the bibliothèque nationale a whole row of books thus specially decorated for charles viii., and to the british museum a no less splendid set commissioned by henry vii. nor were vérard's patrons only found among kings, for a record still exists of four books thus ornamented by him for charles d'angoulême, at a total cost of over two hundred livres, equivalent to rather more than the same number of pounds sterling of our present money. vérard's methods of preparing these magnificent volumes were neither very artistic nor very honest. the miniatures are thickly painted, so that an underlying woodcut, on quite a different subject, was sometimes utilised to furnish the artist with an idea for the grouping of the figures. thus a cut from ovid's _metamorphoses_, representing saturn devouring his children and a very unpleasing figure of venus rising from the sea, was converted into a holy family by painting out the venus and reducing saturn's cannibal embrace to an affectionate fondling. this process of alteration and painting out was also employed by vérard to conceal the fact that these splendid copies were often not of his own publication, but commissioned by him from other publishers. thus henry vii.'s copy of _l'examen de conscience_ has the colophon, in which it is stated to have been printed for pierre regnault of rouen, rather carelessly erased, and in charles viii.'s copy of the _compost et kalendrier des bergers_ (1493)[2] guiot marchant's device has been concealed by painting over it the royal arms, while the colophon in which his name appears has been partly erased, partly covered over by a painted copy of vérard's well-known device. vérard's borders, also, are as a rule heavy, consisting chiefly of flowers and arabesques arranged in clumsy squares or lozenges. altogether these princely volumes are perhaps rather magnificent than in good taste. the custom of illuminating the cuts in vellum books was not practised only by vérard. almost all the french publishers of books of hours resorted to it--at first, while the illumination was carefully done, with very splendid effect, afterwards to the utter ruin of the beautiful designs which the colour concealed. under francis i. illumination seems to have revived, for we hear of a vellum copy of the _de philologia_ of budæus, printed by ascensius (1532), having its first page of text enclosed in a rich border in which appear the arms of the dukes of orleans and angoulême to whom it was dedicated. in another work by budæus (himself a book-lover as well as a scholar), the _de transitu hellenismi_, printed by robert estienne in 1535, the portrait and arms of francis i. are enclosed in another richly illuminated border, and the king's arms are painted in other books printed about this time. in a vellum copy of a french bible printed by jean de tournes at lyons in 1557, there are over three hundred miniatures, and borders to every page. even by the middle of the seventeenth century the use of illumination had not quite died out in france, though it adds nothing to the beauty of the tasteless works then issued from the french presses. one of the latest instances in which i have encountered it is in a copy presented to louis xiv. of _la lyre du jeune apollon, ou la muse naissante du petit de beauchasteau_ (paris, 1657); in this the half-title is surrounded by a wreath of gold, and surmounted by a lyre, the title is picked out in red, blue, and gold, and the headpieces and tailpieces throughout the volume are daubed over with colour. by the expenditure of a vast amount of pains, a dull book is thus rendered both pretentious and offensive. in italy, the difference between ordinary copies of early books and specially prepared ones, is bridged over by so many intermediate stages of decoration that we are obliged to confine our attention to one or two famous examples of sumptuous books. the italian version of _pliny_, made by cristoforo landino and printed by jenson in 1476, exists in such a form as one of the douce books (no. 310) in the bodleian library. this copy has superb borders at the beginning of each book, and is variously supposed to have been prepared for ferdinand ii., king of naples, and for a member of the strozzi family of florence, the arms of both being frequently introduced into the decoration. still more superb are the three vellum copies of giovanni simoneta's _historia delle cose facte dallo invictissimo duca francesco sforza_, translated (like the _pliny_) by cristoforo landino, and printed by antonio zarotto at milan in 1490. these copies were prepared for members of the sforza family, portraits of whom are introduced in the borders. the decoration is florid, but superb of its kind, and provoked dibdin to record his admiration of the copy now in the grenville library as 'one of the loveliest of membranaceous jewels' it had ever been his fortune to meet with. for many years in a case devoted to specimens of illuminated printed books in the king's library the british museum used to exhibit vellum copies of the aldine _martial_ of 1501, and _catullus_ of 1502, and side by side with them, printed respectively just twelve years later, and also on vellum, an _aulus gellius_ and _plautus_ presented by giunta, the florentine rival of aldus, to the younger lorenzo de' medici. the use of illumination in printed books was a natural and pleasing survival of the glories of the illuminated manuscript. its discontinuance was in part a sign of health as testifying to the increased resources of the printing press; in part a symptom of the carelessness as to the form of books which by the end of the seventeenth century had become well-nigh universal throughout europe. so long as a few rich amateurs cared for copies of their favourite authors printed on vellum, and decorated by the hands of skilful artists, a high standard of excellence was set up which influenced the whole of the book-trade, and for this reason the revival of the use of vellum in our own day may perhaps be welcomed. it may be noted that the especially italian custom of introducing the arms of the owner into the majority of illuminated designs left its trace in the blank shields which so frequently form the centre of the printed borders in italian books from 1490 to 1520. theoretically these shields were intended to be filled in with the owner's arms in colour, but they are more often found blank. two examples of their use are here shown, one from the upper border of the _calendar_, printed at venice in 1476 (the first book with an ornamental title-page), the other from the lower border of the first page of text of the _trabisonda istoriata_, printed also at venice in 1494. we may note also that the parallel custom of inserting the arms of the patron to whom a book was dedicated was carried on in spain in a long series of title-pages, in which the arms of the patron form the principal feature. [illustration: from the _calendar_ of 1476.] [illustration: from _la trabisonda historiata_ of 1494.] in england, also, a patron's coat was sometimes printed as one of the decorations of a book. thus on the third leaf of the first edition of the _golden legend_ there is a large woodcut of a horse galloping past a tree, the device of the earl of arundel, the patron to whom caxton owed his yearly fee of a buck in summer and a doe in winter. so, too, in the morton _missal_, printed by pynson in 1500, the morton arms occupy a full page at the beginning of the book. under elizabeth and james i. the practice became fairly common. in some cases where the leaf thus decorated has become detached, the arms have all the appearance of an early book-plate, and the bagford example of sir nicholas bacon's plate has endured suspicions on this account. in this instance, however, the fortunate existence of a slight flaw in the block, which occurs also in the undoubtedly genuine gift-plate of 1574, offers a strong argument in favour of its having been in the possession of sir nicholas himself, and therefore presumably used by him as a mark of possession. * * * * * [1] in a copy of the edition of _suetonius_, printed by sweynheym and pannartz at rome in 1470, which belonged to william morris, and is now in the morgan collection at new york, there are nine excellent woodcut capitals used with a handsome border-piece, which do not appear in other examples. dr. lippmann found similar decorations in the 1465 edition of _lactantius_, printed at subiaco by the same firm. in this case the blocks probably belonged to the printers, but were used to decorate only a few copies. [2] a full description of this copy will be found in dr. sommer's introduction to the facsimile and reprint of the english translations of paris, 1503, and london, 1506 (kegan paul, 1892). chapter ii the completion of the printed book as we have seen, the typical book during the first quarter of a century of the history of printing is one in which the printer supplied the place of the scribe and of the scribe alone. an appreciable, though not a very large, percentage of early books have come down to us in the exact state in which they issued from the press, with a blank space at their beginning for an illumination, blanks for the initial letters, blanks for the chapter headings, no head-lines, no title-page, no pagination, and no signatures to guide the binder in arranging the sheets in the different gatherings. our task in the present chapter is to trace briefly the history of the emancipation of the printer from his dependence on handwork for the completion of his books. we shall not expect to find this emancipation effected step by step in any orderly progression. innovations, the utility of which seems to us obvious and striking, occur as if by hazard in an isolated book, are then abandoned even by the printer who started them, and subsequently reappear in a number of books printed about the same time at different places, so that it is impossible to fix the chronology of the revived fashion. [illustration] we have already noted how the anxiety of the earliest mainz printers to rival at the very outset the best manuscripts with which they were acquainted, led them to anticipate improvements which were not generally adopted till many years afterwards. among these we must not reckon the use for the rubrics or chapter headings of red ink, which appears in the trial leaves of the 42-line bible, and was to a greater or less extent employed by schoeffer in most of his books. although red ink has appeared sporadically, and still does so, on the title-page of a book here or there, more especially on those which make some pretence to sumptuousness, its use in the fifteenth century was a survival, not an anticipation. for legal and liturgical works it was long considered essential; for other books the expense of the double printing which it involves soon brought it into disfavour and has kept it there ever since. the use of a colophon, or crowning paragraph, at the end of a book, to give the information now contained on our title-pages, dates from the mainz psalter of 1457, and was continued by schoeffer in most of his books. a colophon occurs also in the _catholicon_ of 1460, though it does not mention the printer's name (almost certainly gutenberg). there is an admirably full one in rhyming couplets (set out as prose) to pfister's _buch der vier historien von joseph, daniel, esther, und judith_, and the brothers bechtermüntze, who printed the _vocabularius ex quo_ at eltvil in 1467, are equally explicit. in many cases, however, no colophon of any sort appears, and the year and place of publication have to be deduced from the information given in other books printed in the same types, or from the chance entry by a purchaser or rubricator of the date at which the book came into or left his hands. we may claim colophons as part of the subject of this book, because they early received decorative treatment. schoeffer prints them, as a rule, in his favourite red ink, and it was as an appendix to the colophon that the printer's device first made its appearance. schoeffer's well-known shields occur in this connection in his bible of 1462. no other instance of a device is known until about 1470, when they became common, some printers, like arnold ther hoernen of cologne, and colard mansion of bruges, imitating schoeffer in the modest size of their badges, while others, among whom some dutch printers are prominent, made their emblem large enough, if need be, to decorate a whole page. of schoeffer's coloured capitals enough has already been said. woodcut initials for printing in outline, the outline being intended to be coloured by hand, were used by günther zainer at augsburg at least as early as 1471, and involved him in a controversy to which we shall allude in our next chapter. their use spread slowly, for it was about this date that the employment of hand-painted initials was given a fresh lease of life, by the introduction of the printed 'director,' or small letter, indicating to the illuminator the initial he was required to supply. the director had been used by the scribes, and in early printed books is frequently found in manuscript. it was, of course, intended to be painted over, but the rubrication of printed books was so carelessly executed that it often appears in the open centre of the coloured letter. in so far as it delayed the introduction of woodcut letters, this ingenious device was a step backward rather than an improvement. in the order of introduction, the next addition to a printer's stock-in-trade which we have to chronicle is the use of woodcut illustrations. these were first employed by albrecht pfister, who in 1461 was printing at bamberg. like schoeffer's coloured initials, pfister's illustrated books form an incident apart from the general history of the development of the printed book, and it will be convenient, therefore, to give them a brief notice here, rather than to place them at the head of our next chapter. they are six in number, or, if we count different editions separately, nine, of which only two have dates, viz.: one of the two editions of boner's _edelstein_, dated 1461, and the _buch der vier historien von joseph, daniel, esther, und judith_, dated 1462, with pfister's name in the rhyming colophon already alluded to. the undated books are another edition of the _edelstein_; the _belial seu consolatio peccatorum_; a _biblia pauperum_; two closely similar editions of this in german; two editions of the _rechtstreit des menschen mit dem tode_, also called _gespräch zwischen einem wittwer und dem tode_. attention was first drawn to these books by the pastor jacob august steiner of augsburg in 1792, and when the volume which he described was brought to the bibliothèque nationale, with other spoils from germany, a learned frenchman, camus, read a paper on them before the institute in 1799. the three tracts which the volume contained were restored to the library at wolfenbüttel in 1815, but the bibliothèque has since acquired another set of three and a separate edition of the german _biblia pauperum_. the only other copies known are those in the spencer collection, one of the _belial_ at nuremberg, and a unique example of the undated _edelstein_ at berlin.[3] these four books contain altogether no less than 201 cuts, executed in clumsy outline. one hundred and one of these cuts belong to the _edelstein_, a collection of german fables written before 1330. the book which contains them is a small folio of 28 leaves, and with a width of page larger by a fourth than the size of the cuts. to fill this gap, pfister introduced on the left of the illustration a figure of a man. in the dated copy, in which the cuts are more worn, this figure is the same throughout the book; in the undated there are differences in the man's headgear, and in the book or tablet he is holding, constituting three different variations. in the _buch der vier historien_ the cuts number 55, six of which, however, are repeated, making 61 impressions. in the impossibility of obtaining access to the originals, while the spencer collection was in the course of removal, the careful copy of one of these, made for camus in 1799, was chosen for reproduction as likely to be less familiar than the illustrations from pfister's other books given by dibdin in his _bibliotheca spenceriana_. the subject is the solemn sacrifice of a lamb at bethulia after judith's murder of holofernes. the _biblia pauperum_ is in three editions, two in german, the third in latin; each consists of 17 printed leaves, with a large cut formed of five separate blocks illustrating different subjects, but joined together as a whole, on each page. the last book of pfister's we have to notice, the _complaint of the widower against death_, is probably earlier than either of his dated ones. it contains 24 leaves, with five full-page cuts, showing (1) death on his throne, and the widower and his little son in mourning; (2) death and the widower, with a pope, a noble, and a monk vainly offering death gold; (3) two figures of death (one mounted) pursuing their victims; (4) death on his throne, with two lower compartments representing monks at a cloister gate, and women walking with a child in a fair garden,--this to symbolise the widower's choice between remarriage and retiring to a monastery; (5) the widower appearing before christ, who gives the verdict against him, since all mortals must yield their bodies to death and their souls to god. the cuts in this book are larger and bolder than the other specimens of pfister's work which we have noticed, but they are rude enough. [illustration: from pfister's _buch der vier historien_.] [illustration--transcription as follows: sermo ad populum predicabilis · in festo presentacionis. beatissime marie semper virginis nouiter cum magna diligencia. ad communem vsum multorum sacerdotum presertim curatorum collectus. et idcirco per impressonem multiplicatus. sub hoc currente. anno domini mº ccccº .lxxº. cuiusquidem collectionis atque etiam multiplicacionis eius non paruipendenda racio si placet · videri poteret. in folii laterem sequenti] after the introduction of woodcut illustrations, the next innovation with which we have to concern ourselves is the adoption of the title-page. what may be called accidental title-pages are found on both the latin and the german edition of a bull of pope pius ii. printed by fust and schoeffer in 1463. after this arnold ther hoernen of cologne appears to have been the first printer lavish enough to devote a whole page to prefixing a title to a book. a facsimile is here given, from which we see that this 'sermon preachable on the feast of the presentation of the most blessed virgin' was printed in 1470 at the outset of ther hoernen's career. the printer, however, seems to have understood no better than schoeffer the commercial advantage of what he was doing, and the next title-page which has to be chronicled is another of the same kind, reading the 'tractatulus compendiosus per modum dyalogi timidis | ac deuotis viris editus instruens non plus curam | de pullis et carnibus habere suillis quam quo modo | verus deus et homo qui in celis est digne tractetur. | ostendens insuper etiam salubres manuductiones quibus | minus dispositus abilitetur,' etc. what we may call the business title of this book is much more sensibly set forth in the brief colophon: 'explicit exhortacio de celebratione misse per modum dyalogi inter pontificem et sacerdotem, anno lxx[et],' &c. still, here also, the absence of an incipit, and of any following text must be taken as constituting a title-page. three years later two augsburg printers, bernardus 'pictor' and erhardus ratdolt, who had started a partnership in venice with petrus löslein of langenzenn in bavaria, produced the first artistic title-page as yet discovered. this appears in all the three editions of a calendar which they issued in latin and italian in 1476, and in german in 1478. the praises of the calendar are sung in twelve lines of verse, beginning in the latin edition:- aureus hic liber est: non est preciosior ulla gemma kalendario quod docet istud opus. aureus hic numerus; lune solisque labores monstrantur facile: cunctaque signa poli. then follows the date, then the names of the three printers in red ink. this letterpress is surrounded by a border in five pieces, the uppermost of which shows a small blank shield (see p. 19), while on the two sides skilfully conventionalised foliage is springing out of two urns. the two gaps between these and the printers' names are filled up by two small blocks of tracery. it is noteworthy that this charming design was employed by printers from augsburg, the city in which wood-engraving was first seriously employed for the decoration of printed books. but the design itself is distinctly italian in its spirit, not german. like its two predecessors, the title-page of 1476 was a mere anticipation, and was not imitated. the systematic development of the title-page begins in the early part of the next decade, when the custom of printing the short title of the book on a first page, otherwise left blank, came slowly into use.[4] the two earliest appearances of these label title-pages in england are (1) in 'a passing gode lityll boke necessarye & behouefull agenst the pestilens,' by 'canutus, bishop of aarhus,' printed by machlinia, probably towards the close of his career [1486-90?]; and (2) in one of the earliest works printed by wynkyn de worde, caxton's foreman, after his master's death. here, in the centre of the first page, we find a three-line paragraph reading: the prouffytable boke for mañes soule and right comfortable to the body and specially in aduersitee & tribulation, which boke is called the chastysynge of goddes chyldern. other countries were earlier than england both in the adoption of the label title-page and in filling the blank space beneath the title with some attempt at ornament. in france the ornament usually took the form of a printer's mark, more rarely of an illustration; in italy and germany usually of an illustration, more rarely of a printer's mark. until the first quarter of the sixteenth century was drawing to a close the colophon still held its place at the end of the book as the chief source of information as to the printer's name and place and date of publication. the author's name, also, was often reserved for the colophon, or hidden away in a preface or dedicatory letter. title-pages completed according to the fashion which, until the antiquarian revival by william morris of the old label form, has ever since held sway, do not become common till about 1520. perhaps the chief reason why the convenient custom of the title-page spread so slowly was that soon after 1470 the augsburg printers began to imitate in woodcuts the elaborate borders with which the illuminators had been accustomed to decorate the first page of the text of a manuscript or early printed book. when they first appear these woodcut borders grow out of the initial letter with which the text begin, and extend only over part of the upper and inner margins. in other instances, however, they completely surround the first page of text, and this is nearly always the case with the very beautiful borders which are found, towards the close of the century, in many books printed in italy. in these they are mostly preceded by a 'label' title-page. the use of borders to surround every page of text was practically confined[5] to books of devotion, notably the books of hours, whose wonderful career began in 1487 and lasted for upwards of half a century. head-pieces are found in a few books, chiefly greek, printed at venice towards the close of the fifteenth century. in the absence of any previous investigations on the subject, it is dangerous to attempt to say where tail-pieces first occur, but their birthplace was probably france. pagination and head-lines are said to have been first used by arnold ther hoernen at cologne in 1470 and 1471; printed signatures by john koelhoff at the same city in 1472. the date of koelhoff's book, an edition of nider's _expositio decalogi_, has been needlessly held to be a misprint, though it is a curious coincidence that we find signatures stamped by hand in one edition of franciscus de platea's _de restitutionibus_, venice, 1473, and printed close to the text in the normal way in another edition issued at cologne the following year. none of these small matters have any direct bearing on the decoration of books, but they are of interest to us as pointing to the printer's gradual emancipation from his long dependence on the help of the scribe. it is perhaps worth while, for the same reason, to take as a landmark günther zainer's 1473 edition of the _de regimine principum_ of aegidius columna. this book is possessed of printed head-lines, chapter headings, paragraph marks, and large and small initial letters. from first page to last it is untouched by the hand of the rubricator, and shows that zainer at any rate had won his independence within five years of setting up his press. curiously enough, to this particular specimen of his work he did not give his name, though it is duly dated. [illustration: from ptolemy's _cosmographia_, ulm, 1482.] * * * * * [3] a leaf of the _rechtstreit_ is in the taylorian institute at oxford. [4] it may be noted that in a few books, alike in germany, italy, and france, issued about 1490, a label title is printed on the back of the last leaf, either instead of, or in addition to, that on the recto of the first. [5] they are found also in some books of emblems, and in a few books printed at lyons in the middle of the sixteenth century. chapter iii germany--1470-1486 in the fifteenth century augsburg was one of the chief centres in germany for card-making and woodcut pictures. the cutters were jealous of their privileges, and when, in 1471, günther zainer, a native of reutlingen, who had been printing in their town for some years (his first book was issued in march 1468), asked for admission to the privileges of a burgher, they not only opposed him, but demanded that he should be forbidden to print woodcuts in his books. the abbot of ss. ulric and afra, melchior de stamheim, who subsequently set up presses of his own, procured a compromise, and günther was allowed to employ woodcuts freely, so long as they were cut by authorised cutters. zainer's first dated book with illustrations is a translation of the _legenda aurea_ of jacobus de voragine, with a small cut prefacing each of the two hundred and thirty-four biographies. the first part of this was finished in october 1471, and the second in april 1472. in 1472 came also two editions of the _belial_ or 'processus luciferi contra jesum christum,' in which thirty-two cuts help the understanding of the extraordinary text, and to the same year belongs ingold's _das guldin spiel_, a wonderful work, in which the seven deadly sins are illustrated from seven games. as a copy of this book is available, which has had the good fortune to escape the colourist, one of its twelve cuts--that showing card-playing, with which an augsburg woodcutter would be especially familiar--is here reproduced. the face of the man at the far end of the table is perhaps the most expressive piece of drawing in all the series. in 1473 zainer printed for the abbot of ss. ulric and afra a _speculum humanae salvationis_, with numerous biblical woodcuts. he also issued two editions in 1473 and 1477 of a bible, with large initial letters, into each of which is introduced a little picture. at the end of the second of these editions he adds the fine device, shown on p. 40, which it is strange that he should not have used more often. in 1474 he printed an account of the supposed murder of a small boy, named simon, by the jews, illustrated with some quite vivid pictures, and to about this time belongs his finest work, an undated edition of the _speculum humanae vitae_, full of numerous delightful cuts illustrating various trades and callings. in 1477 he illustrated a german edition of the moralisation of the game of chess by jacobus de cessolis, of which caxton had helped to print an english version a year or two before. [illustration: from ingold's _guldin spiel_, augsburg, 1472.] [illustration: device of günther zainer.] during the ten or twelve years of his activity at augsburg, which was brought to a close by his death in 1478, günther zainer printed probably at least a hundred works, of which about twenty, mostly either religious or, according to the ideas of the time, amusing, have illustrations. of the works printed during the second half of his career, the majority have woodcut initials, large or small, and a few also woodcut borders to the first page. the initials (which sometimes only extend through a part of a book, blanks being left when the stock failed), if seen by themselves, are rather clumsy, but harmonise well with the remarkably heavy gothic type which zainer chiefly used during this period of his career. if his engraved work cannot be praised as highly artistic, it was at least plentiful and bold, and admirably adapted for the popular books in which it mostly appeared. johann bämler, who during twenty years from 1472 printed a long list of illustrated books at augsburg, can hardly have set much store by originality, for in several of these, _e.g._ the _belial_ (1473), the _plenarium_ (1474), the _legenda sanctorum_, &c., the cuts are wholly or mainly copied from those in editions previously issued by zainer. bämler began his own career as an illustrator with some frontispieces, as we may call them, which come after the table of contents, and facing the first page of text in the _summa confessorum_ of johannes friburgensis, the _goldenen harfen_ of nider, and others of his early books. in 1474 he issued the first of his three editions of the _buch von den sieben todsünden und den sieben tugenden_. the 'sins and virtues' are personified as armed women riding on various animals, with various symbolical devices on their shields, banners, and helmets. but the ladies' faces are all very much alike, and the armorial symbolism is so recondite, that a considerable acquaintance with medieval 'bestiaries' would be required to decipher it. far better than this conventional work are the cuts in the _buch der natur_, printed by bämler in the next year. this is a fourteenth-century treatise dealing with men and women, with the sky and its signs, with beasts, trees, vegetables, stones, and famous wells, and, as in zainer's _spiegel des menschlichen lebens_, the artist drew from nature far better than from his imagination. in an edition of königshofen's _chronik von allen königen und kaisern_, printed in 1476, bämler inserted four full-page cuts representing christ in glory, the emperor sigismund dreaming in his bed, st. veronica holding before her the cloth miraculously imprinted with the face of christ, and the vision of pope gregory, when the crucified christ appeared to him on the altar. of bämler's later books, his edition (issued in 1482), of the history of the crusades (_türken-kreuzzüge_), by rupertus de sancto remigio, is perhaps the most noticeable. the large cut of the pope, attended by a young cardinal, preaching to a crowd of pilgrims, whose exclamation of 'deus vult' is represented by a scroll between them and the preacher, is really a fine piece of work, though the buildings in the background, from whose windows listeners are thrusting their heads, have the usual curious resemblance to bathing-machines. some of the smaller cuts also are good, notably one of a group of mounted pilgrims, which has a real out-of-door effect. after 1482, though he lived another twenty years, bämler published few or no new works, being content to reprint his old editions. our next augsburg printer is anton sorg, whose first dated work with woodcuts is the _buch der kindheit unseres herrn_ (1476). in his _büchlein das da heisset der seelen trost_, he produced the first series of illustrations to the ten commandments,--large full-page cuts, rudely executed. his _passion nach dem texte der vier evangelisten_, first issued in 1480, ran through no less than five editions in twelve years. in 1481 he produced the first german translation of the _travels of mandeville_, illustrated with numerous cuts of some merit. by far his most famous work is his edition of reichenthal's account of the council of constance, illustrated with more than eleven hundred cuts, chiefly of the arms of the dignitaries there present. the arms were necessarily intended to be coloured (the present system of representing the heraldic colours by conventional arrangements of lines and dots only dates from the seventeenth century), and this fate has also befallen the larger illustrations, whose workmanship is, indeed, so rude, that it could scarcely stand alone. these larger cuts represent processions of the pope and his cardinals, the dubbing of a knight, a tournament, the burning of huss for heresy, the scattering of his ashes (which half fill a cart) over the fields, and other incidents of the famous council. but the interest of the book remains chiefly heraldic. after 1480, printers of illustrated books became numerous at augsburg, peter berger, johann schobsser, hans schauer, and lucas zeissenmaier being rather more important than their fellows. more prolific than these, but not more enterprising in respect to new designs, was the elder hans schoensperger, who began his long career in 1481. his chief claim to distinction is his printing of the emperor maximilian's _theuerdank_, to which we shall refer in the next chapter. erhard ratdolt deserves mention for his ten years' stay at venice, where, as we have seen, he issued in 1476 the _calendar_, which is the first book with an ornamental title-page. in 1486 he returned to augsburg at the invitation of bishop friedrich von hohenzollern to print service-books, into which in future he put all his best work. his types and initial letters he brought with him from italy; for his illustrations, he had recourse to german artists of no exceptional ability. a few of his service-books, however, are distinguished by some interesting, if not very successful, experiments in printing some of the colours in his woodcuts. the foregoing sketch of the chief illustrated books published at augsburg during the fifteenth century can hardly escape the charge of dullness. it has been worth while, however, to plod through with it, because it may serve very well as an epitome of the average illustrated work done between 1470 and 1490 throughout germany. some of the works we have mentioned remained to the end augsburg books--_e.g._ the _buch der kunst geistlich zu werden_, the _buch der natur_, the _historie aus den geschichten der römer_, were repeatedly published there and nowhere else. others, _e.g._ the _historie des königs apollonius_, were shared between augsburg and ulm, chiefly, no doubt, through the relationship of the two zainers. the _historia trojana_ of guido delle colonne and the _geschichte des grossen alexander_ enjoyed long careers at augsburg, and were then taken up by martin schott at strasburg. eleven editions of the _belial_ of jacobus de theramo were shared fairly equally between the two cities. the bible and the _legenda aurea_ were of too widespread an interest to be monopolised by one or two places. a few books, like the _æsop_ and the _de claris mulieribus_ of boccaccio, which start from ulm, or the early _fasciculus temporum_, of which more than half the early editions belonged to cologne, trace their source elsewhere than to augsburg. but it was at augsburg that the majority of the popular illustrated books of the fifteenth century were first published, and the editions issued in other towns were mostly more or less servile imitations of them. next in importance to augsburg in the early history of illustrated books in germany, ranks the neighbouring city of ulm, where the names of wood-engravers are found in the town registers from the early part of the century, and the printers had thus plenty of good material to call to their aid. the first illustrated book which we know with certainty to have been printed at ulm is the _de claris mulieribus_ of boccaccio, issued by johann zainer, in a latin edition dated 1473, and in a german translation, with the same cuts, about the same time. this johann zainer was probably a kinsman of günther zainer of augsburg, but very little is known of him. the _de claris mulieribus_ begins with a fine engraved border extending over the upper and inner margins of the first page. it is not merely decorative but pictorial, the subject represented being the temptation of adam and eve. eve is handing her husband an apple from the forbidden tree, amid whose branches is seen the head of the serpent, his body being twisted into a large initial s, and then tapering away into the upper section of the border, where it becomes a branch, among the leaves of which appear emblems of the seven deadly sins. the numerous woodcuts in the text are quite equal to the average augsburg work. our illustration shows scipio warning massinissa to put away his newly married wife, and the hapless sophonisba drinking the poison, which is the only marriage gift her husband could send her. zainer's most striking success was achieved by his edition of steinhöwel's version of the _life and fables of æsop_, of which no less than eleven editions were printed in various german towns before the end of the century, for the most part closely copied from the ulm original. in this, there are altogether two hundred woodcuts, eleven of which belong to the story of sigismund at the end of the book. the frontispiece is a large picture of æsop, who, here and throughout the chapters devoted to his imaginary 'life,' is represented as a knavish clown, a variant of eulenspiegel or marcolphus. some of the illustrations to the fables are very good, notably those of the sower and the birds, the huntsman, and king stork, here reproduced from sorg's reprint. the _æsop_ and the boccaccio _de claris mulieribus_ give johann zainer a high place among the german printers of illustrated books. his other work was unimportant and mostly imitative. his types are much smaller than those used in the early augsburg books, and his initials less heavy and massive. they are not more than an inch high, and consist of a simple outline overlaid with jagged work. [illustration: from boccaccio _de clar. mul._, ulm, 1473.] [illustration: king log and king stork, from the ulm _æsop_.] in 1482, leonhard holl printed at ulm an edition of ptolemy's _cosmographia_, which contains the first woodcut map and fine initial letters, one of which, showing the editor, nicolaus germanus, presenting his book to the pope, is given as a frontispiece to this chapter. in 1483 he issued the first of many editions of the _buch der weisheit der alten menschen von anbeginn der welt_. the wisdom of the ancients chiefly takes the form of fables, which are illustrated with cuts, larger but much less artistic than those of zainer's _æsop_. from conrad dinkmuth we have the first illustrated editions of three notable works, the _seelenwurzgarten_, or 'garden of the soul' (1483), thomas lirar's _schwäbische chronik_ (1486), and the _eunuchus_ of terence (1486). this last is illustrated with fourteen remarkable woodcuts, over five inches by seven in size, and each occupying about three-fourths of a page. the scene is mostly laid in a street, and there is some attempt at perspective in the vista of houses. the figures of the characters are fairly good, but not above the average ulm work of the time. two later ulm books, written by gulielmus caoursin and printed by johann reger in 1496, are of great interest, one giving the _stabilimenta_ or ordinances, of the order of st. john of jerusalem, the other an account of the successful defence of rhodes by its knights against the turks. both are richly illustrated with woodcuts of very considerable artistic merit. [illustration: from the _eunuchus_, ulm, 1486.] at lübeck in 1475 lucas brandis printed, as his first book, a notable edition of the _rudimentum noviciorum_, an epitome of history, sacred and profane, during the six ages of the world. the epitome is epitomised at the beginning of the book by ten pages of cuts, mostly of circles linked together by chains, and bearing the name of some historical character. into the space left by these circles are introduced pictures of the world's history from the creation and the flood down to the life of christ, which is told in a series of nine cuts on the last page. the first page of the text is surrounded, except at the top, by a border in three pieces, into one section of which are introduced birds, and into another a blank shield supported by two lions. the inner margin of the first page of text bears a fine figure of a man reading a scroll, and the two columns are separated by a spiral of leaves climbing round a stick. the cuts in the text are partly repeated from the preliminary pages, partly new, though extreme economy is shown in their use, one figure of a philosopher standing for at least twenty different sages. the large initial letters at the beginning of the various books have scenes introduced into them, the little battle-piece in the q of the 'quinta aetas' being the most remarkable. altogether this is a very splendid and noteworthy book, and one which brandis never equalled in his later work. at nuremberg in 1472, johann sensenschmidt, its first printer, issued a german bible, introducing illustrations into the large initial letters. at cologne first one printer and then another published illustrated editions (ten in all) of the _fasciculus temporum_, though the cuts in these are mostly restricted to a few conventional scenes of cities, and representations of the nativity and crucifixion and of christ in glory. at cologne also, about 1480, there appeared two great german dialect bibles in two volumes, in the type and with borders which are found in books signed by heinrich quentel, to whose press they are therefore assigned. there are altogether one hundred and twenty-five cuts, ninety-four in the old testament (thirty-three of which illustrate the life of moses), and thirty-one in the new. they are of considerable size, stretching right across the double-columned page, and are the work of a skilful, but not very highly inspired, artist. they have neither the naïveté of the early augsburg and ulm workmen, nor the richness of the later german work. they were, however, immensely popular at the time. in 1483 anton koberger copied them at nuremberg, omitting, however, the borders which occur on the first and third pages of the first volume, and at the beginning of the new testament, and rejecting also nineteen of the thirty-one new testament illustrations. the cuts were used again in other editions, and influenced later engravers for many years. hans holbein even used them as the groundwork for his own designs for the old testament printed by adam petri at basel in 1523. at strassburg, illustrated books were first issued by knoblochtzer in 1477, and after 1480, martin schott and johann prüss printed them in considerable numbers. both these printers, however, were as a rule contented to reproduce the woodcuts in the different augsburg books, and the original works issued by them are mostly poor. an exception may be made in favour of the undated _buch der heiligen drei könige_ of johannes hildeshemensis, printed by prüss. this has a good border round the upper and inner margins of the first page of text woodcut initials, and fifty-eight cuts of considerable merit.[6] at mainz, peter schoeffer was very slow in introducing pictures into his books, making no use of them until he took to missal printing in 1483, when a cut of the crucifixion became almost obligatory. in 1479, however, a remarkable reprint of the _meditationes_ of cardinal turrecremata had been issued at mainz by johann numeister or neumeister, a wandering mainz printer, who had previously worked at foligno, and is subsequently found at albi, but now while revisiting his native place published there reduced adaptations of the cuts in the editions printed by hahn at rome (see chapter v), worked on soft metal instead of on wood. in addition to the places we have mentioned, illustrated books were issued during this period by bernhard richel at basel, by conrad fyner at esslingen, and by other printers in less important german towns. but those we have already discussed are perhaps sufficient as representatives of the first stage of book-illustration in germany. they have all this much in common that they are planned and carried out under the immediate direction of the printers themselves, each of whom seems to have had one or more wood-engravers attached to his office, who drew their own designs upon the wood and cut them themselves. there is a maximum of outline-work, a minimum of shading and no cross-hatching. every line is as direct and simple as possible. at times the effect is inconceivably rude, at times it is delightful in its child-like originality, and the craftsman's efforts to give expression to the faces are sometimes almost ludicrously successful. to the present writer these simple woodcuts are far more pleasing than all the glories of the illustrated work of the next century. they are in keeping with the books they decorate, in keeping with the massive black types and the stiff white paper. after 1500, we may almost say after 1490, we shall find that the printing and illustrating of books are no longer closely allied trades. an artist draws a design with pen and ink, a clever mechanic imitates it as minutely as he can on the wood, and the design is then carelessly printed in the midst of type-work, which bears little relation to it. paper and ink also are worse, and types smaller and less carefully handled. everything was sacrificed to cheapness, and the result was as dull as cheap work usually is. by the time that the great artists began to turn their attention to book-illustration, printing in germany was almost a lost art. * * * * * [6] many of knoblochtzer's books also have very pretentious borders, though the designs are usually coarse. a quarto border used in his _salomon et marcolfus_ with a large initial letter, and a folio one in his reprint of _æsop_ perhaps show his best work. these are reproduced, with many other examples of his types, initials, and illustrations in _heinrich knoblochtzer in strassburg von karl schorbach und max spirgatis_. (strassburg, 1888.) chapter iv germany, from 1486 the second period of book-illustration in germany dates from the publication at mainz in 1486 of bernhard von breydenbach's celebrated account of his pilgrimage to jerusalem. two years previously schoeffer had brought out a _herbarius_ in which one hundred and fifty plants were illustrated, mostly only in outline, and in 1485 he followed this up with another work of the same character, the _gart der gesundheyt_, which has between three and four hundred cuts of plants and animals, and a fine frontispiece of botanists in council. this in its turn formed the basis of jacob meidenbach's enlarged latin edition of the same work, published under the title of _hortus sanitatis_, with additional cuts and full-page frontispieces to each part. these three books in the naïveté and simplicity of some of their illustrations, belong to the period which we have reviewed in our last chapter, but in other cuts a real effort seems to have been made to reproduce the true appearance of the plant, and the increased care for accuracy links them with the newer work. it is, however, the _opus transmarinae peregrinationis ad sepulchrum dominicum in jherusalem_ which opens a new era, as the first work executed by an artist of distinction as opposed to the nameless craftsmen at whose woodcuts we have so far been looking. when bernhard von breydenbach went on his pilgrimage in 1483 he took with him the artist, erhard reuwich, and while breydenbach made notes of their adventures, reuwich sketched the inhabitants of palestine, and drew wonderful maps of the places they visited. on their return to mainz in 1484, breydenbach began writing out his latin account of the pilgrimage, and reuwich not only completed his drawings, but took so active a part in passing the work through the press that, though the types used in it apparently belonged to schoeffer, he is spoken of as its printer. the book appeared in 1486, and as its magnificence deserved, was issued on vellum as well as on paper. its first page was blank, the second is occupied by a frontispiece, in which the art of wood-engraving attained at a leap to an unexampled excellence. in the centre of the composition is the figure of a woman, personifying the town of mainz, standing on a pedestal, below and on either side of which are the shields of breydenbach and his two noble companions, the count of solms and sir philip de bicken. the upper part of the design is occupied by foliage amid which little naked boys are happily scrambling. the dedication to the archbishop of mainz begins with a beautiful, but by no means legible, r, in which a coat of arms is enclosed in light and graceful branches. this, and the smaller s which begins the preface are the only two printed initials in the volume. all the rest are supplied by hand. the most noticeable feature in the book are seven large maps, of venice, parenzo in illyria, corfu, modon, near the bay of navarino, crete, rhodes, and jerusalem. these are of varying sizes, from that of venice, which is some five feet in length, to those of parenzo and corfu, which only cover a double-page. they are panoramas rather than maps, and are plainly drawn from painstaking sketches, with some attempt at local colour in the people on the quays and the shipping. besides these maps there is a careful drawing, some six inches square, of the church of the holy sepulchre, headed 'haec est dispositio et figura templi dominici sepulchri ab extra,' and cuts of saracens (here shown), two jews, greeks, both seculars and monks, syrians and indians, with tables of the alphabets of their respective languages. spaces are also left for drawings of jacobites, nestorians, armenians, and georgians, which apparently were not engraved. [illustration: saracens from breydenbach.] after breydenbach and his fellows had visited jerusalem they crossed the desert to the shrine of st. katharine on mount sinai, and this part of their travels is illustrated by a cut of a cavalcade of turks in time of peace. there is also a page devoted to drawings of animals, showing a giraffe, a crocodile, two indian goats, a camel led by a baboon with a long tail and walking stick, a salamander and a unicorn. underneath the baboon is written 'non constat de nomine' ('name unknown'), and the presence of the unicorn did not prevent the travellers from solemnly asserting,--'haec animalia sunt veraciter depicta sicut vidimus in terra sancta!' at the end of the text is reuwich's device, a woman holding a shield, on which is depicted the figure of a bird. the book is beautifully printed, in a small and very graceful gothic letter. it obtained the success it deserved, for there was a speedy demand for a german translation (issued in 1488), and at least six different editions were printed in germany during the next twenty years, besides other translations. alike in its inception and execution breydenbach's _pilgrimage_ stands on a little pinnacle by itself, and the next important books which we have to notice, stephan's _schatzbehalter oder schrein der wahren reichthümer des heils und ewiger seligkeit_ and hartmann schedel's _liber chronicarum_, usually known as the _nuremberg chronicle_, are in every respect inferior, even the unsurpassed profusion of the woodcuts in the latter being almost a sin against good taste. both works were printed by anton koberger of nuremberg, the one in 1491, the other two years later, and in both the illustrations were designed, partly or entirely, by michael wohlgemuth, whose initial w appears on many of the cuts in the _schatzbehalter_. of these there are nearly a hundred, each of which occupies a large folio page, and measures nearly seven inches by ten. the composition in many of these pictures is good, and the fine work in the faces and hair show that we have travelled very far away from the outline cuts of the last chapter. on the other hand, there is no lack of simplicity in some of the scenes from the old testament. in his anxiety, for instance, to do justice to samson's exploits, the artist has represented him flourishing the jawbone of the ass over a crowd of slain philistines, while with the gates of gaza on his back he is casually choking a lion with his foot. in the next cut he is walking away with a pillar, while the palace of the philistines, apparently built without any ground floor, is seen toppling in the air. in contrast with these primitive conceptions we find the figure of christ often invested with real dignity, and the representation of god the father less unworthy than usual. in the only copy of the book accessible to me the cuts are all coloured, so that it is impossible to give a specimen of them, but the figure of noah reproduced from the _nuremberg chronicle_ gives a very fair idea of the work of wohlgemuth, or his school, at its best. the _chronicle_, to which we must now turn, is a mighty volume of rather over three hundred leaves, with sixty-five or sixty-six lines to each of its great pages. it begins with the semblance of a title-page in the inscription in large woodcut letters on its first page, 'registrum huius operis libri cronicarum cum figuris et ymaginibus ab inicio mundi,' though this really amounts only to a head-line to the long table of contents which follows. it is noticeable, also, as showing how slowly printed initials were adopted in many towns in germany, that a blank is left at the beginning of each alphabetical section of this table, and a larger blank at the beginning of the prologue, and that throughout the volume there are no large initial letters. this is also the case with the _schatzbehalter_, the blanks in the british museum copy being filled up with garish illumination. after the 'table' in the _chronicle_ there is a frontispiece of god in glory, at the foot of which are two blank shields held by wild men. the progress of the work of creation is shown by a series of circles, at first blank, afterwards more and more filled in. in the first five the hand of god appears in the upper left-hand corner, to signify his creative agency. the two chief features in the _chronicle_ itself are its portraits and its maps. the former are, of course, entirely imaginary, and the invention of the artist was not equal to devising a fresh head for every person mentioned in the text, a pardonable economy considering that there are sometimes more than twenty of these heads scattered over a single page and connected together by the branches of a quasi-genealogical tree. the maps, if not so good as those in breydenbach's _pilgrimage_, are still good. for ninive, for 'athene vel minerva,' for troy, and other ancient places, the requisite imagination was forthcoming; while the maps of venice,[7] of florence, and of other cities of italy, france, and germany, appear to give a fair idea of the chief features of the places represented. nuremberg, of course, has the distinction of two whole pages to itself (the other maps usually stretch across only the lower half of the book), and full justice is done to its churches of s. lawrence and s. sebaldus, to the calvary outside the city walls, and to the hedge of spikes, by which the drawbridge was protected from assault. [illustration: from the _nuremberg chronicle_.] we shall have very soon to return again to wohlgemuth and nuremberg, but in the year which followed the production of the great _chronicle_ sebastian brant's _narrenschiff_ attracted the eyes of the literary world throughout europe to the city of basel, and we also may be permitted to digress thither. in the year of the _chronicle_ itself a basel printer, michael furter, had produced a richly illustrated work, the _ritter vom thurn von den exempeln der gottesfurcht und ehrbarkeit_, the cuts in which have ornamental borders on each side of them. brant had recourse to furter a little later, but for his _narrenschiff_ he went to bergmann de olpe, from whose press it was published in 1494. the engraver or engravers (for there seem to have been at least two different hands at work) of its one hundred and fourteen cuts are not known, but brant is said to have closely supervised the work, and may possibly have furnished sketches for it himself. many of the illustrations could hardly be better. the satire on the book-fool in his library is too well known to need description; other excellent cuts are those of the children gambling and fighting while the fool-father sits blindfold,--of the fool who tries to serve two masters, depicted as a hunter setting his dog to run down two hares in different directions,--of the fool who looks out of the window while his house is on fire,--of the sick fool (here shown) who kicks off the bedclothes and breaks the medicine bottles while the doctor vainly tries to feel his pulse,--of the fool who allows earthly concerns to weigh down heavenly ones (a miniature city and a handful of stars are the contents of the scales),--of the frightened fool who has put to sea in a storm, and many others. the popularity of the book was instantaneous and immense. imitations of the basel edition were printed and circulated all over germany: in 1497 bergmann published a latin version by jacob locher with the same cuts, and translations speedily appeared in almost every country in europe. it is noteworthy that in the _narrenschiff_ we have no longer to deal with a great folio but with a handy quarto, and that, save for its cuts and the adjacent brokers, it has no artistic pretensions. [illustration: the sick fool] in the same year (1494) as the _narrenschiff_, bergmann printed another of brant's works, his poems 'in laudem virginis mariae' and of the saints, with fourteen cuts, and in 1495 his _de origine et conservatione bonorum regum et laude civitatis hierosolymae_, which has only two, but these of considerable size. in the following year brant transferred his patronage to michael furter, who printed his _passio sancti meynhardi_, with fifteen large cuts, by no means equal to those of the _narrenschiff_. in 1498 the indefatigable author employed both his printers, giving to bergmann his _varia carmina_ and to furter his edition of the _revelatio s. methodii_, which is remarkable not only for its fifty-five illustrations, but for brant's allusion to his own theory, 'imperitis pro lectione pictura est,' to the unlearned a picture is the best text. after 1498 brant removed to strassburg, where his influence was speedily apparent in the illustrated books published by johann grüninger, who in 1494 had issued as his first illustrated book an edition of the _narrenschiff_, and in 1496 published an illustrated and annotated _terence_. he followed these up with other editions of the _narrenschiff_, brant's _carmina varia_, and a _horace_ (1498), with over six hundred cuts, many of which, however, had appeared in the printer's earlier books. in 1501 he produced an illustrated _boethius_, and in the next year two notable works, brant's _heiligenleben_ and an annotated _virgil_, each of them illustrated with over two hundred cuts, of which very few had been used before. the year 1494 was notable for the publication not only of the _narrenschiff_, but of a low saxon bible printed by stephan arndes at lübeck, where he had been at work since 1488. the cuts to this book show some advance upon those in previous german bibles, but they are not strikingly better than the work in the _nuremberg chronicle_, to whose designers we must now return. in 1496 we find wohlgemuth designing a frontispiece to an _ode on s. sebaldus_, published by conrad celtes, a nuremberg scholar, with whom he had previously entered into negotiations for illustrating an edition of _ovid_, which was never issued. in 1501 celtes published the comedies of hroswitha, a learned nun of the tenth century, who had undertaken to show what charming religious plays might be written on the lines of terence. by far the finest of the large cuts with which the book is illustrated is the second frontispiece, in which hroswitha, comedies in hand, is being presented by her abbess to the emperor. the designs to the plays themselves are dull enough, a fault which those who are best acquainted with the good nun's style as a dramatist will readily excuse. her one brilliant success, a scene in which a wicked governor, who has converted his kitchen into a temporary prison, is made to inflict his embraces on the pots and pans, instead of on the holy maidens immured amidst them, was not selected for illustration. the woodcuts to the plays of hroswitha were designed by wohlgemuth or his scholars, and this was also the case with those in the _quatuor libri amorum_, published by celtes in 1502, to which albrecht dürer himself contributed three illustrations. for three years, from st. andrew's day 1486, dürer had served an apprenticeship to wohlgemuth, and when he returned to nuremberg after his 'wanderjahre,' during which he seems to have executed a single woodcut of no great merit for an edition of the _epistles of s. jerome_, printed by nic. kesler, at basel, in 1492, he too began to work as an illustrator. his first important effort in this character is the series of sixteen wood-engravings, illustrating the apocalypse, printed at nuremberg in 1498. the first leaf bears a woodcut title _die heimliche offenbarung johannis_, and on the verso of the last cut but one is the colophon, 'gedrücket zu nurnbergk durch albrecht dürer maler, nach christi geburt m.cccc und darnach im xcviij iar.' it has also in one or more editions some explanatory text, taken from the bible, but in spite of these additions it is a portfolio of engravings rather than a book, and as such does not come within our province. on the same principle we can only mention, without detailed description, the _epitome in divae parthenices mariae historiam_ of 1511, the _passio domini nostri jesu_, issued about the same date, and the _passio christi_, or 'little passion,' as it is usually called, printed about 1512. all these have descriptive verses by the benedictine monk chelidonius (though these do not appear in all copies), but they belong to the history of wood-engraving as such, and not to our humbler subject of book-illustration. still less need we concern ourselves with the 'triumphal car' and 'triumphal arch' of the emperor maximilian, designed by dürer, and published, the one in 1522, the other not till after the artist's death. besides these works and the single sheet of the rhinoceros of 1513, dürer designed frontispieces for an edition of his own poems in 1510, for a life of s. jerome by his friend lazarus spengler in 1514, and for the _reformation der stadt nürnberg_ of 1521. in 1513 also he drew a set of designs for half-ornamental, half-illustrative borders to fill in the blank spaces left in the book of prayers printed on vellum for the emperor maximilian in 1514. by him also was the woodcut of christ on the cross, which appears first in the eichstätt _missal_ of three years later. for us, however, dürer's importance does not lie in these particular designs, but in the fact that he set an example of drawing for the wood-cutters, which other artists were not slow to follow. in directing the attention of german artists to the illustration of books, the emperor maximilian played a more important part than dürer himself. as in politics, so in art, his designs were on too ambitious a scale, and of the three great books he projected, the _theuerdank_, the _weisskunig_, and the _freydal_, only the first was brought to a successful issue. this is a long epic poem allegorising the emperor's wedding trip to burgundy, and though attributed to melchior pfintzing was apparently, to a large extent, composed by maximilian himself. the printing was entrusted to the elder hans schoensperger of augsburg, but for some unknown reason, when the book was completed in 1517, the honour of its publication was allowed to nuremberg. a special fount of type was cut for it by jost dienecker of antwerp, who indulged in such enormous flourishes, chiefly to any _g_ or _h_ which happened to occur in the last line of text in a page, that many eminent printers have imagined that the whole book was engraved on wood. the difficulties of the setting up, however, have been greatly exaggerated, for the flourishes came chiefly at the top or foot of the page, and are often not connected with any letter in the text. in the present writer's opinion it is an open question whether the type, which is otherwise a very handsome one, is in any way improved by these useless appendages. they add on an average about an inch at the top and an inch and a half at the foot to the column of the text, which is itself ten inches in height, and contains twenty-four lines to a full page. the task of illustrating this royal work was entrusted to hans schäufelein, an artist already in the emperor's employment, and from his designs there were engraved one hundred and eighteen large cuts, each of them six and a half inches high by five and a half broad. the cuts, which chiefly illustrate hunting scenes and knightly conflicts, are not conspicuously better than those produced about the same time by other german artists, but they have the great advantage of having been carefully printed on fine vellum, and this has materially assisted their reputation. the _weisskunig_, a celebration of maximilian's life and travels, and the _freydal_, in honour of his knightly deeds, were part of the same scheme as the _theuerdank_. the two hundred and thirty-seven designs for the _weisskunig_ were mainly the work of hans burgkmair,[8] an augsburg artist of repute; its literary execution was entrusted to the emperor's secretary, max treitzsaurwein, who completed the greater part of the text as early as 1512. but the emperor's death in 1519 found the great work still unfinished, and it was not until 1775 that it was published as a fragment, with the original illustrations (larger, and perhaps finer, than those in the _theuerdank_), of which the blocks had, fortunately, been preserved. the _freydal_, though begun as early as 1502, was left still less complete; the designs for it, however, are in existence at vienna. the 'triumph of the emperor maximilian,' another ambitious work, with one hundred and thirty-five woodcuts designed by burgkmair, was first published in 1796. the death of maximilian in 1519 and the less artistic tastes of charles v. caused german illustrators to turn for work to the augsburg printers, and during the next few years we find them illustrating a number of books for the younger schoensperger, for hans othmar, for miller, and for grimm and wirsung, all augsburg firms. the most important result of this activity was the german edition of petrarch's _de remediis utriusque fortunae_, for which in the years immediately following the emperor's death an artist named hans weiditz, whose identity has only lately been re-established, drew no less than two hundred and fifty-nine designs. owing to the death of the printer, grimm, the book was put on one side, but was finally brought out by heinrich steiner, grimm's successor, in 1532. in the interim some of the cuts had been used for an edition of cicero _de senectute_, and they were afterwards used again in a variety of works. despite the excellence of the cuts the _petrarch_ is a very disappointing book. to do justice to the fine designs the most delicate press work was necessary, and, except when the pressmen were employed by an emperor, the delicacy was not forthcoming; it may be said, indeed, that it was made impossible by the poorness and softness of the paper on which the book is printed. at this period it was only the skill of individual artists which prevented german books from being as dull and uninteresting as they soon afterwards became. books of devotion in germany never attained to the beauty of the french _horae_, but they did not remain uninfluenced by them. in or before 1496 we find a _nouum b. mariae virginis psalterium_ printed at zinna, near magdeburg, with very beautiful, though florid, borders. in 1513 there appeared at augsburg a german prayer-book, entitled _via felicitatis_, with thirty cuts, all with rich conventional borders, probably by hans schäufelein, and we have already seen that in the same year dürer himself designed borders for the emperor's own _gebetbuch_. in 1515, again, burgkmair had contributed a series of designs, many of which had rich architectural borders, to a _leiden christi_, published by schoensperger at augsburg. in 1520 the same artist designed another set of illustrations, with very richly ornamented borders of flowers and animals, for the _devotissimae meditationes de vita beneficiis et passione jesu christi_, printed by grimm. the use of borders soon became a common feature in german title-pages, especially in the small quartos in which the lutherans and anti-lutherans carried on their controversies; but it cannot be said that they often exhibit much beauty. the innumerable translations of the bible, which were another result of the lutheran controversy, also provided plenty of work for the illustrators. the two augsburg editions of the new testament in 1523 were both illustrated, the younger schoensperger's by schäufelein, silvan othmar's by burgkmair. burgkmair also issued a series of twenty-one illustrations to the apocalypse, for which othmar had not had the patience to wait. [illustration: border attributed to lucas cranach.] at wittenberg the most important works issued were the repeated editions of luther's translation of the bible. here also lucas cranach, who had previously (in 1509) designed the cuts for what was known as the _wittenberger heiligthumsbuch_, in 1521 produced his _passional christi und antichristi_, in which, page by page, the sufferings and humility of christ were contrasted with the luxury and arrogance of the pope. at wittenberg, too, the thin quartos with woodcut borders to their title-pages were peculiarly in vogue, the majority of the designs being poor enough, but some few having considerable beauty, especially those of lucas cranach, of which an example is here given. meanwhile, at strassburg, hans grüninger and martin flach and his son continued to print numerous illustrated works, largely from designs by hans baldung grün, and a still more famous publisher had arisen in the person of johann knoblouch, who for some of his books secured the help of urs graf, an artist whose work preserved some of the old-fashioned simplicity of treatment. at nuremberg illustrated books after koburger's death proceeded chiefly from the presses of jobst gutknecht and peypus, for the latter of whom hans springinklee, one of the minor artists employed on the _weisskunig_, occasionally drew designs. at basel michael furter continued to issue illustrated books for the first fifteen years of the new century, johann amorbach adorned with woodcuts his editions of ecclesiastical statutes and constitutions, and adam petri issued a whole series of illustrated books, chiefly of religion and theology. to basel urs graf gave the most and the best of his work, and there the young hans holbein designed in rapid succession the cuts for the new testament of 1522, for an _apocalypse_, two editions of the pentateuch, and a vulgate, besides numerous ornamental borders. some of these merely imitate the rather tasteless designs of urs graf, in which the ground plan is architectural, and relief is given by a profusion of naked children, not always in very graceful attitudes. holbein's best designs are far lighter and prettier. the foot of the border is usually occupied by some historical scene, the death of john the baptist, mucius scævola and porsenna, the death of cleopatra, the leap of curtius, or hercules and orpheus. in a title-page to the _tabula cebetis_ he shows the whole course of man's life--little children crowding through the gate, which is guarded by their 'genius,' and the fortune, sorrow, luxury, penitence, virtue, and happiness which awaits them. the two well-known borders for the top and bottom of a page, illustrating peasants chasing a thieving fox and their return dancing, were designed for andreas cratander, for whom also, as for valentine curio, holbein drew printers' devices. ambrosius holbein also illustrated a few books, the most noteworthy in the eyes of englishmen being the 1518 edition of more's _utopia_, printed by froben. his picture of hercules gallicus, dragging along the captives of his eloquence, part of a border designed for an _aulus gellius_ published by cratander in 1519, is worthy of hans himself. while the german printers degenerated ever more and more, those of basel and zurich maintained a much higher standard of press-work, and from 1540 to 1560, when the demand for illustrated books had somewhat lessened, produced a series of classical editions in tall folios, well printed and on good paper, which at least command respect. they abound with elaborate initial letters, which are, however, too deliberately pictorial to be in good taste. in germany itself by the middle of the sixteenth century the artistic impulse had died away, or survived only in books like those of jost amman, in which the text merely explains the illustrations. it is a pleasure to go back some seventy or eighty years and turn our attention to the beginning of book-illustration in italy. * * * * * [7] dr. lippmann was of opinion that the map of venice was adapted from reuwich's; that of florence from a large woodcut, printed at florence between 1486 and 1490, of which the unique example is at berlin; and that of rome from a similar map, now lost, which served also as a model for the cut in the edition of the _supplementum chronicarum_, printed at venice in 1490. [8] burgkmair had already done work for the printers, notably for an edition of jornandes _de rebus gothorum_, printed in 1516, on the first page of which king alewinus and king athanaricus are shown in conversation, the title of the book being given in a shield hung over their heads. chapter v italy--i the first illustrated books and those of venice surrounded by pictures and frescoes, and accustomed to the utmost beauty in their manuscripts, the italians did not feel the need of the cheaper arts, and for the first quarter of a century after the introduction of printing into their country, the use of engraved borders, initial letters, and illustrations was only occasional and sporadic. perhaps not very long after the middle of the century an italian block-book of the passion had been issued, probably at venice, as it was there that most of the cuts were used again in 1487 for an edition of the _devote meditatione_, attributed to s. bonaventura. a copy of this is in the british museum; of the block-book eighteen leaves are preserved at berlin. despite some ungainliness in the figures and rather coarse cutting, the pictures are vigorous and effective, but quite unlike any later venetian work. something of the same kind may be said of those in an edition of the _meditationes_ of cardinal turrecremata, printed by ulrich hahn at rome in 1467, the first work printed in italy with movable type, in which woodcut illustrations were used. the cuts are thirty-four in number, and professed to illustrate the same subjects as the frescoes recently painted by the cardinal's order in the church of san maria di minerva at rome.[9] the execution is so rude, that it is impossible to say whether they are the work of a german influenced by italian models, or of an italian working to please a german master, nor is the point of the slightest importance. thirty-three of the cuts were used again in the editions printed at rome in 1473 and 1478, and it is from the 1473 edition that the accompanying illustration of the flight into egypt is taken. this in its original size is one of the best of the series, but the reduction necessary for its appearance on one of our pages has had a more than usually unfortunate effect, both on the cut itself and on the printer's type which appears below it. [illustration: from the _meditationes_ of turrecremata, rome, 1473.] in 1481, the courtier-printer, joannes philippus de lignamine, issued an edition of the _opuscula_ of philippus de barberiis adorned with twenty-nine cuts representing twelve prophets, twelve sibyls, st. john the baptist, the holy family, christ with the emblems of his passion, the virgin proba, and the philosopher plato. plato, malachi, and hosea are all represented by the same cut, another serves for both jeremiah and zechariah, and two of the sibyls are also made to merge their individualities. with the exception of the figure of christ, which is merely painful, the cuts are pleasantly and even ludicrously rude. nevertheless, they are not without vigour, and are, to my thinking, greatly preferable to the more conventional figures of the twelve sibyls and proba which appeared shortly afterwards in an undated edition of the same book, printed by sixtus riessinger. in this edition the figures are surrounded by architectural borders, and we have also a border to the first page and several large initial letters, all in exact imitation of the interlacement work, which is the commonest form of decoration in italian manuscripts of the time. riessinger's mark, a girl holding a black shield with a white arrow on it, and a scroll with the letters s.r.d.a. (sixtus riessinger de argentina), is found in the 'register' at the end of the book. to riessinger we also owe a _cheiromantia_, with figures of hands, which i have not seen, while from lignamine's press there was issued an edition of the _herbarium_ of apuleius barbarus (who was, of course, confused with his famous namesake), which has rude botanical figures and, at the end of the book, a most man-like portrait of a mandrake, with a dog duly tugging at one of his fibrous legs. the list of illustrated books printed at rome before 1490 also includes[10] some little editions, mostly by silber or plannck, of the _mirabilia romae_, a guidebook to the antiquities of the city, in which there are a few cuts of pilgrims gazing at the cloth of s. veronica, of ss. peter and paul, of romulus and remus, and other miscellaneous subjects. the interest of all these books is purely antiquarian. if we turn from rome to the neighbouring city of naples, we shall find evidence of much more artistic work. in 1478 sixtus riessinger printed there for francesco tuppo an edition of boccaccio's _libro di florio e di bianzefiore_, or _philocolo_, illustrated with forty-one woodcuts, of no great technical merit, but by no means without charm. two years later a representation of the supposed origin of music by the figures of five blacksmiths working at an anvil occurs in an edition of the _musices theoria_ of francesco gafori, printed in 1480 by francesco di dino. much more important than this is a handsome edition of _æsop_ published in 1485 by francesco tuppo, and printed for him by an anonymous firm known to bibliographers as the 'germain fidelissimi.' this contains eighty-seven large cuts heavily cut, but well drawn and with a massive vigour, one of which, representing the death of æsop, occupies a full page. the cuts illustrating the fabulist's life have rather commonplace borders to them, but when the fables themselves are reached, these are replaced by much more important ones. into an upper compartment are introduced figures of hercules wrestling with antæus, hercules riding on a lion, and a combat between mounted pigmies. the fables have also a large border surrounding the first page of text, used again in the hebrew bible of 1488. the ground-work of all the borders is black, but this has not always enabled them to escape the hand of the colourist. the book is also adorned by two large and two smaller printed initials. to the same artist as the illustrator of the _æsop_ must be attributed the title-cut of granollach's _astrologia_, issued in or about the same year. in 1486, again, matthias moravus printed one of the few italian _horae_, a charming little book, three inches by two, with sixteen lines of very pretty gothic type, printed in red and black, to each of its tiny pages, and four little woodcuts, which in the only copy i have seen have been painted over. a daintier prayer-book can hardly be conceived. when we turn from the south to the north of italy, we find that an italian printer at verona had preceded the german immigrants in issuing an important work with really fine woodcuts as early in 1472. this is the _de re militari_ of robertus valturius, written some few years previously, and dedicated to sigismund malatesta. in this fine book, printed by john of verona, there are eighty-two woodcuts representing various military operations and engines, all drawn in firm and graceful outline, which could hardly be bettered. the designs for these cuts have been attributed to the artist matteo de' pasti, whose skill as a painter, sculptor, and engraver, valturius had himself commended in a letter written in the name of malatesta to mahomet ii. the conjecture rests solely on this commendation, but seems intrinsically probable. the book has no other adornment save these woodcuts and its fine type. another edition was printed in the same town eleven years later by boninus de boninis. besides the _valturius_, the only other early verona book with illustrations known to me is an edition of _æsop_ in the italian version of accio zucco, printed by giovanni alvisio in 1479. this has a frontispiece in which the translator is seen presenting his book to a laurel-crowned person sitting in a portico, through which there is a distant view. this is followed by a page of majuscules containing the title of the book, but ending with a 'foeliciter incipit.' on the back of this is a tomb-like erection, bearing the inscription 'lepidissimi æsopi fabellae,' which gives it the rank of the second ornamental title-page (see p. 32 for the first). facing this is a page surrounded by an ornamental border, at the foot of which is the usual shield supported by the usual naked boys. within the border are latin verses beginning: "vt iuuet et prosit conatum pagina praesens dulcius arrident seria picta iocis," the lines being spaced out with fragments from the ornamental borders which surround each of the pictures in the body of the book. these, on the whole, are not so good as those in the naples edition of 1485, but were helped out, at least in some copies, by rather pretty colouring. the chief feature in the book is the care bestowed upon the preliminary leaves. in florence, before 1490, we have no example of wood-engraving employed in book illustration, but in 1477, nicolaus lorenz of breslau issued there the first of three books with illustrations engraved on copper. this is an edition of bettini's _monte santo di dio_ with three plates, representing respectively (1) the holy mountain, up which a man is climbing by the aid of a ladder of virtues; (2) christ standing in a 'mandorla' or almond-shaped halo formed by the heads of cherubs; and (3) the torments of hell. this was followed in 1481 by a _dante_ with the commentary of landino, with engravings illustrating the first eighteen cantos. spaces were left for engravings at the head of the other cantos, but the plan was too ambitious, and they were never filled up. some copies of the book have no engravings at all, others only two, those prefixed to cantos 1 and 3, the first of which is most inartistically introduced on the lower margin of the page, tempting mutilation by the binder's shears. the other venture of nicolaus lorenz, which has engraved work, is the _sette giornate della geographia_ of berlinghieri, in which he introduces numerous maps. at milan only two illustrated books are known to have been issued before 1490, both of which appeared in 1479. the rarer of these, which is seldom found in perfect condition, is the _summula di pacifica conscientia_ of fra pacifico di novara, printed by philippus de lavagna, and illustrated with three copper-plates, one of which represents the virtues of the madonna, the others containing diagrams exhibiting the prohibited degrees of consanguinity. the other book is a _breviarium totius juris canonici_, printed by leonard pachel and ulrich scinzenceller, with a woodcut portrait of its author, 'magister paulus florentinus ordinis sancti spiritus,' otherwise paolo attavanti. the illustrated books printed in italy which we have hitherto noticed are of great individual interest, but they led to the establishment of no school of book-illustration, and the value of wood engravings was as yet so little understood that the cuts in them often failed to escape the hands of the colourists. at venice, on the other hand, where bernhard maler and erhard ratdolt introduced the use of printed initials and borders in 1476, we find a continuous progress to the record of which we must now turn. the border to the title-page of the kalendars of 1476 has already been noticed: both the latin and the italian editions also contained printed initials of a rustic shape, resembling those in some early books in ulm, but larger and better. the next year the partners made a great step in advance in the initials and borders of an _appian_, and an edition of cepio's _gesta petri mocenici_. these were followed by an edition of _dionysius periegetes_, and in 1478 by the _cosmographia_ of pomponius mela. three distinct borders are used in these books, all of them with light and graceful floral patterns in relief on a black ground. the large initials are of the same character, and both these and the borders are unmistakably italian. in 1478 ratdolt lost the aid of bernhard maler, who up to that date seems to have been the leading spirit of the firm, and the books subsequently issued are much less decorative. in 1479 another german, georg walch, issued an edition of the _fasciculus temporum_ with illustrations mostly poor enough, but with a quaint little attempt at realism in one of venice. these cuts of walch's, and also a decorative initial, ratdolt was content to copy on a slightly larger scale in an edition of his own the next year. he also printed an undated _chiromantia_, with twenty-one figures of heads, a reprint of which bearing his name and that of mattheus cerdonis de windischgretz was issued at padua in 1484. in 1482, came the _poetica astronomica_ of hyginus, with numerous woodcuts of the astronomical powers, those of mercury (here very slightly reduced) and sol being perhaps the best. to the same year belongs a reprint of the _cosmographia_ of pomponius mela with a curious map and a few good initials, also a _euclid_ with mathematical diagrams and a border and initials from the _appian_ of 1477. [illustration: from the _hyginus_ of 1482.] after 1482 ratdolt does not seem to have printed any new illustrated books, and in 1486 he ceased printing at venice and returned, as we have seen, to augsburg. subject to the doubt as to whether he has not been credited with praise which really belongs to bernhard maler, his brief italian career entitles him to a place of some importance among the decorators of books, for though his illustrations were unimportant, his borders and initials are among the best of the fifteenth century. in 1482 octavianus scotus printed three missals with a rude cut of the crucifixion, and these were imitated by other printers in 1483, 1485, and 1487. the year 1486 was marked by the publication, by bernardino de benaliis, of an edition of the _supplementum chronicarum_ of giovanni philippo foresti of bergamo, with numerous outline woodcuts of cities, for the most part purely imaginary and conventional, the same cuts being used over and over again for different places. four years later a new edition was printed by bernardino de novara, in which more accurate pictures were substituted in the case of some of the more important towns, notably florence and rome. in both issues the first three cuts, representing the creation, the fall, and the sacrifice of cain and abel, are copied from those in the cologne bible. the year after his edition of the _supplementum_, bernardinus de benaliis printed an _æsop_ with sixty-one woodcuts adapted from those in the veronese edition of 1479. of this edition dr. lippmann, who had the only known copy under his charge at berlin, remarks that 'the style of engraving is, to a large extent, cramped and angular, and the entire appearance of the work is that of a genuine chapbook.' [illustration: from the _devote meditatione_, venice, 1508 [1489].] in 1488 we arrive at the first of the numerous illustrated editions of the _trionfi_ of petrarch. this was printed by bernardino de novara, and has six full-page cuts, measuring some ten inches by six, and illustrating the triumphs of love, of chastity, death, fame, and time, and of the true divinity over the false gods. the designs are excellent, but the engraver had very imperfect control over his point, and his treatment of the eyes of the figures introduced is by itself sufficient to spoil the pictures. curiously enough, the ornamental border of white figures on a black ground is certainly better cut than the pictures themselves. the same inferiority of the engraver to the designer is seen in the illustrations to the 1489 edition of the _deuote meditatione sopra la passione del nostro signore_ attributed to s. bonaventura. the first illustrated edition of this book, with eleven illustrations taken (slightly cut down) from the block book of the passion already mentioned, had been printed in 1487 by ieronimo de santis. the 1489 edition was printed by matteo di codecha (or capcasa) of parma, who republished the book no less than six times during the next five years, after which the cuts were used by other printers,--_e.g._ by gregorio di rusconi, from whose edition in 1508 our illustration of the mocking of christ is taken. it is interesting to compare this venetian series with the florentine edition published a little later by antonio mischomini, whose engraver, while taking many hints from the designs of his predecessor, greatly improved on them. the next year witnessed the first venetian edition of another work in which the artists of the two cities were to be matched together. this is the _fior di virtù_, whose title-cut of fra cherubino da spoleto gathering flowers in the convent garden shows a great advance on previous venetian work. unfortunately the british museum copy has been slightly injured, so that i am obliged to take my reproduction from the second of two similar editions published by matteo codecha in 1492, 1493. these have each thirty-six vignettes in the text, illustrating the examples in the animal world of the virtues which the author desired to inculcate. [illustration: from the _fior di virtù_, venice, 1493.] we must now turn to the first illustrated edition of malermi's italian version of the bible, printed in 1490. after the woodcut basis for the six little illuminations in the spencer copy of adam of ammergau's edition of 1471, the first biblical woodcuts at venice are a series of thirty-eight small vignettes which decorate an edition of the _postilla_ or sermons, of nicolaus de lyra, printed for octavianus scotus in 1489. in the bible itself, printed the next year by giovanni ragazzo for lucantonio giunta, the illustrations are on a very lavish scale, numbering in all three hundred and eighty-three, of which a few are duplicates, and about a fourth are adapted in miniature from the cuts in the cologne bibles, which formed a model for so many other editions. some of the best cuts in this and other venetian books are signed with a small _b_, which by some writers has been supposed to stand for the name of the artist who designed them, but is more probably to be referred to the workshop at which they were engraved. the craftsmen employed on the new testament were quite unskilled, but many of the illustrations to the old testament are delightful. the first page of the bible is occupied by six somewhat larger cuts, illustrating the days of creation, joined together within an architectural border. other editions containing the same cuts, with additions from other books, were issued in 1494, 1498, and 1502. a rival edition, printed by guglielmo de monteferrato, with a new set of cuts of a similar character appeared in 1493. these three religious works, the _meditatione_, the _postilla_, and the malermi bible thoroughly established the use of vignettes, or small cuts worked into the text, as an alternative to full-page illustrations, like those in the _petrarch_, and it was natural that this method of decoration should soon be applied to the greatest of italian works, the _divina commedia_. in producing an illustrated dante, venice had been anticipated not only by the florentine edition of 1481, though the engravings in this are only found in the first few cantos, but by a very curious edition published at brescia in 1487, with full-page cuts, surrounded by a black border with white arabesques. these large cuts, which measure ten inches by six, are very coarsely executed, and have no merit save what the earlier ones derive from their imitation of those in the florentine edition. in the course of the year 1491 two illustrated _dantes_ were published at venice, the first on march 3rd by bernardino benali and matteo [codecha] da parma, the second on november 18th by pietro cremonese. the earlier edition has a fine woodcut frontispiece illustrating the first canto, but the vignettes which succeed it are so badly cut as to lose all their beauty. in the later edition the same designs appear to have been followed, but the vignettes are larger and much better cut, so that they are at least somewhat less unworthy of their subject. both editions have printed initials, but of the poorest kind, and in both the text is hidden away amid the laborious commentary of landino. after dante's _divina commedia_ it is natural to expect an edition of boccaccio's _decamerone_, and this duly followed the next year from the press of gregorius de gregoriis. the first page is occupied by a woodcut of the ten fine ladies and gentlemen who tell the stories, seated in the beautiful garden to which they had retired from the plague which was raging around them. beneath this are seventeen lines of text, with a blank left for an initial h, and woodcut and text are surrounded by an architectural border, at the foot of whose columns little boys standing on the heads of lions are blowing horns, while in the lower section of the design the usual blank shield is approached from either side by cupids riding on rams. the blank for the initial is a great blot on the page, as any coloured letter would have destroyed the delicacy of the whole design. in the body of the work each of the ten books is headed by a double cut, in one part of which the company of narrators is standing in front of a gateway, while one of their number is playing a guitar; in the other they are all seated before a fountain, presided over by a wreath-crowned master of the story-telling. the vignettes which illustrate the different tales vary very much in quality, though some, like the little cut of the marquis and his friends approaching griselda as she brings water from the well, could hardly be bettered. the _boccaccio_ of 1492 heralded a long series of illustrated books from the press of gregorius de gregoriis and his brother john. most of these were devotional in their character, _e.g._ the _zardine de oratione_, the _monte dell' oratione_, the _vita e miracoli del sancto antonio di padova_, the _passione di cristo_, &c. the _novellino_ of masuccio salernitano formed a pendant to the _boccaccio_, and was published in the same year. to the gregorii we also owe the magnificent border, in white relief on a black ground, to the latin _herodotus_ of 1494, repeated again in the second volume of the works of s. jerome published in 1497-98. equally famous with any of these is the same printer's series of editions of the _fascicolo de medicina_ of johannes ketham. in the first of these, printed in 1491, the illustrations are confined to cuts of various dreadful-looking surgical instruments; but in 1493 large pictures were added, each occupying the whole of a folio page, and representing a dissection, a consultation of physicians, the bedside of a man struck down by the plague. the dissection was printed in several colours, but this experiment was abandoned, and a new block was cut for the subsequent editions. in some of his later books gregorius repaired the mistake of the _boccaccio_, and used excellent woodcut initials. the _herodotus_ of 1494 has only its magnificent border by way of illustration, but other classical authors received much more generous treatment during this decade. an italian _livy_, with numerous vignettes, was printed in 1493 by giovanni di vercelli, and a latin one in 1495 by p. pincio, lucantonio giunta in each case acting as publisher.[11] in 1497 lazarus de soardis printed for simon de luere a _terence_ with numerous vignettes; and in the same year there appeared an illustrated edition, several times reprinted, of the _metamorphoses_ of ovid, the printer being giovanni rossi and the publisher once more lucantonio giunta. the cuts in this work measure something over three inches by five, and have little borders on each side of them; but the fineness of the designs is lost by poor engraving. some of them are signed _ia_, others n. we now approach one of the most famous books in the annals of venetian printing, the _hypnerotomachia poliphili_ printed by aldus in 1499, at the expense of a certain leonardo crasso of verona, 'artium et iuris pontificis consultus,' by whom it was dedicated to guidobaldo, duke of urbino. the author of the book was francesco colonna, a dominican friar, who had been a teacher of rhetoric at treviso and padua, and was now spending his old age in the convent of ss. giovanni e paolo in venice, his native city. colonna's authorship of the romance is revealed in an acrostic formed by the initial letters of the successive chapters, which make up the sentence, 'poliam frater franciscus columna peramavit': 'brother francesco colonna greatly loved polia.' who polia was is a little uncertain. in the opening chapter she tells her nymphs that her real name was lucretia, but she has been identified with a hippolita lelio, daughter of a jurisconsult at treviso, who entered a convent after having been attacked by the plague, which visited treviso from 1464 to 1468. on the other hand, it is plausibly suggested that polia ([greek: polia]), 'the grey-haired lady,' is only a symbol of antiquity, and at the beginning of the book there is at least a pretence of an allegory, though this is not carried very far. [illustration: from the _hypnerotomachia_, venice, 1499.] in the story polifilo, a name intended to mean 'the lover of polia,' imagines himself in his dream as passing through a dark wood till he reaches a little stream, by which he rests. the valley through which it runs is filled with fragments of ancient architecture, which form the subjects of many illustrations. as he comes to a great gate he is frightened by a dragon. escaping from this, he meets five nymphs (the five senses), and is brought to the court of queen eleuterylida (free will). then follows a description of the ornaments of her palace and of four magnificent processions, the triumphs of europa, leda, and danaë, and the festival of bacchus. after this we have a triumph of vertumnus and pomona, and a picture of nymphs and men sacrificing before a terminal figure of priapus. meanwhile polifilo has met the fair polia, and together they witness some of the ceremonies in the temple of venus, and view its ornaments and those of the gardens round it. the first book, which is illustrated with one hundred and fifty-one cuts, now comes to an end. book ii describes how the beautiful polia, after an attack of the plague, had taken refuge in a temple of diana; how, while there, she dreamt a terrifying dream of the anger of cupid, so that she was moved to let her lover embrace her, and was driven from diana's temple with thick sticks; lastly, of how venus took the lovers under her protection, and at the prayer of polifilo caused cupid to pierce an image of polia with his dart, thereby fixing her affections as firmly on polifilo as he could wish--if only it were not all a dream! this second book is illustrated with only seventeen woodcuts, but as these are not interrupted by any wearisome architectural designs, their cumulative effect is far more impressive than those of the first, though many of the pictures in this--notably those of polifilo in the wood and by the river, his presentation to eleuterylida, the scenes of his first meeting with polia, and some of the incidents of the triumphs--are quite equal to them. unfortunately, the best pictures in both books are nearly square, so that it is impossible to reproduce them in an octavo except greatly reduced. the woodcuts of the _polifilo_ have been ascribed to nearly a dozen artists, but in every case on the very slenderest grounds. some of the cuts, like some of those in the mallermi bible, are marked with a little _b_; but this, as has been said, is almost certainly indicative of the engraver's workshop from which they proceeded, rather than of the artist who drew the designs. the edition of 1499 is a handsome folio; the text is printed in fine roman type, with three or four different varieties of beautiful initial letters. the title and headings are printed in the delicate majuscules which belong to the type, and have a very graceful appearance. a second edition of the _polifilo_ was published in 1545, with, for the most part, the same cuts. this was followed in the next year by a french translation by jean martin, printed at paris by jacques kerver, and republished three times during the century. for the french editions the cuts were freely imitated, the rather short, plump italian women reappearing as ladies of even excessive height. in england in 1592 simon waterson printed an abridged translation with the pretty title, _hypnerotomachia, or the strife of love in a dreame_, with a few cuts copied from the italian originals. the book, now extremely rare, was apparently not well received, for waterson, abandoning all hope of a second edition, speedily parted with his wood-blocks. four of the cuts are found amid the most incongruous surroundings in the _strange and wonderful tidings happened to richard hasleton, borne at braintree in essex, in his ten yeares trauailes in many forraine countries_, though this egregious work was printed by a. i. for william barley in 1595, only three years after the _strife of love in a dreame_. as we have noted, aldus printed the _hypnerotomachia_ on commission, and save for two discreditably bad cuts in his _musaeus_ and a rather fine portrait of s. catherine of siena in his edition of her letters printed in 1500, he troubled himself with no other illustrations. in his larger works he revived the memory of the stately folios of jenson, and in his popular editions sought no other adornment than the beauty of his italic type. if pictures were needed to make a book more acceptable to a rich patron, he did not disdain to have recourse to the illuminator. some of his greek books have most beautiful initial letters, and in the aristotle of 1497 he employs good head-pieces, though these fall far short of the large oriental design, printed in red, placed by his friendly rival, zacharias kaliergos, at the top of the first page of the _commentary_ of simplicius on aristotle of 1499. [illustration] the influence of aldus certainly helped to widen the gulf which already existed between the finely printed works intended for scholars and wealthy book-lovers and the cheaper and more popular ones in which woodcuts formed an addition very attractive to the humbler book-buyers. perhaps this in part accounts for the great deterioration in italian illustrated books after the close of the fifteenth century. the delicate vignettes and outline cuts only appear in reprints, and in new works their place is taken by heavily shaded engravings, mostly of very little charm. the numerous liturgical works published by lucantonio giunta and his successors perhaps show this work at its best. they are mostly printed in gothic type with an abundant use of red ink, and the heaviness of the illustrations is thus all the better carried off. but as the century advanced venetian printing deteriorated more and more rapidly: partly from excessive competition; partly, as mr. brown has shown in his _the venetian printing press_, from too much interference on the part of the government; partly, we must suppose, simply from the decline of good taste, though it is noticeable that between 1540 and 1560, when the insides of books had become merely dull, is a brilliant period in the history of venetian binding. whatever the cause, within a few years after the close of the fifteenth century the glories of venetian printing had disappeared. [illustration: from the _epistole_ of pulci, florence, _c._ 1495.] * * * * * [9] the title of the book, printed in red, beneath the first woodcut, reads: 'meditationes rever[=e]dissimi patris dñi johannis de turre cremata sacros[~c]e romane eccl'ie cardinalis posite & depicte de ipsius m[~a]dato [~i] eccl'ie ambitu marie de minerva, rome.' [10] maps hardly come under the head of illustrations, but we may note the appearance in 1478 of the edition of ptolemy's _cosmographia_, by arnold buckinck, with maps engraved by conrad sweynheim, the partner of pannartz. [11] in the intervening year giunta had published the _santa catharina_, printed by matteo codecha, some copies of which have the false date mcccclxxxiii. chapter vi italy--ii florence and milan--italian printers' marks we must now return from venice to florence, where, after the experiments with engravings on copper in 1477 and 1481, no illustrated books had been published until on march 27, 1490, francesco di dino (whom we have already seen at work at naples ten years earlier) brought out an edition of the _specchio di croce_ of domenico cavalca, with a frontispiece representing the crucifixion. in september of the same year an edition of the _laudi_ of jacopone da todi (the franciscan author of the _stabat mater_), was printed by francesco buonaccorsi, which contains on the verso of its eighth leaf a most beautiful outline woodcut,[12] st. jacopone kneeling by a little lectern, his book on the ground, while above him is a vision of the madonna enshrined in a 'mandorla,' supported below by three cherubs and above by four maturer angels. in 1491 we make the acquaintance of lorenzo di morgiani and giovanni tedesco da maganza, or johann petri of mainz, from whose press some of the most important of the florentine illustrated books were issued. the first result of their activity was a new edition of bettini's _monte santo di dio_, in which the three copperplates of the edition of 1477 were freely imitated upon wood. in the same year they printed a little treatise on arithmetic, written by philippo calandro and dedicated to giuliano dei medici. this is the most delightful of all arithmetic books. it has a title-cut of 'pictagoras arithmetice introductor,' and the earlier pages of the book are surrounded by a characteristic renaissance border. towards the end of the work there is a series of illustrated problems, only a little more absurd than those which still occur in children's school-books. one of these, however, is so good that we must permit ourselves a little digression to quote it in a free translation:- "a squirrel flying from a cat climbed to the top of a tree 26-3/4 arm's-lengths (_braccia_) in height. the cat, wanting to seize the squirrel, began to climb the tree, and each day leaped up half an arm's length, and each night descended a third of one. the squirrel, on its part, believing that the cat had gone away, wanted to get down from the tree, and each day descended a quarter of an arm's length, and each night went back one-fifth of one: i want to know in how many days the cat will reach the said squirrel?" the answer is 121 days; but the picture must have been taken on the first or second, for the cat is still very plump, and so large in proportion to the tree that if he had but stood on his hind legs he ought to have reached the top! others of the pictures are without this charming touch of absurdity, perhaps the most perfect being a little cut of a traveller on horseback, as to the expenses of whose journey the teacher was anxious for some information from his young friends. these little cuts are all about an inch square, and drawn in outline. another edition of the arithmetic, in roman type instead of black letter, but otherwise very similar, was issued in 1518 by bernardo zucchetta. with the year 1492 we come to the first dated editions of the illustrated savonarola tracts, which play no inconsiderable part in the history of book illustration in italy. their existence is in itself the best refutation of the popular belief that the reformer's influence was wholly hostile to the interests of art, though the number of artists who reckoned themselves, formally or informally, among his followers should have sufficed to prevent the belief growing up. these tracts, save for the cuts with which they are adorned, are insignificant in appearance, being for the most part badly printed, and with few and poor initial letters. the woodcuts, seldom more than two in a tract, are, however, charming, and have won for them much attention. [illustration: from an undated savonarola tract, florence, _c._ 1495.] the first publisher of these tracts seems to have been antonio mischomini, who on june 26, 1492, issued a trac tato dello amore di iesu christo composto da frate hieronymo da ferrara del l'ordine de frati predica tori pri ore di san marcho di f i r e n z e with the title arranged cross-wise, as here shown. on the back of the title is a picture of the crucifixion, with the blessed virgin and s. john standing by the cross. this was followed on june 30th by the _tractato della humilta_, with a large title-cut representing the dead christ before his cross, an angel supporting each arm. neither of these cuts shows typical florentine work, for the blank spaces have all to be cleared away by the engraver, and there is an abundance of shading. the first design was clearly spoilt in the cutting, the second is of great beauty. the typical florentine work, in which white lines are cut out from a black ground, as well as black lines from a white, appears in the _tractato ouero sermone della oratione_, finished by mischomini on october 20th. here the title-cut shows the scene at gethsemane: the three disciples asleep in the foreground, christ in prayer, and the hands of an angel holding a cup appearing in a corner above. the picture, as always in distinctively florentine work, is surrounded by a little border or frame, in which a small white pattern is picked out from a black ground. the other illustrated savonarola tracts bearing an early date, with which i am acquainted, are the _de simplicitate christianae vitae_, printed 'impensis ser petri pacini,' august 28th, 1496, and the _predica dell arte del bene morire_, preached on nov. 2 of that year, taken down at the time by ser lorenzo violi, and doubtless published immediately afterwards. the _de simplicitate_ has on its first page a picture of a dominican friar writing in his cell, a sand-glass at his side, a crucifix in front of his desk, and books and his gown scattered on a table. the illustrations to the _arte del bene morire_ comprise a hideous outline cut of death, scythe on shoulder, flying over ground strewn with corpses (this is enclosed in a large black border used by mischomini in 1492), and cuts of death showing a young man heaven and hell,[13] of a sick man with his good and bad angels watching him and death standing without the door, and of a dying man attended by a friar, death sitting now at his bed's foot, and the angels watching as before. turning now to the undated tracts, we find that the _expositione del pater noster_ contains (1) a very beautiful variant of the representation of the scene on gethsemane, the angel appearing on the left instead of the right,[14] (2) a cut of s. james writing at a table, (3) a small cut of david in prayer, and some still smaller pictures of prophets and of the crucifixion. at the end of the book is an _epistola a una devota donna bolognose_, which is headed and ended by a cut of a dominican preaching in the open air to a congregation of nuns. an undated edition of the _tractato della humilta_ has images of pity at the beginning and end, the former surrounded by a black border. yet another edition has an outline cut of christ holding his cross, while blood streams from his hand into a chalice. an edition of the _tractato dello amore di iesu_ has two outline cuts, one large, one small, showing the blessed virgin and s. john standing by the cross. a tract on self-examination, addressed to the abbess of the convent of the murate at florence, shows an aged friar being welcomed at the convent. other tracts have pictures of a priest elevating the host, a man praying before an altar, a man and woman praying, &c. one of the rarest is the superb cut to the _dyalogo della verita prophetica_, in which a friar is preaching to seven questioners arranged in a half-circle under a tree, a view of florence occupying the background. cuts in other books show savonarola meeting a devil and an astrologer, and represent him preaching to an intent congregation. with these tracts we must join the defence of savonarola by his follower domenico benivieni, who appears in the title-cut in earnest disputation with a group of florentines, while later on in the book there is a full-page illustration of the reformer's vision of the regeneration of the world and the church, in which the stream of christ's blood as he hangs on the cross is being literally used for the washing away of sins. this book was published by francesco buonaccorsi in 1496. [illustration: from savonarola's _operetta sopra i dieci commandamenti di dio_, 1495.] florentine book-illustration reached its highest in an edition of the _epistole e evangelii_,[15] or liturgical gospels and epistles, printed in 1495 by lorenzo morgiani and johann petri at the instance of the ser piero pacini da pescia, who for the next fourteen or fifteen years seems to have been an active promoter of illustrated books. only two copies of the edition of the _epistole e evangelii_ are known to exist, but the owner of one of them, mr. c. w. dyson perrins, has reproduced all the woodcuts in it in very finely executed facsimile, together with a reprint of the text, for presentation to the roxburghe club, so that the illustrator's work can now be studied with comparative ease. the title-page shows s. peter and s. paul standing in a circle enclosed in an arabesque border of white floral ornaments and dolphins on a black ground. at the corners of the border are figures of the four evangelists. in the text there are twelve dozen large woodcuts and two dozen half-length figures of prophets, evangelists, and epistle-writers. of the larger cuts eleven represent s. paul writing and one s. peter, most of the rest scenes from the life of christ, several of those representing the passion having previously appeared in an undated edition of the _meditatione_ attributed to s. bonaventura from the press of mischomini. the cuts form a treasure-house of florentine art, and were frequently drawn upon by the printers of the later _rappresentationi_, at which we shall soon have to look. [illustration: from the _giuocho delli scacchi_, florence, 1493.] we must return now to antonio mischomini, who published many other illustrated books besides the savonarola tracts. in 1492 he printed an edition of cristoforo landino's _formulare di lettere e di orationi uolgari_, with a large title-cut of a very young teacher addressing a class, and at the end of the book his mark (a cross-surmounted m within two squares and a circle), surrounded by the arabesque border which we have already noticed in the _arte del bene morire_ of 1496. the next year (_i.e._ 1493) he printed the _libro di giuocho delli scacchi_ of jacobus de cessolis, with a large title-cut (repeated at the end of the book) representing courtiers playing in the presence of a king, and thirteen smaller cuts personifying the various pieces. these comprise a king and queen, a judge, a knight, a 'rook,' or vicar of the king to visit in his stead all parts of the realm, and the eight 'popolari' or pawns, a labourer, smith, wool-merchant, money-changer, physician, tavern-keeper (here shown), city-guard, and a runner to be at the rook's service. chess-players may be interested to know that the pawns actually in use in 1493, as shown on the board in the title-cut, had already lost this excessive individuality, and resemble those of our own day. [illustration: from the _fior di virtù_, florence, 1498.] in 1494 mischomini printed the commentary on the ten commandments by frate marco dal monte sancta maria, which has a title-cut of the friar preaching, and three full-page allegorical illustrations freely copied from those in an edition printed at venice. the first of these represents 'la figura della vita eterna' by a picture of the glories of heaven,[16] and the earthly devotions by which they are to be attained; the second, which is in three divisions, the traversing of the desert of sin; and the third, mount sinai, up which moses is seen climbing. in the same year, 1494, mischomini also published a catechism known as the _lucidario_, to which he prefixed a title-cut showing damocles at his feast, the sword hanging over his head, and in another compartment some little rabbits running happily in a wood. damocles and the rabbits have nothing whatever to do with the catechism, and the occurrence of the cut proves that before this date mischomini must have printed an edition of the _fior di virtù_, to which it rightfully belongs. we have already looked at the venetian editions of this book, and shall not be surprised to find that the florentine printers had the good sense to copy their charming title-cut, though they did not improve it by their addition of an incongruous border of pilasters, a vernicle, and an image of pity. the first florentine edition of this book, with which i am acquainted, has a fitfully rhyming colophon, adapted from that of the venetian edition of 1493, showing that it was printed at florence in 1498, and ought, at any rate, to be read on feast-days. to entice readers to persevere in this task, there are thirty-five illustrations, some of which, like the one in the _lucidario_, are divided into two parts, so as to secure a contrast or comparison between an animal and a man--as, for example, between a humble sheep and a proud general riding in triumph, or, as shown in our illustration, between the constancy of the ph[oe]nix, who permits herself to be burnt to ashes rather than quit her nest, and that of an emperor constantine who (by a gross plagiarism upon solon) quitted his country for ever, after making his counsellors swear to observe his laws unaltered until his return. the book was printed yet a third time, probably about 1515, by gian stephano da pavia, at the request of bernardo pacini. the printer of the 1498 edition is not known; it cannot have been mischomini, who seems to have brought his brilliant career to a close about 1495. the foregoing notice of his illustrated books is by no means exhaustive. passing mention has been made in the chapter on venice of one other important one, the undated _meditatione_, attributed to s. bonaventura, with cuts of peculiar interest, from the opportunity they afford of comparing the different styles in vogue in the two cities. three other florentine books issued during the fifteenth century remain to be mentioned, none of which i have seen. the first of these, an undated edition of domenico capranica's _arte di bene morire_ (not to be confounded with savonarola's), published by morgiani and johann petri about 1495, contains twelve large cuts and twenty-two small ones. the larger cuts are interesting, because ten of them are based on those found in the old block books of the _ars moriendi_, the other two coming from savonarola's book of the same name. the smaller ones seem brought together rather at haphazard. the other two books, an _æsop_, printed in 1495 by francesco buonaccorsi for piero pacini, and the _morgante maggiore_ (a long poem on the adventures of orlando) of ludovico pulci, printed in 1500, both exist only in single copies in foreign libraries, but a good many illustrations from both have been reproduced by dr. kristeller. [illustration] of illustrated books printed at florence after 1500, the most important is an edition of the _quatriregio del decorso della vita humana_ of federico frezzi, printed, this also, 'ad petitione di ser piero pacini di pescia,' as late as 1508, though there is ground for believing that this may really be a reprint from a fifteenth century edition now no longer extant. like the author of the _hypnerotomachia_, frezzi was a dominican, and was consecrated bishop of foligno, his native place, in 1403. he attended the council of constance, and died there in 1416. he was a man of great learning and a book-collector, but rather a dull poet. his _quatriregio_ is an imitation of dante's _divina commedia_, and is divided into four books treating successively of the kingdoms 'of the god cupid,' 'of satan,' 'of the vices,' and 'of the goddess minerva and of virtue.' it was first printed in 1481, and went through three other editions before it was honoured with illustrations. the importance of this illustrated edition has perhaps been overrated. taken individually, the best of the cuts are not superior to those in earlier florentine books of less pretensions, while the cumulative effect of the series of one hundred and twenty-six (several of which, it should be said, are duplicates) is seriously diminished, partly by the monotonous recurrence of the same figure in every cut, partly by the coarseness and angularity with which most of the blocks have been engraved. it must be mentioned that the cut on the first page of the poem is signed with the initials l. v., which were at one time interpreted as standing for luca egidio di venturi, _i.e._ luca signorelli, whose recognised signature, however, was l. c. (luca di cortona). two other great series of florentine illustrated books still remain to be considered. the first of these is the _rappresentazioni_, sacred and secular, which enjoyed a life extending over two centuries, and must be reckoned as the most artistic of chapbooks. in 1852 m. colomb de batines published at florence a bibliography of these 'antiche rappresentazioni italiane,' to which i am indebted for the following details concerning their chief authors. the plays are almost uniformly written in _ottava rima_, and poorly printed in double columns. a large number of them, at least a score, were written and printed during the fifteenth century, but these earliest editions are, as a rule, not illustrated. maffeo belcari (1410-1484) apparently was the first author who obtained the honours of print. his play of _abraham_ appeared in 1485, after which it was reprinted some twenty times, the latest known edition belonging to the eighteenth century. belcari also wrote on the annunciation, on s. john the baptist visited by christ in the desert, and on s. panuntius. lorenzo de' medici himself wrote a play of s. john and s. paul, bernardo pulci (d. 1501) produced one on the legend of barlaam and josaphat, while his wife antonia was quite a prolific dramatist, claiming as her own plays on s. domitilla, s. guglielma, the patriarch joseph, s. francis, and the prodigal son. during the fifteenth century anonymous plays were written on the nativity, on the life of queen hester, on the angel raphael, on the conversion of three robbers by s. francis, and on s. eustachio, s. antony, and s. antonia. plays on the last judgment, on s. agatha, s. agnes, s. catharine, s. cecilia, s. christina, &c., also appeared at an early date. an angel, as a rule, acts as prologue, and the action of the drama is divided between numerous characters. most of the plays were, doubtless, intended to be acted on the feast-day of the saint whose life they celebrate, and in a church bearing the saint's name, but the multiplicity of the editions show that they also won the favour of a reading public. a few undated editions of these little books, from the types used in their press work, may be assigned to the end of the fifteenth century. the first printer who is known to have made a specialty of the _rappresentazioni_ is francesco benvenuto, who began printing them in 1516, and enjoyed a career of thirty years. m. colomb de batines mentions several of his editions, but they are very scarce, and i have only myself seen a _raphael_ of 1516 with a title-cut of tobit and the angel enclosed in a border, partly the same as that of the _fior di virtù_ of 1498, a _barlaam_ and _josafat_, also of 1516, with six illustrations (including our friend damocles and the rabbit, whose fate seems to have been to be lugged in inappropriately), and a _miracolo di tre peregrini che andauano a sancto iacopo di galitia_, with a solitary cut of the saint rescuing one of the pilgrims who is being unjustly hanged. the great majority of the extant _rappresentazioni_ were printed between 1550 and 1580, mostly anonymously, though giovanni baleni and a printer 'alle scale di badia' were responsible for a great many of them. of course, in many cases the cuts were sadly the worse for wear, but they held on wonderfully, and even in the seventeenth century editions a tolerable impression is sometimes met with. many of them, also, were recut, sometimes skilfully, so that it is not uncommon to find a better example in a later edition than in an earlier. the illustrations here shown are from an undated edition of lorenzo de' medici's _rappresentatione di san giovanni e paulo_, the careful printing of which is an argument for its belonging to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and a picture of the martyrdom of s. dorothea from an edition of her _rappresentatione_ printed in 1555. [illustration: martyrdom of s. dorothea.] with these religious _rappresentazioni_ m. colomb de batines joins a few secular poems, whose title to be considered dramatic is not very clear. of those which he mentions, the earliest is the _favola d' orfeo_, by angelo politiano, which forms part of _la giostra di giuliano di medici_, printed without name or date, probably about 1495, with ten excellent cuts, that of aristeo pursuing the flying eurydice being, perhaps, the best. _la giostra di lorenzo di medici_, celebrated by luigi pulci, has only a single cut, but that a fine one--a meeting of knights in an amphitheatre. among other secular chapbooks which enjoyed a long popularity was a series of 'contrasti,'[17] the contrast of carnival and lent, of men and women, of the living and the dead, of the blonde and the brunette, and of riches and poverty. i give here the first of the two cuts of the _contrasto di carnesciale e la quaresima_, undated, but probably early. with these little poems we must join the metrical _novelle_ and _istorie_, now chiefly known through the discovery in the university library at erlangen of a little collection of twenty-one tracts, all undated, and without any indication of their printers, but which may mostly be assigned to the end of the fifteenth century. among them are the _novella di gualtieri e griselda_, the _novella di due preti et un cherico_, the _novella della figliuola del mercatante_, &c. [illustration] the charm of these little florentine books is so great, and of late years has won such steadily increasing recognition, that i do not think an apology is needed for the length at which they have here been treated. none the less, we must remember that they were essentially popular books, and that the wealthy book lovers of the time probably regarded them very slightly. mischomini himself did not turn his attention to them till he had been printing nearly a dozen years, and even after 1492 his more expensive books, the great _plotinus_, for instance, issued in that year, kept strictly to the traditions of twenty years earlier, and were wholly destitute of ornament, even of printed initials. the two classes of books--those on good paper and in a large handsome type, and those on poor paper with small type carelessly printed, but with delightful woodcuts--were issued side by side, but the beauties of the two were never combined, and the florentine printers would doubtless have been greatly surprised if they had been told that it was the chapbooks which were to win the day. even in the little italic editions issued by the giuntas, in imitation of aldus, which appealed to an intermediate class of purchasers, woodcuts occur but rarely, and the only instance i can call to mind is a _dante_, printed by philippo giunta in 1506, which, besides some plans of the _inferno_, &c., has a single cut illustrating the first canto. we have devoted so much space to venice and florence that the illustrated books of other towns must be noticed with rather unfair brevity. brescia may be taken as an example of a town at which the native artist did his best. we have already remarked the publication there of a _dante_ in 1487. the same year witnessed the appearance of an _æsop_, rudely imitated from the verona edition, and in 1491 baptista da farfengo printed another book in which we have been interested, a _fior di virtù_, with a title-cut of a student, head on hand, reading at a desk. on a ledge on the wall are two flower-pots, the flowers in which reach up to a very decorative ceiling. this is quite a nice example of brescian art, but the productions of the town have not been specially studied, and further research might show that they deserve more serious praise. at ferrara artists of the schools of venice and florence appear to have combined in the production of some very notable books. two of these were published by lorenzo di rossi in 1497. the first is an edition of the epistles of s. jerome, with numerous vignettes and three frontispieces, the third of which, somewhat in the style of the venetian boccaccio, bears the date 1493, divided between its two columns. this frontispiece appears also in the other work, the _de pluribus claris selectisque mulieribus_ of philippus bergomensis, the illustrations in the text of which show florentine influence in their black backgrounds. this book has a title-page printed in large gothic letters cut in wood, similar to that of the _nuremberg chronicle_. no illustrated books appear to have been issued at milan during the eighties, but in 1492 philippo mantegazza printed the _theorica musice_ of gafori with some coarse cuts, and this was followed in 1494 by the _triumfi_ of petrarch, printed by antonio zaroto with the usual six full-page illustrations. as befits the reputation of milan as a musical centre, the works of gafori were often printed there. in 1496 guillaume le signerre of rouen printed there the first edition of the _practica musice_, with a curious title-page representing the relations of the muses and the heavenly bodies, and fine ornamental borders to two pages of text. at the base of one of these are little scenes of choir-boys practising and a music-mistress giving a lesson. the style of the borders is distinctly venetian. in another work of gafori's printed at milan, the _de harmonia instrumentorum_ of 1518 (reprinted two years later at turin), the cuts exhibit the heavy milanese shading, one of them representing a lesson on the organ, and the other a performer playing. in 1496 le signerre printed a devotional work, the _specchio di anima_ of besalii, with seventy-eight full-sized cuts to its eighty-eight pages. most of the cuts relate to the passion of christ, and they are described by dr. lippmann as 'vigorously executed in coarse thick outlines, with scarcely any shading.' some of these cuts reappear three years later in the same printer's _tesauro spirituale_, of which the unique copy is in the berlin print-room. in 1498 le signerre printed an _æsop_, the cuts in which are surrounded by small black borders relieved in white. the illustrations themselves are poor. at the end of the book is the printer's mark, a crowned stork in a shield within a circle, on either side of which stand a fox and a monkey. in this same year le signerre transferred his press to saluzzo, where in 1499 he issued the _tesauro spirituale_, and four years later an edition of the _de veritate contricionis_ of vivaldus, with a fine frontispiece representing s. jerome in the desert. the border shows typical milanese ornament, and recalls the illumination to the _sforziada_, mentioned in our first chapter. in 1507 a still finer work, an edition of the _opus regale_, also by vivaldus, was printed at saluzzo by jacobus de circis. this contains a fine picture of saint louis of france in prayer, and also a large portrait of the marquis of saluzzo, louis ii., whose taste has won for the town its little niche in the history of printing. [illustration: mark of bazalerius de bazaleriis.] [illustration: mark of stephanus guillireti.] [illustration: mark of francis de mazalis.] italian printers' devices are very decorative and interesting, and may now be studied in dr. paul kristeller's 'die italienischen buchdruckerund verlegerzeichen,' which gives nearly a complete collection of those in use before 1525, to the number of between three and four hundred. in the great majority of devices the ground is black, with a simple design, mostly including a circle and a cross, outlined in white. the mark of bazalerius de bazaleriis of bologna and reggio, taken from a copy of the _epistolae_ of philelphus, printed by him in 1489, shows this class of design in almost its simplest form. in that of stephanus guillireti, who printed at rome from 1506 to 1524, we have the addition of a shield (the arms on which, unluckily, have not been identified) and floral sprays. these floral sprays become the chief feature in the design of franciscus de mazalis of reggio, who printed from 1493 to 1504; though the initials, circle, and cross of the simpler devices are all retained. an even more beautiful example of this class of mark was used by egmont and barrevelt, the printers of the sarum missal, who added to its attractiveness by the use of red ink, instead of black. red ink also adds immensely to the effect of the well-known mark of nikolaos blastos, which occurs in a copy of the commentary of simplicius upon aristotle, printed by zacharias kaliergos at venice in 1499. the delicate tracery of this design is unsurpassed by any work of the time. the mark of nicolaus gorgonzola, who printed at milan from 1504 to 1533, in its floral ornaments, is very similar in style to those of mazalis and egmont, but, as in the mark of blastos, the cross and circle have disappeared, and the name is set out in full, instead of by its initials. [illustration] [illustration] [illustration: mark of niccolo zoppino.] purely ornamental designs, of the styles illustrated in these five examples, form the majority among italian devices, but more pictorial ones were by no means unknown. one of the best of these was that used by 'simon de gabiis dictus bevilaqua,' who printed at venice from 1485 to about 1512. another good device is that of ser piero di pacini of pescia, the publisher of so many of the florentine illustrated books. this consists of a crowned dolphin on a black ground, with sometimes a smaller device of a bird, placed on each side of it. [illustration: mark of hieronymus francisci baldassaris.] as examples of later styles, though not very beautiful in themselves, we add here the rather clumsy woodcut of s. nicholas adopted by niccolò d'aristotele da ferrara, called 'il zoppino,' who printed at venice from 1508 to about 1536, and the very florid device of hieronymus francisci baldassaris, a printer at perugia from about 1526 to 1550. the arms there shown are those of the city of perugia, while the f. and the cross above it reproduce the mark used by the printer's father, francesco, the founder of the firm. the aldine anchor and the _fleur-de-lys_ of lucantonio giunta and his successors are too well known to need reproduction or comment, though both stand rather apart from the ordinary run of italian marks. [illustration] * * * * * [12] this, and nearly all the florentine illustrations mentioned here, will be found reproduced in dr. paul kristeller's _early florentine woodcuts_, published in 1897, after this chapter was written. [13] there are two variants of this cut, the smaller introducing a little landscape background. [14] there is yet a third variant, which may be recognised by the angel appearing on the right, but showing his whole body, not the hands only, as in the 1492 cut. [15] a reprint was issued in 1515. [16] in contrast to the prevailing anthropomorphism of the time, the first person of the trinity is represented by a 'loco tondo et vacuo,' a blank circle, with a halo of angels round it. on either side of this circle stand christ and the blessed virgin. [17] el contrasto di carnesciale e la quaresima; el contrasto degli huomini e delle donne; el contrasto del vivo e del morto; el contrasto della bianca e della brunetta; la contenzione della poverta contra la richezza, &c. chapter vii france--fifteenth century the earliest productions of the french press will not bear comparison with those of either the german or the italian: they have neither the massive dignity of the one, nor the artistic grace of the other. the worthy professors at the sorbonne, who called to their aid the swiss or german printers, crantz gering and friburger, bestowed, as we have seen in our first chapter, considerable trouble on the decoration by hand of special copies for presentation to influential friends or patrons, but in other respects, their books were wholly destitute of ornament. when, after little more than two years, they gave up their press, the three printers started again on their own account with a rather ugly gothic type, nor did gering, who afterwards worked both by himself and in combination with other printers, produce a really handsome book until about 1480. the semi-gothic types of another firm of german printers in paris, peter caesaris and stoll, are much more attractive, but the average french work during the seventies is dull. the first attempt at decoration appears to have been made, not at the capital, but at lyons, where, in august 1478, an anonymous printer, probably martin husz, completed a double-column edition of _le miroir de la redemption humaine_, translated from the latin by julien macho, with cuts previously used in a german edition of the _speculum_, printed at basel in 1476. in 1478, also, barthélemy buyer printed an edition of the romance of _baudoin, comte de flandre_, with no cuts, but with rude printed initials. in an edition of _les quatre filz aymon_, unsigned and undated, but printed at lyons about 1480, the first page bears four grotesque woodcuts representing the reception of the youths by charlemagne, the buffet which the emperor's son gave one of them over a game of chess, the fatal blow with the golden chess-board by which the buffet was returned, and then the four youths fighting amid a crowd. on the next page a larger picture shows their expulsion from charlemagne's court. throughout the book are curious woodcut initials, interwoven with grotesque faces. about 1481 ortuin and schenck produced (anonymously) an edition of the _roman de la rose_ with eighty-six small woodcuts, which were imitated in later editions both at lyons and paris, and were not without a certain rude merit. in 1483 mathieu husz and pierre hongre issued a _légende dorée_, with large pictures of christ in glory on the last day, and of the crucifixion, and numerous very rough cuts at the head of the different chapters. in the same year, husz published, in conjunction with jean schabeler, an illustrated translation of boccaccio's _de casibus illustrium virorum_ ('du dechier des nobles hommes et femmes'). meanwhile, at albi, in languedoc, of all places in the world, neumeister had reprinted in 1481 an illustrated edition of the _meditationes_ of turrecremata, which he had produced two years previously at mainz. in 1484 we hear of illustrated books in three other towns. at rennes, pierre bellescullée and josses printed the _coutumes de bretagne_, with a woodcut of the arms of brittany, used again the next year in the same printers' _floret en francoys_, a book noticeable for having a woodcut title printed in white on a black ground. at vienne, pierre schenck printed another edition, in double-columns, of _l'abuzé en court_, with small cuts at the chapter headings. at chambéry, antoine neyret finished, on july 6th, an edition of the _exposition des évangiles en romant_ of maurice de sully, and in the following november the romance of _baudoin comte de flandre_. the bishop's sermons have, on the first page, a large initial i and a very rough cut of the disciples loosing the ass and her colt for christ's use. with their other illustrations i am not acquainted. the romance of count baldwin has a full-page cut of the count riding on a gaily-decked charger, and thirteen smaller illustrations of his adventures, of which, however, several are repeated. the execution of them all is as rude as can well be conceived. two years later, neyret printed the first edition of a very famous book, _le livre du roi modus et de la reine ratio_, 'lequel fait mencion commant on doit deviser de toutes manières de chasses.' the cuts in this are numerous, and their representations of the various hunting scenes are more than sufficiently grotesque. the list of books we have named could certainly be extended, especially as regards those printed at lyons, but it is sufficiently full to enable us to draw some useful conclusions from it. the illustrations are, almost without exception, poor in design and badly cut, and are mostly accompanied by inferior types and press-work. some of them are imitated from the books of foreign printers, and they contain little evidence of the growth of any french school of illustrators. on the other hand, they testify to the spread of a demand for illustrated books, at least in the provinces, which local printers were doing their best to satisfy. at paris the demand, apparently, had not yet arisen. in the first dated book which bears the name of jean du pré, a _missale ad usum ecclesiae parisiensis_, printed by him in conjunction with didier huym in september 1481, there is a large woodcut of god the father and the crucifixion, illustrating the canon. two months later du pré printed a verdun missal with a really fine metal cut of a priest at mass, and a little figure rising up to represent his soul in prayer. in february 1483-4 appeared his first illustrated secular work, _de la ruine des nobles hommes_, another translation from boccaccio's _de casibus_, with a woodcut of varying merit at the head of each book. these have a special interest for english students, as some years later they were borrowed by pynson to illustrate his edition of lydgate's version of the same work. in may 1484 jacques bonhomme issued millet's _l'histoire de la destruction de troye la grant_, with numerous woodcuts of battles, frequently used in later works; and the following year guyot marchant produced the first of numerous editions of a _danse macabre_ illustrated with a wonderful series of pictures, full of grotesque vigour and skilfully cut, showing death as a grinning skeleton seizing on his prey in every class of society. marchant followed this up with a _danse macabre des femmes_ (somewhat less good) in 1491, and also with a _compost et calendrier des bergers_, which was no less successful. meanwhile the greatest paris publisher of the century, antoine vérard, had come on the scene. although some of the innumerable works which bear his name are said to have been printed '_par_ antoine vérard,' it is clear that the expression must not be taken too literally, and that he was a 'libraire,' _i.e._ a bookseller or publisher, rather than a printer. his first dated book is an edition, enriched with a single woodcut, of laurent du premier fait's french version of the _decamerone_, and the colophon tells us that it was printed for antoine vérard, 'libraire, demeurant sur le pont notre dame, à l'image de saint jean l'evangéliste,' on november 22, 1485. the types used in the book have been identified as belonging to jean du pré, and the association of the two men seems to have led to important results. the next year we find du pré printing an edition of s. jerome's _vie des anciens saintz pères_, with a delightful frontispiece of the saint preaching from a lectern in the open air, numerous smaller cuts, and initial letters with interwoven faces. during 1486 also, he assisted pierre gérard (who earlier in the year had printed by himself an edition of boutillier's _la somme rurale_ with a single cut), in producing at abbeville the first really magnificent french illustrated book, s. augustine's _cité de dieu_, in which paper and print and woodcuts of artistic value all harmonise.[18] two years later he joined with another provincial printer, jean le bourgeois, in producing a still more splendid book, the romance of _lancelot du lac_, the first volume of which was finished by le bourgeois at rouen on november 24th, and the second by du pré at paris on september 16th. in 1488 also, du pré produced his first 'book of hours,' but the french _horae_ form so important an episode in the history of the decoration of books, that we must reserve their treatment for a separate chapter, in which, besides those of du pré and vérard, we shall have to speak of the long series inaugurated by philippe pigouchet and simon vostre in 1491. at starting, vérard's resources were probably small, and for a year or two he produced little beyond his _horae_. in 1487, however, he published a french _livy_, with four small cuts, representing a battle, a siege, a king and his court, and some riders, whose hats have a very ecclesiastical shape, entering a town. the next year produced a work entitled _l'art de chevalerie selon végèce_, really an edition of the _faits d'arme et de chevalerie_ of christine de pisan. this has a single large cut representing a king and his court. the _livre de politiques d'aristote_, published in 1489, has a large frontispiece of the translator, nicholas oresme, presenting his book to charles viii, in which the characteristic style of vérard's artist is fully developed. in 1490, an edition of _lucain, suetone et saluste_, which i have not seen, was printed for vérard by pierre le rouge. to 1491 probably belongs his french _seneca_, and in this year he must have obtained the aid of the king or of some very rich patron, for his activity from 1492 to the end of the century is quite amazing. it is from about 1493, also, that we may date the production of those magnificent special copies on vellum, enriched with elaborate, if not very artistic, miniatures, to which we have already alluded in our first chapter. the chief book of 1492 was undoubtedly the series of treatises making up the _art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_, of which a detailed description will be given later on. these treatises were printed for vérard by cousteau and menard, the first part being finished on july 18th, the last on december 19th. next to them in importance is a _josephus de la bataille judaique_, one of vérard's large folios, with columns of printed text, not reckoning any margin, nearly twelve inches long. the frontispiece is a fine cut of a triumphal entry of a king who should be french, since he wears the lilies. the design, however, must have been made for this book, for a label in the middle of the picture bears the name 'josephus,' while in the _gestes romaines_ and _lancelot_, in both of which the cut reappears, the label is left blank. the 'entry' is also used again, three times in the _josephus_ itself, at the beginning of the fourth, fifth, and seventh books. an entry of a different kind, that of joshua and his staff into jericho, is depicted in the cut (here reproduced) which heads the prologue. this is faced by the first page of text, headed by a cut of an author presenting his book to an ecclesiastic. both pages are surrounded by fine borders of flowers, women, and shield. the head-cut to the second book shows a monk handing a book to a king; that used for the third and sixth (repeated again in the _lancelot_ of 1494) shows a king on his throne surrounded by his courtiers, a sword of justice is in his hand, and a suppliant kneels before him. small cuts, fitting into the columns, head the different chapters in each book, but are of no great merit. occasionally a border about an inch wide runs up the side of one of the columns of text, usually on the outer margin, but sometimes on the inner. altogether the book is a very notable one. [illustration: from vérard's _josephus_, 1492. (much reduced.)] in 1493, vérard's activity was still on the increase, and we have at least eight illustrated books of his bearing the date of this year. in the romance of _le jouvencel_ and bonnor's _arbre des batailles_, both in 4to, the cuts, all of them small, are nearly identical, and are repeated again and again in each book. much more important than these are the editions of the _chronicques de france_ (printed for vérard by jehan maurand), and a translation of the metamorphoses of ovid, issued under the very taking title of _la bible des poetes_. this is another of vérard's great folios, with profuse illustrations, large and small, and in its vellum edition is a very gaudy and magnificent book. in 1494 vérard published his _lancelot_; and in 1495, a _légende dorée_ and s. jerome's _vie des pères en françois_. this last book was finished on october 15, but its appearance was preceded by that of the first volume of the publisher's most ambitious undertaking, an edition of the _miroir historial_ of vincent de beauvais. this enormous chronicle is in thirty-two books, which vérard divided between five great folio volumes, averaging about three hundred and twenty leaves, printed in long double columns. the whole work thus contains about the same amount of matter as some fifty volumes of the present series, yet it was faultlessly printed on the finest vellum, and with innumerable woodcuts, subsequently coloured, in considerably less than a year. the first volume was finished on september 29, 1495, and the colophon which announces the completion of the last, 'à l'honneur et louenge de nostre seigneur iesucrist et de sa glorieuse et sacrée mere et de la court celeste de paradis,' bears date may 7th, 1496. in the face of such activity and enterprise, i feel ashamed of having girded at the good man for having used some of the _ovid_ cuts as a basis to his illuminations in this gigantic work. after 1496 to the end of the century, vérard's dated books are very few. the only one i have met with myself is a _merlin_ of 1498. it is possible that he produced less (the _miroir_ may not have proved a financial success), but it is quite as likely that he merely discontinued his wholesome practice of dating his books, and that the _boethius_, the _roman de la rose_, the _gestes romaines_, the romances of _tristram_ and _gyron_, and other undated works, whose colophons show that they were printed while the pont notre dame was still standing, _i.e._ before october 25th, 1499, belong to these years. after 1500 vérard's enterprise certainly seems less. he continued to issue editions of poets and romances, but they are much less sumptuous than of yore, and in place of his great folios we have a series of small octavos, mostly of works of devotion, with no other ornament than the strange twists of the initial l, which adorns their title-pages. the example here given is from an undated and unsigned edition of the _livre du faulcon_, but the letter itself frequently occurs in vérard's undoubted books. the first hint for this grotesque form of ornament may have been found in the small initials of du pré's 1486 edition of s. jerome's _vie des anciens saintz pères_, and variants of the l were used by other publishers besides vérard, _e.g._ by jacques maillet at lyons, and pierre le rouge and michel le noir at paris. the most noticeable examples of the l, besides the one here given, are the man-at-arms l of the 1488 edition of the _mer des histoires_ (p. lerouge), the monkey-and-bagpipes l, here shown, from maillet's 1494 edition of the _recueil des histoires troyennes_, a st. george-and-the-dragon l in a lyons reprint of the _mer des histoires_, and the january-and-may l which, i believe, was first used by vérard for a 1492 edition of the _matheolus_, or 'quinze joies du mariage,' but of which a counterpart existed at lyons. [illustration: initial l used by vérard.] [illustration: initial l used by maillet.] it seems probable that the attention which vérard paid to his vellum editions, in which the woodcuts were only useful as guides to the illustrator, made him less careful than he would otherwise have been to secure the best possible work in his ordinary books. certainly i think his most interesting cuts are to be found not in his later books but in the collection of six treatises which he had printed by gillet cousteau and jehan menard in 1492, and republished, somewhat less sumptuously, the next year, under the collective title _l'art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_, the reprint coming from the press of pierre le rouge. the cuts in this collection have a special interest for us, because some of them were afterwards used in english books, and we may therefore be allowed to examine them at some length. [illustration: from vérard's _art de bien vivre_. (reduced.)] in the 1492 edition the first title-page _le liure intitule lart de bien mourir_ heralds only the first work, an adaptation of the old _ars moriendi_ showing the struggle between good and bad angels for the possession of the dying soul. the devils tempt the sufferer to hasten his end ('interficias teipsum' one of them is saying, the words being printed on a label), they remind him of his sins ('periuratus es'), tempt him to worldly thoughts ('intende thesauro'), persuade his physicians to over-commiseration ('ecce quantam penam patitur'), or flatter him with undeserved praise ('coronam meruisti'). to each of these assaults his good angels have a 'bonne inspiracion' by way of answer, and the devils have to confess 'spes nobis nulla' and to see the little figure of the soul received into heaven. the second treatise is called at the beginning _l'eguyllon de crainte divine pour bien mourir_, but on the title-page placed on the back of the last leaf 'les paines denfer et les paines de purgatoire.' its illustrations consist of large cuts in which devils are inflicting excruciating and revolting tortures on their victims. its colophon gives the printers' names and the date july 18, 1492. the next three parts of the book are _le traité de l'avenement de l'antechrist, les quinze signes_, or fifteen tokens of judgment, and _les joies du paradis_. the printing of these was finished on october 28. only the middle treatise is much illustrated, but here the artist had full play for his powers in representing the fish swimming on the hills, the seas falling into the abyss, the sea-monsters covering the earth, the flames of the sea, the trees wet with blood, the crumbling of cities, the stones fighting among themselves, and the other signs of the last day. perhaps the best of this set of cuts is that representing the 'esbahissement' or astonishment of the men and women who had hidden themselves in holes in the earth, when at last they ventured forth. but in the last treatise, the _art de bien vivre_, quaintness and horror are replaced by really beautiful work. the cuts here are intended to illustrate the ave maria, lord's prayer, creed, ten commandments, and seven sacraments. those in the last series are the largest in the book, each of them occupying a full page. the creed has a series of smaller cuts of inferior work. but the picture which precedes this, representing the twelve apostles, and the pictures of the angelic salutation, of the pope invoking the blessed virgin (here shown), and of christ teaching the apostles, show the finest work, outside the _horae_, in any french books during the fifteenth century. these blocks appear also in two english books printed at paris, in 1503, _the traytte of god lyuyng and good deyng_, and _the kalendayr of shyppars_, and in many of the english editions of the latter work from pynson's in 1506 onward. pierre lerouge, one of vérard's printers, produced at least one fine book quite independently of him. this is the first illustrated edition of _la mer des hystoires_, the french version of the _rudimentum noviciorum_ (see p. 50), the general plan of which it follows, though not slavishly. pierre lerouge printed his edition for a publisher named vincent commin. it is in two tall folios, with the man-at-arms l to decorate its title-pages, and splendid initials p, i, and s, the first having within it a figure of a scribe at work, the s being twisted into the form of a scaly snake, and the body of the i containing a figure of christ. the cuts and borders of the book are not very remarkable. in 1498 vérard published a new edition of it, having obtained the use of the old blocks. a lyons reprint was issued about 1500, and other editions during the sixteenth century. two other printers who cannot be said to have learnt anything from vérard are jean bonhomme, who as early as 1486 printed an illustrated edition of a very popular book, _le livre des profits champêtres_, translated from the latin of petrus crescentius, and germain bineaut, who in 1490 printed a _pathelin le grant et le petit_ which is said to have woodcuts. guyot marchant's series of editions of the _danse macabre_ or 'danse des morts,' has been already mentioned. an edition of the same work, printed at lyons, february 18, 1499 (no printer's name), a copy of which is among the books which entered the british museum under the bequest of mr. alfred huth, is especially interesting as containing cuts of the shops of a printer and a bookseller, at both of which death is at work. [illustration: from a lyons _danse macabre_, 1499. (much reduced.)] another edition of the _danse_ was printed by nicole de la barre at paris in 1500, and others of the same character in the early years of the next century. we shall have to recur to the book again both with reference to the _horae_ and for the later lyons editions, the cuts in which followed designs by holbein. the only other paris printer whom we have space here to mention is jean trepperel, whose career began in 1492, in which year, according to hain, he issued a _histoire de pierre de provence et de la belle maguelonne_, probably illustrated. in 1493 he published an edition of the _chroniques de france_, with four cuts, one of the founding of a town, another of an assault, and two battle scenes. they are good of their kind, especially that which serves for all the founders of cities from æneas and romulus to s. louis, but their repetition becomes a little wearisome. in an undated issue of jehan quentin's _orologe de devotion_ the cuts are all different, but fall into two series, one badly drawn and infamously engraved, the other showing really fine work, and having all the appearance of having been originally designed for a book of hours. the only other fifteenth century book of trepperel's with which i am acquainted is a charming quarto edition of the romance of _paris et vienne_, a copy of which is in the morgan collection. it is undated, but was printed while the pont notre dame was still standing. the title-cut shows signs of breakage, and may possibly have been designed for the earlier edition by denis meslier mentioned by brunet as having a single cut. the rest of the large cuts in the book have all the appearance of having been specially designed for the new edition, and are equal to the best work in the _horae_. meanwhile at lyons the rude cuts of the books which heralded illustrated work in france had been replaced by far more artistic productions. in 1488 michelet topie de pymont and jacques herrnberg produced a french version (by nicole le huen) of breydenbach's _peregrinatio_ (see p. 57) with copies of some of the original cuts, the smaller ones cut on wood, the large maps engraved on copper. the next year jacques maillet brought out a rival version (by frere jehan de hersin) for which he acquired the original mainz woodblocks themselves. to maillet, also, we owe passable imitations of some of the less sumptuous books of vérard's. lastly, jean trechsel struck out a new line in a profusely illustrated _terence_ of 1493. at rouen the missal and breviary printed by martin morin were adorned with a curious initial m and b in the same style as some of the more frequent ls, and pierre regnault did work which vérard found worthy of his vellum. paris, however, having once gained the predominance in illustrated work, had as yet no difficulty in maintaining her position. it remains for us to notice briefly the printers' devices in early french books. these are so numerous that it is possible to divide them into rough classes. the largest of these is formed by the marks which have as their central ornament a tree with a shield or label hung on the trunk, with supporters varied according to the owner's fancy, and which are not always easy to assign to their right place in the animal creation. durand gerlier preferred rams, michel tholoze wild men, denys janot a creature which looks like a kangaroo, hemon le fevre dancing bears duly muzzled and chained, simon vostre leopards, thielmann kerver unicorns, felix baligault rabbits, robert gourmont winged stags, jehan guyart of bordeaux dolphins. most of these devices have a dotted background, and they are sometimes found printed in red ink, which adds greatly to their decorative effect. another class, to which vérard's well-known device belongs, showed in their upper part the french lilies crowned and supported by angels. jean le forestier combined this with the tree of knowledge, choosing lions as its supporters, but adding also the sacred lamb (for his name 'jean'), and similar variations were adopted by other printers. in another large class the french printers, especially those of lyons, followed the simple cross and circle so common in italy. this was mostly printed in white on a black ground, as by pierre levet, matthieu vivian of orleans, and le tailleur. less often, as in the marks of berthold rembolt and georges wolf, the ground is white and the design black. guillaume balsarin who, as was very common, had two devices, had one of each kind. outside these classes the special designs are too many to be enumerated. the successive le noirs punned on their names in at least six different devices of black heads, and deny de harsy with less obvious appropriateness selected two black men with white waistbands to uphold his shields. guyot marchant's shoemakers, with the bar of music to complete his pious motto _sola fides sufficit_, form one of the earliest and best known of french marks. pierre regnault showed excellent taste in his flower-surrounded p, in which the letters of his surname may also be deciphered. the scholar-printer badius ascensius chose a useful, if not very pretty, design of printers at work, the two variants of which first appear respectively in 1507 and 1521. all these devices and countless others will be found roughly figured in silvestre's _marques typographiques_, many of them appear also in brunet's _manuel du libraire_, and those of the chief fifteenth century printers have been reproduced with absolute fidelity in m. thierry-poux's _monuments de l'imprimerie française_. only the mark of du pré and one of those used by caillaut are therefore given here, the first (on p. 141) in honour of a pioneer in french illustration, the second, as perhaps the most beautiful of any which the present writer has seen. [illustration: mark of antoine caillaut.] * * * * * the first greek book printed in france appeared in 1507, and the awakening of classical feeling was accompanied, as in other countries, by the putting away of the last remnants of mediæval art and literature as childish things. the old romances continued to be published, chiefly by the lenoirs, but in a smaller and cheaper form, and for the most part with old cuts. vérard diminished his output, and the publishers of the _horae_ turned in despair to german designs in place of the now despised native work. soon only some little octavos remained to show that there was still an unclassical public to be catered for. these were chiefly printed by galliot du pré, with titles in red and black, and sometimes with little architectural borders in imitation of the more ambitious german ones. when they disappear we say farewell to the richness and colour which distinguishes the best french books of the end of the fifteenth century. instead of the black letter and quaint cuts we have graceful but cold roman types, or pretty but thin italics, with good initial letters, sometimes with good head-and tail-pieces, but with few pictures, and with only a neat allegoric device on the title-page instead of the rich designs used by the earlier printers. geoffroy tory of bourges was the first important printer of the new school. his earliest connection with publishing was as the editor of various classical works, but he returned from a visit to italy full of artistic theories as to book-making, which he proceeded to carry out, partly in alliance with simon colines, for whom he designed a new device representing time with his scythe. tory's own device of the 'pot cassé,' a broken vase pierced by a _toret_ or auger, is said to refer to his desolation on the death of his only daughter. devices of other printers have been ascribed to him on the ground of the appearance in them of the little cross of lorraine, which is found in some of tory's undoubted works. it is certain, however, that the cross was not his individual signature, but only that of his studio. after the _horae_, which we shall notice in our next chapter, tory's most famous book was his own _champfleury_, 'auquel est contenu l'art et science de la vraie proportion des lettres antiques,' printed in 1529. this is a fantastic work, interesting for the prelude in which he speaks of his connection with the famous grolier, and for the few illustrations scattered about the text. the best of these are the vignettes of 'hercules gallicus,' leading in chains the captives of his eloquence, and of the triumphs of apollo and the muses. the specimen alphabets at the end of the book also deserve notice. they show that tory was better than his theories, for his attempt to prove, by far-fetched analogies and derivations, that there is an ideal shape for every letter, is as bad in art as it is false in history. tory was succeeded in his office of royal printer by robert estienne, and during the rest of the century the classical editions of this family of great printers form the chief glories of the french press. their books, both large and small, are admirably printed, and in excellent taste, though with no other ornaments than their printer's device, and good initials and head-pieces. but it must be owned that from the reign of francis i. onwards, the decoration of the text of most french books is far less interesting than the superb bindings on which the kings and their favourites began to lavish so much expense. only two more paris books need here be mentioned, both of them printed in 1546, and both with cuts imitated from the italian--jacques gohary's translation of the _hypnerotomachia poliphili_ and the _amour de cupido et de psiché_ translated from apuleius. the first of these was published by jacques kerver, the second by jeanne de marnef. of original paris work of any eminence we have no record after the death of tory. meanwhile at lyons a new school of book-illustration was springing up. from the beginning of the century the lyons printers had imitated, or pirated, the delicate italic books printed by aldus. the luckless étienne dolet added something to the classical reputation of the town, and by the middle of the century the printers there were turning out numerous pocket editions of the classics, which they sold to their customers in 'trade bindings' of calf stamped with gold, and often painted over with many-coloured interlacements. the fashion for small books was set, and when illustrations were fitted to them the result was singularly dainty. before considering the editions of jean de tournes and his rivals we must stop to notice the appearance at lyons in 1538 of the belated first edition of holbein's _dance of death_, the woodcuts for which, the work of h. l., whose identity with hans lützelburger has been sufficiently established, are known to have been in existence as early as 1527, and were probably executed two or three years before that date. several sets of proofs from the woodcuts are in existence, with lettering said to be in the types of froben of basel, who may have abandoned the idea of publishing them because of the vigour of their satire on the nobles and well-to-do. the trechsels, the printers of the french edition, are known to have had dealings with a basel woodcutter with initials h. l., who died before june 1526, and may have purchased the blocks directly from him, or at a later date from froben. in 1538 they issued forty-one woodcuts with a dedication by jean de vauzelles, and a french quatrain to each cut either by him or by gilles corrozet, giving to the book the title _les simulachres et historiees faces de la mort_. its success was as great as it deserved, and ten more cuts were added in subsequent editions. in the same year as the _dance of death_ the trechsels issued another series of upwards of a hundred cuts after designs by holbein, the _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_, with explanatory verses by gilles corrozet. these, though scarcely less beautiful, and at the time almost as successful as those in the _dance of death_, are not quite so well known, and i therefore select one of them, taken from the reprint of the following year, as an illustration. [illustration: from _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_, lyons, 1539.] the success of these two books invited imitation, and during the next twenty years many dainty illustrated books were issued by franciscus gryphius, macé bonhomme, guillaume roville, and jean de tournes. in 1540 gryphius issued a little latin testament, with thirty-four lines of dainty roman type to a page, which only measures 3-1/2 in. × 2, and in which are set charming cuts. bonhomme's chief success was an edition, printed in 1556, of the first three books of the _metamorphoses_ translated into french verse by clément marot and barthélemy aneau. this has borders to every page, and numerous vignettes measuring only 1-1/2 in. × 2. in the following year this was capped by jean de tournes with another version of the _metamorphoses_, with borders and vignettes attributed to bernard salomon, usually called 'le petit bernard,' and the success of the book caused it to be re-issued in dutch and italian. the borders are wonderfully varied, some of them containing little grotesque figures worthy of our own doyle, others dainty lacework, and others less pleasing architectural essays. this, like most of the best books of its kind, was printed throughout in italics, and the attempt about this time of robert granjon, another lyons printer, to supersede the italic by a type modelled on the french cursive hand, the 'caractères de civilité,' was only partially successful. in 1563, and possibly in other years, jean de tournes published an almanack and engagement-book, a _calendrier historial_, with tiny vignettes representing the occupations appropriate to the seasons, and alternate pages for the entry of notes by any purchasers barbarous enough to deface so charming a book with their hasty handwriting. when the brief blaze of pretty books at lyons died out, french printing fast sinks into dulness, and the attempt of a frenchman at antwerp to revive its glories was only partially successful, though he has left behind him a great name. jean plantin was born at tours in 1514, and after trying to earn a living first at paris and then at caen, set up a bookseller's shop at antwerp in 1549, and six years later printed his first book, the _institution d'une fille de noble maison_. he was soon in a position to give commissions to good artists, luc de heere, pierre huys, godefroid ballain, and others, and issued the _devises héroiques_ of claude paradin (1562), and the _emblems_ of sambucus (1564), of hadrianus junius (1565), and alciati (1566), with illustrations from their designs. his _horae_, printed in 1566 and 1575, with florid borders, and his _psalter_ of 1571, attempted to revive a class of book then going out of fashion. besides the great antwerp polyglott, whose printing occupied him from 1568 to 1573, and nearly brought him to ruin, plantin printed some other bibles, one in flemish in 1566, and a 'bible royale' in 1570, being noticeable for their ambitious decoration. he published also some great folio missals, more imposing than elegant. he had numerous sets of large initials, one specially designed for music books being really graceful, and a long array of variations on the device of the hand and compass which he adopted as his mark. the title-pages of his larger books are surrounded with heavy architectural borders, some of which were engraved on copper. at his death, in 1589, he had attained _labore et constantia_, as his motto phrased it, to a foremost position among the printers of his day, but his florid illustrated books have very little real beauty, and mark the beginning of a century and a half of bad taste from which only the microscopic editions of the elzevirs are wholly free. * * * * * [18] the only other abbeville illustrated book is the 1487 _triomphe des neuf preux_, with conventional portraits of most of the heroes (their legs wide apart), and a bullet-headed du guesclin, based on authentic tradition. in a 1508 reprint by michel le noir at paris, while some of the old cuts were retained this du guesclin was replaced by a much more showy figure. chapter viii the french books of hours in the course of the fourteenth century the hours of the blessed virgin superseded the psalter as the popular book of devotions for lay use. throughout the fifteenth century magnificently illuminated manuscript copies were produced in france in great numbers, and it is thus not surprising that it was in illustrated editions of this book that french printers and publishers achieved their most noteworthy success. each of the hours, we are told, had its mystical reference to some event in the lives of the blessed virgin and our lord. lauds referred to the visit of mary to elizabeth, prime to the nativity, terce to the angels' message to the shepherds, sext to the adoration by the magi, nones to the circumcision, vespers to the flight into egypt, compline to the assumption of the virgin. the subsidiary hours of the passion naturally suggested the crucifixion or, less frequently, the invention or finding of the cross by the emperor constantine, and those of the holy spirit the day of pentecost. we have here the subjects for nine pictures, which were almost invariably heralded by one of the annunciation, and might easily be increased by a representation of the adoration by the shepherds, of the murder of the innocents, and the death of the virgin. moreover, the contents of books of hours were gradually enlarged till they deserved the title, which has been given them, of the lay-folk's prayer-book. a typical book of hours would contain- (i.) a kalendar (one picture). (ii.) passages from the gospels on the passion of christ. (one to three pictures.) (iii.) private prayers. (iv.) the hours themselves--horae intemeratae beatae mariae virginis--with the subsidiary hours of the passion and of the holy ghost. (nine to thirteen pictures.) (v.) the seven penitential psalms. (one or two pictures.) (vi.) the litany of the saints. (vii.) the vigils of the dead. (one to four pictures.) (viii.) seven psalms on christ's passion. the kalendar usually contained poetical directions for the preservation of health, and was therefore preluded by a rather ghastly anatomical picture of a man. the passages from the gospel, which began with the first chapter of s. john, were illustrated by a picture of the evangelist's martyrdom, and the passion by one of the kiss of judas, or of the crucifixion. to the penitential psalms were sometimes prefixed pictures of bathsheba bathing on her housetop, and of the death of uriah, or, more rarely, of an angel appearing to david with weapons in his hand, signifying the three punishments between which he must choose for his sin in numbering the people. the litany of the saints offered too wide a field for full-page cuts to be assigned it, but was often illustrated by smaller ones set in the text. to the vigils of the dead the commonest illustrations at first were those of 'les trois vifs et les trois morts,' three gay cavaliers meeting their own grinning corpses. 'dives and lazarus' was first joined with these and afterwards superseded them. we also find pictures of the day of judgment, the entombment, and in one instance of a funeral. two illustrations in honour of the eucharist are also of common occurrence--one of angels upholding a chalice,[19] the other of the vision of s. gregory, when he saw the crucified christ appearing on the altar. if we add to these a picture of the tree of jesse, and another of the church in heaven and on earth, we shall have exhausted the list of subjects which appear with any frequency, though pictures of the creation and fall, of david and goliath, of the descent from the cross, and perhaps one or two others may occasionally be found. it should be mentioned that the illustrations to the psalms on the passion are usually repeated from others previously used, but putting these on one side, it will be found that we have accounted for the subjects of some five-and-twenty pictures, and this is in excess of the number found in any one book, which varies from six to twenty-two. in some of the earlier _horae_, as we shall see, the printers contented themselves with these large illustrations, and in others surrounded the text with purely decorative borders of flowers and birds. but in a typical edition the borders consist of a number of small blocks or plates, the figures in which reinforced the teaching of the main illustrations. in an edition printed by jean du pré in february 1488-9, five pages are devoted to an explanation of these vignettes, and it will not be a waste of space to quote a few lines: ¶cest le repertoire des histoires & figures de la bible tant du vieilz testame_n_t q_ue_ du nouueau _con_tenues dedens les vignettes de ces presentes heures imprimees en cuyure. en chascune desq_ue_lles vignettes so_n_t contenues deux figures du vieilz testame_n_t signifia_n_s une vraye histoire du nouueau. co_m_me il appert par les chapitres cottez et alleguez au propos tant en latin que fra_n_coys en chascune desd_its_ figures et histoires. ¶et premierement en la pagee [_sic_] ensuyuante listoire de lannu_n_ciation est p_re_figuree la natiuite nostre dame. com_m_e il appert par les deux figures de iesse et balaan. prouue par le liure de isaye, xi chapitre et des no_m_bres xxiiii. chap. ¶item en lautre pagee ensuyua_n_te p_ar_ rebecca et sara est ente_n_du co_m_me nostre dame fut espousee a ioseph. ai_n_si q_u_'on lit en genese xxiiii. c. & tho. vi. thus we see that, as first planned, the border vignettes formed a continuous series illustrating historically the teaching of the _horae_ by reference to old testament types, with chapter and verse for their significance. it will be noticed also that it is distinctly stated that the vignettes in this edition were 'imprimées en cuyvre,' printed on copper. two months later, in an edition published by antoine vérard (april 5, 1489), the same table was reproduced with very slight alterations. the words 'en cuyvre' were then omitted, but 'imprimées' was left in, awkwardly enough. there can be no doubt that the omission was deliberate, and we have thus two statements which reinforce the opinion of the best experts, that both wood and copper were employed in engraving different editions of these designs. these old testament types do not appear to have long retained their popularity, and were soon superseded by a less continuous form of illustration. the calendar offered an excuse for introducing one series of vignettes of the sports and occupations of each month, another of the signs of the zodiac, and a third giving pictures of the saints in connection with the days on which they were commemorated. the gospels of the passion were illustrated by vignettes on the same subject; the hours themselves by a long series on the lives of christ and of the blessed virgin. the dance of death was brought in to illustrate the vigils of the dead, and relief was given by some charming scenes of hunting and rural life, which formed the border to the private prayers and the litany of the saints. in addition to these, we have representations of the prophets and sibyls, of the cardinal virtues, and the lives of the saints, and an admixture of purely decorative or grotesque designs. between the vignettes spaces were often left, which were filled in, sometimes with illustrative texts, sometimes with a continuous prayer or exhortation, either in french or latin. thus in the preliminary leaves of some of the _horae_ the text read: tout bon loyal et vaillant catholique qui commencer aucune euure ymagine doit inuoquer en toute sa pratique premierement la puissance diuine par ce beau nom iesus qui illumine tout cueur humain & tout entendement. cest en tout fait ung beau commencement: and when we turn to the gospels of the passion we find a prayer beginning 'protecteur des bons catholiques donne nous croire tellement les paroles euangeliques,' &c. in vérard's earlier editions the book would have to be turned round to read the words on the lower border, but in pigouchet's this defect was remedied, so that we are left free to imagine that the prayer was meant for devotional use, and not merely as a decoration. the chief firms employed in the production of these beautiful prayer-books during the fifteenth century were (i.) jean du pré; (ii.) antoine vérard; (iii.) philippe pigouchet, working chiefly for simon vostre, a publisher, but also for de marnef, laurens philippe, and occasionally on his own account; (iv.) thielman kerver. the proportion of dated and undated editions is about equal, and with careful study it ought to be possible to trace the career of each of the important firms, noting when each new illustration or vignette makes its first appearance. unfortunately great confusion has been introduced into the bibliography of _horae_ by the presence in them of calendars, mostly for twenty years, giving the dates of the moveable feasts. all that these calendars show is that the edition in which they occur must have been printed before, probably at least five or six years before, the last year for which they are reckoned. the fact that, _e.g._, the editions printed by pigouchet in august and september 1498 have the 1488 to 1508 calendar is by itself sufficient to prove that they cannot do more than this. unluckily a connection has often been assumed between the first year of the calendar and the year of publication--_e.g._ undated _horae_ with the calendar for 1488-1508 are frequently ascribed on that ground only to 1488, or with perverse ingenuity to 1487; as if a calendar of the moveable feasts were like an annual almanac, and must necessarily be printed in readiness for the new year. great confusion has thus been caused, so that it is impossible to trust any conjectural date for an _horae_ unless we know the grounds on which it is based. the earliest dated french _horae_ was finished by antoine vérard on august 21, 1486, and followed by another the next year dated july 7, 1487; but the cuts in both of these are small and rude, mere guides to an illuminator, and as vérard's later editions bring him into connection with other publishers, it will be convenient to consider first three editions by jean du pré, all of which are of great interest. the one which we must rank as the earliest is an undated _hore ad vsum romanum_, signed 'jo. de prato' (_i.e._ j. du pré) which can be shown to have been issued some little time before feb. 19, 1488-9, the date of a psalter printed by antoine cayllaut in which one of the cuts appears in a more worn condition. the text measures 4-1/2 in. by 3-1/4. this is the only one of the three which was known to brunet, whose list of _horae_ in the fifth volume of his _manuel du libraire_, long as it is, is very incomplete. its text, including the borders, measures 5-5/8 in. by 3-5/8, and in addition to du pré's mark and the anatomical man is illustrated by nineteen engravings. nine of these are the usual illustrations to the hours themselves, and the subsidiary hours of the passion and of the holy ghost. the penitential psalms are illustrated by david's bathsheba and the death of uriah, and the vigils of the dead by a figure of death. in addition to these we have the fall of lucifer, descent from the cross, with emblems of the four evangelists, a figure of the trinity, the virgin and child in glory, s. christopher, s. mary magdalen, and the vision of s. gregory, with small pictures from the life of christ and figures of the saints. the borders carry out the plan of the table of vignettes, containing three scenes from the bible and three heads, with explanatory text, on each page throughout the greater part of the book. towards the end these are replaced by figures of saints and angels. the artist's designs have been rather spoilt by the engraver, whose strokes are frequently much too black. the second of du pré's editions is a very interesting book, for the illustrations are printed in three colours--blue, red, and green. it is dated 1490, but without the mention of any month. it has some unusual illustrations--_e.g._ the three maries with the body of christ, david and goliath, lazarus in abraham's bosom and dives in torment, and s. christopher. many of the pages are without vignettes, and where these occur they are not joined neatly together to form a continuous border, but set, rather at haphazard, about the margin. pictures and vignettes are printed sometimes in the same, sometimes in different colours. the page of text measures 5-1/2 in. by 4, or without borders, 4 by 2-1/2. the last edition known to me by du pré is undated, and has a latin title-page, _hore ad usum romanum. jo. de prato._ the text with borders measures 4-1/2 in. by 3-1/2. its borders are similar to those of the large folios of the period, having a floral groundwork, into which birds, figures of men and women, angels and grotesques are introduced. to make up for the lack of vignettes there are seven small illustrations of the passion set in the text. for the larger illustrations, which appear to be woodcuts, du pré again varied his subjects, introducing for the only time in these three editions _les trois vifs et les trois morts_, reduced reproductions of which are here given. [illustration: _les trois vifs._ from a _horae_ of jean du pré. (reduced.)] [illustration: _les trois morts._ from a _horae_ of jean du pré. (reduced.)] it was not to be expected that so enterprising a publisher as vérard would rest content with the very unpretentious _horae_ he produced in 1486 and 1487, but the precise date at which he first made a more ambitious essay is not easy to fix. the undated edition of his _grandes heures_ for the use of rome is constantly assigned to 1488, for no other reason than that it contains the 1488-1508 almanac, though the breaks in the borders suffice to show that this was not the first appearance of the blocks. at the library at toulouse there is said to be a vérard _horae ad usum romanum_ dated april 3, 1488, that is, as the french year at this time began, at easter, 1489, and this may be the first of vérard's new editions. this was followed the next year by the first edition of his _grandes heures_, with thirteen woodcuts and a frontispiece. i have not been fortunate enough to see a copy of either of these editions, but three undated _horae_ in the british museum, printed by vérard, seem to belong to the same type as the _grandes heures_. in addition to a poorly cut vision of heaven, the anatomical man, and the chalice, they contain, in varying order, fourteen large woodcuts--(i.) the fall of lucifer; (ii.) the history of adam and eve; (iii.) a double picture, the upper half showing the strife between mercy, justice, peace, and reason in the presence of god, and the lower half the annunciation, which followed the triumph of mercy; (iv.) the marriage of joseph and mary; (v.) the invention of the cross; (vi.) the gift of the spirit; (vii.) a double picture of the nativity and the adoration by the shepherds; (viii.) the adoration by the magi; (ix.) a double picture of the annunciation to the shepherds and of peasants dancing round a tree; (x.) the circumcision; (xi.) the killing of the innocents; (xii.) the crowning of the virgin; (xiii.) david entering a castle, with the words 'tibi soli peccavi,'--against thee only have i sinned,--issuing from his mouth; (xiv.) a funeral service, the hearse standing before the altar. the cut of the message to the shepherds here shown will give a fair idea of the characteristics of this series, as well as of the borders by which they were accompanied.[20] a full list of the larger subjects has been given because some of them often occur in later editions joined with other pictures of the school of pigouchet, and it is useful to be able to fix their origin at a glance.[21] six of them form the only large illustrations in the little _horae_, printed for vérard, april 5, 1489, in which, as we have already noted, the words 'on copper' appear to have been deliberately omitted from the table of the vignettes. the size of the _grandes heures_ is 8 in. by 5, that of the edition of april 1489, 6 in. by 4. brunet enumerates altogether thirty editions of _horae_ printed by vérard, the last of which bearing a date belongs to the year 1510. so far as i am acquainted with them these later editions have few distinguishing characteristics, but are mostly made up with illustrations designed for other firms. [illustration: from a _grandes heures_ of antoine vérard.] we come now to the most celebrated of all the series of _horae_, those printed by pigouchet, chiefly for simon vostre. brunet in his list rightly discredits the existence of an edition by this printer dated as early as january 5, 1486. he accepts, however, and briefly describes as if he had himself seen, one of september 16, 1488, and mentions also an edition printed april 8, 1488-9. no copy of either of these editions has come to light during the twenty years in which the present writer has been interested in _horae_, and it seems fairly certain that pigouchet's first illustrated work is to be found in an edition _ad usum parisiensem_, dated december 1, 1491. the large cuts in this are fairly good, but a little stiff; the small border-cuts include a long set of incidents in the life of christ with old testament types after the manner of the _biblia pauperum_. a _horae_ of may 8, 1492, substitutes floral borders for these little pictures. in another set of editions in which pigouchet was concerned, apparently between 1493 and 1495, the borders are made up of vignettes of very varying size, which may be recognised by many of them being marked with gothic letters, mostly large minuscules. sometimes one, sometimes two, vignettes thus lettered occur on a page, and we may presume that the lettering, which is certainly a disfigurement, was intended to facilitate the arrangement of the borders. in these _horae_, also, the designs are comparatively coarse and poor. some of the large illustrations are divided into an upper compartment, containing the main subject, and two lower compartments, containing its 'types.' [illustration: dives and lazarus, from pigouchet's _horae_, 1498. (reduced.)] certainly by 1496, and possibly in earlier editions which i have not seen, pigouchet had arrived at his typical style, of which a good specimen-page is given in our illustration from the edition of august 22, 1498. his original idea appears to have been for editions with a page of text measuring 5-1/2 in. by 3-1/2, such as he issued on april 17, 1496, and january 18, 1496-97. but at least as early as november 4, 1497, he added another inch both to the height and breadth of his page by the insertion of the little figures, which will be noticed at the left of the lower corner and on the right at the top. the extra inch was valuable, for it enabled him to surround his large illustrations with vignettes, but the borders themselves are not improved by them, for they mar the rich effect of the best work in which the backgrounds are of black with pricks of white. these same dotted backgrounds, which we have already noticed as present in some of the finest of the printers' marks, appear also in three plates, which are found in the 1498 editions, and thenceforward, but, as far as i can ascertain, not earlier. these three plates illustrate (i.) the tree of jesse; (ii.) the church militant and triumphant; (iii.) the adoration of the shepherds. all three plates are of great beauty, and the last is noticeable for the names--'mahault,' 'aloris,' 'alison,' 'gobin le gay,' and 'le beau roger'--which are assigned to the shepherds and their wives, and which are the same as those by which they are known in the french mystery-plays. the artists who used these dotted backgrounds evidently viewed the _horae_ rather from the mystery-play standpoint. they cared little for the 'types' which vérard and du pré so carefully explained in their early editions, but delighted in the dance of death and in scenes of hunting and rural life, or failing these in grotesques. they placed their talents at the disposal of religion, but they bargained to be allowed to introduce a good deal of humour as well. the best french _horae_ were all published within about ten years. during this decade, which just overlaps the fifteenth century, the only serious rival of pigouchet was thielman kerver, who began printing in 1497, and by dint of close imitation approached very near indeed to pigouchet's success. with the lessening of pigouchet's activity about 1505, there came an after-flood of bad taste, which swept everything before it. the old french designs were displaced by reproductions of german work utterly unsuited to the french types and ornaments, and along with these there came an equally disastrous substitution of florid renaissance borders of pillars and cherubs for pigouchet's charming vignettes and hunting scenes. thielman kerver, who had begun with better things, soon made his surrender to the new fashion, and his firm continued to print _horae_, for which it is difficult to find a good word until about 1556. his activity was more than equalled by gilles hardouyn, who with his successors was responsible for some seventy editions during the first half of the sixteenth century. guillaume eustace, guillaume godard, and françois regnault were less formidable competitors, and besides these some thirty or forty editions are attributable to other printers. on january 16th (or to use the affected style of the colophon itself, 'xvii. kal. febr.'), 1525, geoffroy tory, the scholar, artist, and printer, in conjunction with his friend simon colines, brought out a _horae_, which is certainly not open to the charge of bad taste. the printed page measures 6-1/4 in. by 3-3/4, the type used is a delicate roman letter with a slight employment of red ink, but no hand work, the borders are in the most delicate style of the renaissance. the illustrations number twelve, of which one, that of the annunciation, occupies two pages. there are no unusual subjects, except that in the picture of the crucifixion tory displays his classical pedantry by surrounding the central picture with four vignettes illustrating virgil's 'sic vos non vobis' quatrain, on the sheep, the bees, the birds, and the oxen, whose life enriches others but not themselves. in the picture of the adoration by the magi, here given, tory obtains an unusually rich effect by the figure of the negro. he repeats this, on a smaller scale, in the black raven, croaking _cras, cras_, in the picture of the triumph of death. the tone of the other illustrations is rather thin, and the length of the faces and slight angularity in the figures (effects which tory, the most affected of artists, no doubt deliberately sought for) cause them just to fall short of beauty. compared, however, with the contemporary editions of other printers, tory's _horae_ seem possessed of every beauty. we know of five editions before his death or retirement in 1533, and of some seven others before the close of the half century. after 1550 the publication of _horae_ in france almost entirely ceased, but some pretty editions were issued at antwerp by the french printer christopher plantin in 1565 and 1575, and perhaps in other years. the decree of pope pius v. making the use of the office no longer obligatory on the clergy seems to have been preceded by a great falling off of the popularity of the hours among the laity, in whom the booksellers had found their chief customers, and after 1568 a very few editions sufficed to supply the demand of those who were still wedded to their use. [illustration: from tory's _horae_, 1525. (reduced.)] * * * * * [19] i join this with the other illustration as having a eucharistic significance, but in one of vérard's editions the full explanation is given: 'cest la mesure de la playe du coste de notre seigneur iesucrist qui fut apportee de constantinople au noble empereur saint charlemaine afin que nulz ennemys ne luy peussent nuire en bataille.' [20] the defects in this reproduction appear also in the original, from which it is reduced. [21] _e.g._, in an edition printed by jean poitevin, may 15, 1498, the illustrations for terce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline are from vérard; the others, including the printer's device, were imitated from pigouchet. chapter ix holland thirty years ago, under the title _the woodcutters of the netherlands_ (a little suggestive of a story for boys on life in a dutch forest) sir martin conway wrote a treatise on the early book-illustrations of the low countries, which is still the standard work on the subject, and only needed plenty of facsimiles to make it completely illuminating. unfortunately in 1884 the process block was still in its infancy, and in the absence of this cheap method of reproduction the book was issued without a single picture. written some nine years later the present chapter epitomises so much of sir martin's treatise as the rather scanty stock of low country illustrated books in england enabled me to visualise, and for lack of an intervening pilgrimage to dutch libraries comparatively little can now be added to it. sir martin conway divided his book into three parts, the first giving the history of the woodcutters, the second a catalogue of the cuts, and the third a list of the books containing them. putting on one side the blocks imported or directly copied from france and germany, he attributes the illustrations in fifteenth century dutch books to some five-and-twenty different workmen and their apprentices. his first group is formed of-(i.) a louvain woodcutter who worked for john and conrad de westphalia, for whom he cut two capital little vignette portraits of themselves, and for veldener, for whom he executed the nine illustrations in an edition of the _fasciculus temporum_, published on december 29, 1475. (ii.) a utrecht woodcutter, whose most important works are a set of cuts to illustrate the _boeck des gulden throens_, published by a mysterious printer, gl., in 1480, some additional cuts for a new edition by veldener of the _fasciculus temporum_, and a set of thirty-nine cuts, chiefly on the life of christ, for the same printer's _epistolen ende ewangelien_ of 1481. (iii.) a bruges woodcutter, possibly the printer himself, who illustrated colard mansion's french edition of the _metamorphoses_ of ovid (1484); and (iv.) a gouda woodcutter, by whose aid gerard leeu started on his career as a printer of illustrated books with the _dialogus creaturarum_ (of which he printed six editions between june 3, 1480, and august 31, 1482), and the _gesten van romen_, _vier uterste_, and _historia septem sapientum_. of these books, whose illustrations are grouped together as all executed in pure line work, the most interesting to us are the _metamorphoses_ and the _dialogus_. the former is handsomely printed in red and black in mansion's large type, and has seventeen single-column cuts of gods and goddesses and as many double-column ones illustrating the metamorphoses themselves. the larger cuts are the more successful, and are certainly superior to the average french work of the day, to which they bear a considerable resemblance. uncouth as they are, they were thought good enough by antoine vérard to serve as models for his own edition of 1493. the _metamorphoses_, mansion's first illustrated book, was also the last work issued from his press; and part of the edition was not published till after his disappearance from bruges. the hundred and twenty-one cuts in leeu's _dialogus creaturarum_ are the work of a far more inspired, if very child-like, artist. with a minimum of strokes the creatures about whom the text tells its wonderful stories are drawn so as to be easily recognisable, and we have no reason to suppose that the humour which pervades them was otherwise than intentional. we come now to the best period of dutch illustration, which centres round the presses of leeu at gouda and antwerp, and of jacob bellaert at haarlem, whose business was probably only a branch of leeu's. during his stay at gouda, leeu commissioned an important set of sixty-eight blocks, thirty-two of which were used in the _lijden ons heeren_ of 1482, and the whole set in a _devote ghetiden_, which sir martin conway conjectures to have been published just after the printer's removal to antwerp in the summer of 1484. fifty-two of them were used again, in conjunction with other cuts, in the _boeck vanden leven christi_ of ludolphus in 1487, and the history of many of them can be traced in other books to as late as 1510. thus they were evidently popular, though neither their design nor their cutting calls for much praise. another set of seven cuts, to each of which is joined a sidepiece showing a teacher and a scholar, appears in leeu's last gouda book, the _van den seven sacramenten_ of june 19, 1484, and evinces a much greater mastery over his tools on the part of the engraver. the little sidepiece, which was added to bring the breadth of the cuts up to that of leeu's folio page (5-1/2 in.), is particularly good. after leeu's removal to antwerp his activity as a printer of illustrated books suffered a temporary check, and our interest is transferred to the office of jacob bellaert at haarlem, who, after borrowing some of leeu's cuts for a _lijden ons heeren_, issued in december 1483, in the following february had printed under the name of _der sonderen troest_ a dutch version of the _belial_ of jacobus de theramo. this has altogether thirty-two cuts, the first of which occupies a full page, and represents in its different parts the fall of lucifer and of adam and eve, the flood, the passage of the red sea, and the baptism of christ. six half-page cuts represent incidents of the harrowing of hell, the ascension, and the day of pentecost. the other illustrations at a hasty glance seem to be of the same size (5 in. by 3-3/4), but are soon discovered to be separable into different blocks, usually three in number. eight blocks of 2-1/2 in. each, and seventeen of half this width, are thus arranged in a series of dramatic combinations. thus we are first shown the different persons who answer the citation of solomon, whose judgment hall is the central block in thirteen illustrations; then the controversy in heaven before christ as the judge; then scenes in a royal council chamber, &c. our illustration is taken from the opening of solomon's court, with belial appearing to plead on one side, and christ answering the summons of the messenger, azahel, on the other. [illustration: from leeu's edition of _der sonderen troest_, antwerp, 1484.] in october of the same year, 1484, bellaert printed an edition of the _boeck des gulden throens_, in which four cuts, representing the soul, depicted as a woman with flowing hair, being instructed by an elder, serve as illustrations to all the twenty-four discourses. in 1485 we have first of all two romances, the _historie vanden vromen ridder jason_ and the _vergaderinge der historien van troyen_, both translated from raoul le fèvre, and illustrated with half-folio cuts, which i have not seen. at the end of the year came a translation of glanville's _de proprietatibus rerum_, with eleven folio cuts, of which the most interesting are the first, which shows the almighty seated in glory within a circle thrown up by a black background, and the sixth, which contains twelve little medallions, representing the pleasures and occupations of the different months. during 1486 bellaert printed three illustrated books, an _epistelen ende euangelien_, pierre michault's _doctrinael des tyts_, an allegory, in which virtue exhibits to the author the schools of vice, and a dutch version of deguileville's _pélerinage de la vie humaine_. the ten cuts in the second of these three books are described by sir martin conway as carefully drawn, the more numerous illustrations in the others showing hasty work, probably produced by an inferior artist. after 1486 bellaert disappears, and most of his cuts and types are found in the possession of gerard leeu, who, since his removal to antwerp, had lacked the help of a good engraver. he apparently secured the services of bellaert's artist, and now printed french and dutch editions of the romance of _paris and vienne_ (may 1487), an edition of _reynard the fox_, of which only a fragment remains, the already-mentioned edition of _ludolphus_, for which he used cuts both new and old, a _kintscheyt jhesu_ (1488), dutch and latin versions of the story of the seven wise men of rome, who saved the young prince from the wiles of his step-mother, and numerous religious works. at the time of his death, in 1493, he was engaged on an edition of the _cronycles of england_, which has on its title-page a fine quarto cut showing the shield of england supported by angels. in 1485 leeu had copied (sir martin conway says, 'borrowed,' but this is a mistake) blocks from anton sorg, of augsburg, for an edition of _æsop_, and in 1491, in his _duytsche ghetiden_, he employed a set of woodcuts imitated from those in use in the french _horae_. sir martin assigns these directly to a french wood-cutter, but the work, both in the cuts and the borders, appears to me sufficiently distinctive to be set down rather as an imitation than as produced by a foreign artist. its success was immediate, and the designs appear in half a dozen books printed by leeu during the next two years, and in nine others issued by lieseveldt, their purchaser, between 1493 and the end of the century. we must now look very briefly at some of the illustrated books printed in other dutch towns. at zwolle, from 1484 onwards, peter van os issued a large number of devotional works, the cuts in many of which were copied from sets made for leeu. this, however, is not the case with a folio cut of the virgin manifesting herself to s. bernard, which is given as a frontispiece to three editions of the saint's _sermons_ (1484, &c.), and is of great beauty. at delft, jacob van der meer also copied leeu's books; in 1483 he produced an original set of illustrations to the ever-popular _scaeckspul_ of jacobus de cessolis, and three years later, a _passionael_, with upwards of ninety cuts, which were used again and again in more than a score of similar works or editions. he was succeeded by christian snellaert, who, in 1491, endeavoured to imitate leeu's french cuts in an edition of the _kerstenen spieghel_. john de westphalia continued to work at louvain until 1496, but his illustrated books were few and unimportant. at gouda, gotfrid de os, after borrowing blocks from leeu, when the latter had departed for antwerp, issued a few books with woodcuts, notably the romance of godfrey of boulogne (_historie hertoghe godeuaerts van boloen_), and _le chevalier délibéré_ by olivier de lamarche, with sixteen large and very striking woodcuts, which have been reproduced in facsimile by the bibliographical society from the reprint issued about the end of the century at schiedam. at deventer, jacobus de breda and richard paffroet, from 1486 onwards, printed a large number of books with single cuts, none of any great importance. in the last decade of the century, hugo janszoen commissioned several sets of crude religious cuts, while the illustrated books issued at antwerp by godfrey back, who had married the widow of an earlier printer, mathias van der goes, do not seem to have been much better. this decline of good work sir martin conway attributes chiefly to the influence of the french woodcuts introduced by leeu. 'the characteristic quality,' he says, 'of the french cuts is the large mass of delicately cut shade lines which they contain. the workmen of the low countries finding these foreign cuts rapidly becoming popular, endeavoured to imitate them, but without bestowing upon their work that care by which alone any semblance of french delicacy could be attained. from the year 1490 onwards, dutch and flemish cuts always contain large masses of clumsily cut shade. the outlines are rude; the old childishness is gone; thus the last decade of the fifteenth century is a decade of decline.' when we pass from the illustrations to the other decorations in early dutch books, we find that large borders of foliage, boldly but rather coarsely treated, were used by veldener in his _fasciculus temporum_ of 1480, and in gerard leeu's edition of the _dyalogus creaturarum_ the following year. veldener's is accompanied by a fine initial o, in which the design of the border is carried on. leeu's page contains a rather heavy s, and the woodcut of the faces of the sun and moon. in 1491, as we have seen, leeu printed a _psalter of the blessed virgin_, by s. bernard, in imitation of the french _horae_. this has very graceful little floral borders in small patterns on grounds alternately black and white. after leeu's death, they passed into the possession of adrian van lieseveldt, who used them for a _duytsche ghetyden_ in 1495. the most noteworthy initial letters are the five alphabets, printed in red, used by john of westphalia. in the smallest the letters are a third of an inch square, in the largest about an inch and a quarter. this and the next size are picked out with white scroll-work, somewhat in the same way as schoeffer's. peter van os at zwolle used a large n, four inches square, with intertwining foliage. he had also a fount of rustic capitals, almost undecipherable. leeu, besides his large s, had several good alphabets of initials. a very beautiful d, reproduced by holtrop from the _vier uterste_ (quatuor novissima) of 1488, is much the most graceful letter in any dutch book. no other initials of the same style have been found. eckert van hombergh also had some good initials, in which the ground is completely covered with a light floral design. gotfrid van os at gouda, m. van der goes at antwerp, jacob jacobsoen at delft, and lud. de ravescoet at louvain, were the chief other possessors of initials, the use of which continued for a long time to be very partial. [illustration: mark of jacob bellaert.] several of the devices of the dutch printers are very splendid. the borders which surrounded the unicorn of h. eckert van hombergh and the eagle of jacob bellaert give them special magnificence. the castle at antwerp was used as a device by gerard leeu, and subsequently by thierry martens, and a printer at gouda placed a similar erection on an elephant, perhaps as a pun between _howdah_ and gouda. peter van os at zwolle had a large device of an angel holding a shield; m. van der goes at antwerp a still larger one of a ragged man flourishing a club, while his shield displays a white lion on a black ground. another antwerp printer, g. back, used several varieties of bird-cages as his marks, in one of which the antwerp castle is introduced on a shield hanging from the cage. several printers--_e.g._ colard mansion at bruges, jacob jacobsoen at delft, and gerard leeu at gouda, contented themselves with small devices of a pair of shields braced together. leeu, however, while at gouda, used also a large device of a helmeted shield supported by two lions. [illustration: from the romance of _tirant lo blanch_, valentia, 1490.] chapter x spain since the first edition of this book appeared knowledge both of spanish incunabula and the types in which they are printed has been greatly increased, thanks to the researches of professor haebler. these have dealt incidentally, but only incidentally, with the illustration and decoration of early spanish books, and the present writer must still confine himself mainly to the little handful of illustrated books which have come under his own notice. the book-hand in use in spain's manuscripts during the fifteenth century was unusually massive and handsome, and the same characteristics naturally reappear in the majority of the types used by the early printers in spain. a considerable proportion of these were germans, whose tradition of good press-work was very fairly maintained by their immediate successors, so that throughout a great part of the sixteenth century spanish books retain much of the primitive dignity which we are wont to associate only with 'incunabula.' from a very early period, also, they are distinguished by the excellence of their initial letters, which are almost as plentiful as they are good; the great majority of books printed after 1485, which i have seen, being fully provided with them. the prevailing form of initial exhibits very delicate white tracery on a black ground. in a few instances, as in a _seneca_ printed by meinardo ungut and stanislao polono, at seville, in 1491, some of the initials are in red, and have a very decorative effect. a fine capital l and a appear in a work of jean de mena, issued by these printers in 1499, and a good m in their _claros varones_ of pulgar in the following year. a _consolat_, printed, it is said, by pedro posa at barcelona in 1494, is very remarkable for its profusion of fine initials. engraved borders are not of common occurrence in spanish books, though i shall have to notice two striking instances of their use in books printed at zamora and valencia. borders are found, also, on the title-pages of various laws printed at barcelona during the reign of ferdinand and isabella, but these are of no great beauty, and some of the pieces of which they are composed are poor copies from the french _horae_. as a rule, spanish title-pages are handsome and imposing. during the last few years of the fifteenth century and the beginning of its successor, the titles of books were often printed in large woodcut letters. a spanish _livy_, printed at salamanca in 1497, a _vocabulary_ of antonio lebrixa, printed by kromberger at seville in 1506, and a _mar de istorias_ printed at valladolid in 1512, supply examples of this practice. in an _obra a llaors del benauenturat lo senyor sant cristofol_, printed at valencia in 1498, the woodcut title is in white on a black ground, which is also relieved by a medallion of the saint fording the stream. pictures were also used in connection with the more ordinary woodcut titles in black--_e.g._ in juan de lucena's _tratado de la vita beata_, printed by juan de burgos in 1502, we have a cut of a king, bearing his sword of justice and surrounded by his counsellors; and in a _libro de consolat tractant dels fets maritims_ of the same year, printed by johan luschner at barcelona, beneath the woodcut title there is a large figure of a ship up whose masts sailors are climbing, apparently in quest of a very prominent moon. woodcut pictures of the hero decorate the title-pages of the romances of spain as of other countries, and these pictorial title-pages are found also, though less frequently, in works of devotion and in plays. such pictures are less common in spain than elsewhere, because of the great popularity there of the heraldic title-page, in which the arms of the country, or of the hero or patron of the work, form a singularly successful method of ornament. these heraldic title-pages are found in a few books, printed before 1500, and were in common use throughout the sixteenth century. the earliest spanish illustrated book with which i am acquainted is the _libro delos trabajos de hercules_ of the marquis enrique de villena, printed by antonio de centenera at zamora, on january 15th, 1483 (1484). this has eleven woodcuts, illustrating the hero's exploits, and so rudely executed that they are plainly the work of a native artist. far more interesting than these 'prentice cuts are the illustrative initials, apparently engraved on soft metal, in a _copilacion de leyes_, promulgated in 1485, and supposed to have been printed by centenera in the same year. these initials are nine in number, and must have been designed and executed by finished artists, whose work is so fine that the printer in most instances has failed to do justice to it. on the first page of text an initial p contains within it figures of a king and queen, ferdinand and isabella. this page has at its foot a border containing a hunting scene, with a blank shield in its centre. the rest of the page is surrounded by a text, printed decoratively, so as to form an open-work border. the first section of the laws, treating of 'la santa fe,' has an initial e, showing god the father upholding the crucified christ. the second section sets forth the duty of the king to hear causes two days a week, and begins with an l, here reproduced, in which the king is unpleasantly close pressed by the litigants. [illustration: initial l from a _copilacion de leyes_, zamora, _c._ 1485.] two knights spurring from the different sides of an s head the laws of chivalry; a canonist and his scholars in an a preside over matrimony; money-changers in a d over commerce, while a luckless wretch being hanged in the midst of a t warns evil-doers of what they may expect under the criminal law. the pages containing these initials are enriched also by a border in two pieces, the lower part of which shows a shield, with a device of trees, supported by kneeling youths. the perpendicular piece running up the outer margin bears a floral design. all the letters, while directly illustrating the subjects of the chapters which they begin, are at the same time essentially decorative, and they are certainly the best pictorial initials i have ever seen, though it must be reckoned against them that they were unduly difficult to print with the text. the page here reproduced, unfortunately only about one-third of its original size, from the famous romance of _tirant lo blanch_, gives us another example of this peculiar style of engraving. it is taken from the edition printed at valencia in 1490, and may fairly be reckoned as one of the most decorative pages in any fifteenth-century book. the rest of the volume has no other ornament than some good initials. the first spanish book with woodcuts of any artistic merit with which i am acquainted is an edition of diego de san pedro's _carcel d'amor_, printed at barcelona in 1493. this has sixteen different cuts, some of which are several times repeated. the title-cut, showing love's prison, is here reproduced, and gives a very good idea of a characteristic spanish woodcut. the other illustrations show the lover in various attitudes before his lady, a meeting in a street, the author at work on his book, &c. another edition of the _carcel d'amor_, with the same woodcuts, was printed at burgos in 1496 by fadrique aleman. [illustration: title-page of diego de san pedro's _carcel d'amor_, barcelona, 1493.] most of the other spanish incunabula with woodcuts, which i have seen, were printed at seville by meinardo ungut and stanislao polono. the first of these, gorricio's _contemplaciones sobre el rosario de nuestra señora_, issued in 1495, has some good initials, two large cuts nearly the full size of the quarto page, and fifteen smaller ones, with graceful borders mostly on a black ground. the small cuts illustrate the life of christ and of the b. virgin, and are, to some extent, modelled on the pictures in the french _horae_. in the same year, the same printers published ayala's _chronica del rey don pedro_, with a title-cut of a young king, seated on his throne, and also the _lilio de medicina_ of b. de gordonio with a title-cut of lilies. in 1496, a firm of four printers, 'paulo de colonia, juan pegnicer de nuremberg, magno y thomas,' published an edition of juan de mena's _labirinto_ or _las ccc_ (so called from the number of stanzas in which it is written) with a title-cut of the author (?) kneeling before a king. three years later, still at seville, pedro brun printed in quarto the romance of the emperor _vespasian_, with fourteen full-page cuts of sea voyages, sieges, the death of pilate, &c. against these books printed at seville, during the last decade of the century, i have only notes of one or two books issued at salamanca, valencia, and barcelona, with unimportant title-cuts, and a reprint at burgos of the _trabajos de hercules_ (1499) with poor illustrations fitted into the columns of a folio page. but it is quite possible that my knowledge is as one-sided as it is limited, and i must, therefore, refrain from building up any theory that seville, rather than any other town, was the chief home of illustrated books in spain. after 1500 the spanish books which i have met have no important illustrations beyond the cuts which appear on some of their title-pages. but here, also, i should be sorry to make my small experience the basis of a general statement. the devices of the spanish printers were greatly influenced by those of their compeers of italy and france. the simple circle and cross, in white on a black ground, with the printer's initials in the semicircles, is fairly common, while diego de gumiel and arnaldo guillermo brocar varied it, according to the best italian fashion, with very beautiful floral tracery. the tree of knowledge and pendant shields, beloved of the french printers, appear in the marks of meinardo ungut and stanislao polono, and of juan de rosembach. arnaldo guillermo had another and very elaborate mark, showing a man kneeling before the emblems of the passion, and two angels supporting a shield with a device of a porcupine. one of the quaintest of all printers' marks was used by a later printer of the name juan brocar, whose motto 'legitime certanti' is illustrated by a mail-clad soldier grasping a lady's hair while he himself is being seized by the devil! [illustration: from the _canterbury tales_, 2nd edition.] chapter xi england _by_ e. gordon duff the art of the wood-engraver may almost be said to have had no existence in england before the introduction of printing, for there are not probably more than half a dozen cuts now known, if indeed so many, that are of an earlier date. the few that exist are devotional prints of the type known as the 'image of pity,' in which a half-length figure of christ on the cross stands surrounded with the emblems of the passion. it may be taken, i think, for granted that at the time caxton set up his press at westminster, that is, in the year 1476, there was no wood-engraver competent to undertake the work of illustrating his books. we see, for instance, that in the first edition of the _canterbury tales_ there are no woodcuts, while they appear in the second edition; and it is not likely that caxton would have left a book so eminently suited for illustration without some such adornment had the necessary craftsmen been available. as it was, it was not till 1480 that woodcuts first appeared in an english printed book, the _mirror of the world_. in this there are two series of cuts. one, consisting of diagrams, is found in most of the mss. of the book; the other, which represents masters teaching their scholars or at work alone, was a new departure of caxton's. it is quite probable that they were intended for general use in books, indeed we find some used in the _cato_, but they do not appear to have been employed elsewhere. the diagrams are meagre and difficult to understand, so much so that the printer has printed several in their wrong places. the necessary letterpress occurring within them is not printed (caxton had not then a small enough type), but is written in by hand, and it is worth noticing that this is done in all copies in the same hand, and so must have been done in caxton's office, some are fond enough to suppose by caxton himself. in the next year appeared the second edition of the _game of chesse_, with a number of woodcuts. the first edition, printed at bruges by caxton and mansion, had no illustrations. the cuts are coarsely designed and roughly cut, but serve their purpose; indeed, they are evidently intended as illustrations rather than ornaments. some controversy has at different times arisen as to whether these cuts were executed in england or abroad, but mr. linton has very justly decided in favour of england. the work, he says, is so poor that any one who could hold a knife could cut them, therefore there was no necessity to send abroad. about 1484 we have two important illustrated books, the _canterbury tales_ and the _æsop_; the former with 28 illustrations, the latter with 186. the cuts of the _canterbury tales_ depict for the most part the various individuals of the pilgrimage, and there is also a bird's-eye view of all the pilgrims seated at an immense round table at supper, which was used afterwards by wynkyn de worde for the 'assembly of gods.' the copies of german cuts in the _æsop_, with the exception of the full-page frontispiece (known only in the copy in the windsor library), are smaller, and are the work of two, if not three, engravers. one cut seems to have been hurriedly executed in a different manner to the rest, perhaps to take the place of one injured at the last moment. it is not worked in the usual manner with the outlines in black--_i.e._ raised lines on the wood-block, but a certain amount of the effect has been produced by a white line on a black ground--_i.e._ by the cut-away lines of the wood-block. the _golden legend_, which was the next illustrated book to appear, contains the most ambitious woodcuts which caxton used. those in the earlier part are the full width of a large folio page, and show, especially in their backgrounds, a certain amount of technical skill. the later part of the book contains a number of small cuts of saints very coarsely executed, and the same cut is used over and over again for different saints. in 1487 caxton first used his large woodcut device, which is probably, though the contrary is often asserted, of english workmanship. it is entirely un-french in style and execution, and was probably cut to print on the missal printed by maynyal for caxton in order that the publisher might be brought prominently into notice. about this time (1487-88) two more illustrated books were issued,--the _royal book_ and the _speculum vite christi_. the series cut for the _speculum_ are of very good workmanship, though the designs are poor, but all of them were not used in the book. one or two appear later in books printed by w. de worde, manifestly from the same series. the _royal book_ contains only seven cuts, six of which are from the _speculum_. some of the cuts occur also in the _doctrinal of sapience_ and the _book of divers ghostly matters_. it is impossible not to think when examining caxton's books that the use of woodcuts was rather forced upon him by the necessities of his business, than deliberately preferred by himself. he seems to have wished to popularise the more generally known books, and only to have used woodcuts when the book absolutely needed them. he did not, as some later printers did, simply use woodcuts to attract the unwary purchaser. what cuts caxton possessed at the end of his career it is hard to determine. the set of large _horae_ cuts which w. de worde used must have been caxton's, for we find one of them, the crucifixion, used in the _fifteen o'es_, which was itself intended as a supplement to a _horae_, now unknown. in the same way there must have been a number of cuts for use in the 8vo _horae_, but as that is known only from a small fragment, we cannot identify them. from similarity of style and identity of measurement we can pick out a few from wynkyn de worde's later editions, but many must be passed over. on turning to examine the presses at work at the same time as caxton's one cannot but be struck by the scarcity of illustrations. lettou and machlinia, though they produced over thirty books, had no ornaments that we know of beyond a border which was used in their edition of the _horae ad usum sarum_, and passed into the hands of pynson. they seem to have been without everything except type, not having even initial letters. the st. alban's press was a step in advance. a few cuts were used in the _chronicles_, and the _book of st. alban's_ contains coats of arms, produced by a combination of wood-cutting and printing in colour. the oxford press was the most ambitious, and was in possession of two sets of cuts, in neither case intended for the books in which they were used. one set was prepared for a _golden legend_, but no such book is known to have been issued at the oxford press. one of these cuts appears as a frontispiece to lyndewode's _constitutions_. it represents jacobus de voragine writing the _golden legend_, so that it did equally well for lyndewode writing his law-book. others of the series are used in the _liber festialis_ of 1486, but as that was a small folio and the cuts were large, the ends were cut off, and they are all printed in a mutilated condition. the other cuts used in the _festial_ are small, and form part of a set for a _horae_, but no _horae_ is known to have been printed at the oxford press. it would be natural to suppose in this case that these cuts had been procured from some other printer who had used them in the production of the books for which they were intended; but the most careful search has failed to find them in any other book. besides these cuts the oxford press owned a very beautiful border, which was used in the commentary on the _de anima_ of aristotle by alexander de hales and the commentary on the _lamentations of jeremiah_ by john lattebury, printed in 1481 and 1482. the printers owned nothing else for the adornment of their books but a rudely cut capital g, which we find used many times in the _festial_. the poverty of ornamental letters and borders is very noticeable in all the english presses of the fifteenth century. caxton possessed one ambitious letter, a capital a, which was used first in the _order of chivalry_, and a series of eight borders, each made up of four pieces, and found for the first time in the _fifteen o'es_. they are of little merit, and compare very unfavourably with french work of the period. the best set of borders used in england belonged to notary and his partners when they started in london about 1496. they are in the usual style, with dotted backgrounds, and may very likely have been brought from france. pynson's borders, which he used in a _horae_ about 1495, are much more english in style, but are not good enough to make the page really attractive; in fact almost the only fine specimens of english printing with borders are to be found in the morton _missal_, which he printed in 1500. in this book also there are fine initial letters, often printed in red. it is hard to understand why, as a rule, english initial letters were so very bad; it certainly was not from the want of excellent models, for those in the sarum missals, printed at venice by hertzog in 1494, and sold in england by frederic egmont, contain most beautifully designed initials, as good as can be found in any early printed book. wynkyn de worde, when he succeeded in 1491 to caxton's business, found himself in possession of a large number of cuts, a considerably larger number than ever appeared in the books of caxton's that now remain to us. the first illustrated book he issued was a new edition of the _golden legend_, in which the old cuts were utilised. this was printed in 1493. in 1494 a new edition of the _speculum vite christi_ was issued, of which only one complete copy is known, that in the library at holkham. it probably contains only the series of cuts used by caxton in his edition, for the few leaves to be found in other libraries have no new illustrations. about the same time (1494) de worde issued several editions of the _horae ad usum sarum_, one in octavo (known from a few leaves discovered in the binding of a book in the library of corpus christi college, oxford) and the rest in quarto. in the quarto editions we find the large series of pictures, among which are the three rioters and three skeletons, the tree of jesse, and the crucifixion, which occur in caxton's _fifteen o'es_. it is extremely probable that all the cuts in these editions had belonged to caxton. the two cuts in the fragment of the octavo edition, however, are of quite a different class, evidently newly cut, and much superior in style and simplicity to caxton's. it is much to be regretted that no complete copy of the book exists, for the neat small cuts and bold red and black printing form a very tasteful page. a curious specimen of engraving is to be found in the _scala perfectionis_, by walter hylton, also printed in 1494. it represents the virgin and child seated under an architectural canopy, and below this are the words of the antiphon beginning, 'sit dulce nomen d[=n]i.' these words are not printed from type, but cut on the block, and the engraver seems to have treated them simply as part of the decoration, for many of the words are by themselves quite unreadable and bear only a superficial resemblance to the inscription from which they were copied. an edition of bartholomaeus' _de proprietatibus rerum_ issued about this time has a number of cuts, not of very great interest; and the _book of st. albans_ of 1496 has an extra chapter on fishing, illustrated with a picture of an angler at work, with a tub, in the german fashion, to put his fish into. it has also a curiously modern diagram of the sizes of hooks. in 1498 de worde issued an illustrated edition of malory's _morte d'arthur_. the cuts are very ambitious, but badly executed, and the hand of the engraver who cut them may be traced in several books. in 1499 an edition of _mandeville_ was issued, ornamented with a number of small cuts, and about this time several small books were issued having cuts on the title-page. richard pynson's first illustrated book was an edition of the _canterbury tales_, printed some time before 1492. at the head of each tale is a rudely executed cut of the pilgrim who narrates it. these cuts were made for this edition, and were in some cases altered while the book was going through the press to serve for different characters: the squire and the manciple, the sergeant and doctor of physic, are from the same blocks with slight alterations. in 1494 came an edition of lydgate's _falle of princis_, a translation from the _de casibus virorum et feminarum illustrium_ of boccaccio, illustrated with the cuts used by jean dupré in his paris edition of a french version of the same work in 1483. one of the neatest of these, depicting marcus manlius thrown into the tiber, is here shown. about 1497 an edition of the _speculum vite christi_ was issued, with a number of neatly executed small cuts, and in 1500 pynson printed the beautiful sarum missal, known as the _morton missal_. special borders and ornaments, introducing a rebus on the name of morton, were engraved for this, and a full-page cut of the prelate's coat of arms appears at the commencement of the book. [illustration: the death of marcus manlius. from lydgate's _the falle of princis_, pynson, 1494. (reduced.)] after the year 1500 almost every book issued by w. de worde, who was pre-eminently the popular publisher, had an illustration on the title-page. this was not always cut for the book, nor indeed always very applicable to the letterpress, and the cuts can almost all be arranged into series made for more important books. there were, however, a few stock cuts: a schoolmaster with a gigantic birch for grammars, a learned man seated at a desk for works of more advanced scholarship, and lively pictures of hell for theological treatises. the title-page was formed on a fixed plan. at the top, printed inside a wood-cut ribbon, was placed the title, below this the cut. pynson, who was the royal printer, and a publisher of learned works, disdained such attempts to catch the more vulgar buyers. his title-pages rarely have cuts, and these are only used on such few popular books as he issued. both he and de worde had a set of narrow upright cuts of men and women with blank labels over their heads, which could be used for any purpose, and have the names printed in type in the label above. foreign competition was also at this time making its influence felt on english book-illustration. w. de worde had led the way by purchasing from godfried van os, about 1492, some type initial letters, and at least one woodcut. pynson, early in the sixteenth century, obtained some cuts from vérard, which he used in his edition of the _kalendar of shepherdes_, 1506, and julian notary, who began printing about 1496, seems to have made use of a miscellaneous collection of cuts obtained from various quarters. he had, amongst other curious things, part of a set of metal cuts executed in the _manière criblée_, which have not been traced to any other book, but appear to have passed at a considerably later date into the hands of wyer, who commenced to print before 1524. when w. de worde left westminster in 1500 to settle in fleet street, he parted with some of his old woodcuts to notary,--woodcuts which had been used in the _horae_ of 1494, and had originally belonged to caxton. all these miscellaneous cuts appear in his _golden legend_ of 1503, and the large cut of the 'assembly of saints' on the title-page seems also to have been borrowed. it was used by hopyl at paris in 1505 for his edition of the _golden legend_ in dutch, and passed afterwards with hopyl's business to his son-in-law prevost, who used it in a theological work of john major's. the engraved metal ornamental initials were obtained from andré bocard. some time before 1510 an extremely curious book, entitled the _passion of our lorde jesu_, was printed abroad, probably in paris. the uncouthness of the language seems to have brought about its destruction; for, though many fragments have been found in bindings, only one perfect copy, now in the bodleian, is known. it contains a number of large cuts of a very german appearance and quite unlike any others of the period. some are used also in the york _manual_ printed for de worde in 1509. about this time too a number of popular books in english, some adorned with rude woodcuts, were issued by john of doesborch, a printer in antwerp. among them may be mentioned _the wonderful shape and nature of man, beasts, serpents, &c._, the _fifteen tokens_, the _story of the parson of kalenbrowe_, and the _life of virgilius_. a still earlier antwerp cut, which had been used by gerard leeu for the title-page of his english _solomon and marcolphus_, found its way to england and was used by copland. in the last years of henry vii.'s reign, from 1501 to 1509, a few books may be mentioned as particularly interesting from their illustrations. in 1502 de worde printed the _ordinary of chrysten men_, a large book with a block-printed title. it was reprinted in 1506. in 1503 appeared the _recuyles of y^e hystoryes of troye_, a typical example of an illustrated book of the period. there are about seventy cuts of all kinds, of which twelve were specially cut for the book: many others were used in the _morte d'arthur_, and the rest are miscellaneous. in 1505 we have the '_craft to live and die well_,' of which there is another edition in the following year. in 1506 appears the _castle of labour_, one of the few books entirely illustrated with cuts specially made for it; in 1508 the _kalendar of shepherdes_. the cuts in these last three books were all ultimately derived from french originals. an edition of the _seven wise masters of rome_, of which the only known copy is imperfect, appeared about 1506, though the cuts which illustrate it were made before 1500. the fragment contains seven cuts, but the set must have consisted of eleven. they are very careful copies of those used by gerard leeu in his edition of 1490, and have lost none of the feeling of the originals. three books only of pynson's production during this period call for special notice. about 1505 he issued an edition of the _castle of labour_, with very well-cut illustrations closely copied from the french edition. in 1506 appeared his edition of the _kalendar of shepherdes_, which is illustrated for the most part with cuts obtained from vérard, and in 1507 an edition of the _golden legend_. of each of these books but one copy is known. for some unknown reason, the accession of henry vii. acted in the most extraordinary way upon the english presses, which in that year issued a very large number of books. perhaps the influx of visitors to london on that occasion made an unusual demand; but at any rate a number of popular books were then issued. amongst them are _rychard cuer de lyon_, the _fiftene joyes of maryage_, the _convercyon of swerers_, the _parliament of devils_, and many others. besides these there were, of course, a number of funeral sermons on henry vii., many of which have curious frontispieces. one of these was used again a little later, for the funeral sermon of the king's mother, the lady margaret, the royal pall and effigy on it being cut out and replaced by an ordinary pall. this method of inserting new pieces into old blocks, technically termed plugging, was not much used at this period when wood-engraving was so cheap. an excellent example, however, will be found in the books printed for william bretton, which contain a large coat of arms. a mistake was made in the cutting of the arms, and a new shield was inserted, the mantling and supporters being untouched. another notable book of that period is barclay's _ship of fools_, issued by pynson in 1509. it contains one hundred and eighteen cuts, the first being a full-page illustration of the printer's coat of arms. the rest are copies, roughly executed, of those in the original edition. another version of this book, translated by henry watson, was issued the same year by wynkyn de worde. it is illustrated with a special series of cuts, which are used again in the later editions. of the original edition of 1509 only one copy is known, printed on vellum and preserved in the bibliothèque nationale. stray cuts from this series are found in several of de worde's other books, but may be at once recognised from the occurrence of the 'fool' in his typical cap and bells. about this time and a little earlier the title was very often cut entire on a block. the _de proprietatibus_ of _c._ 1496 contains the first and the most elaborate specimen, in which the words 'bartholomeus de proprietatibus rerum' are cut in enormous letters on a wooden board; indeed the whole block was so large that hardly any copy contains the whole. faques, pynson, and others used similar blocks, in which the letters were white and the background black (one of pynson's printed in red is to be found in the _ortus vocabulorum_ of 1509), but their uncouthness soon led to their disuse. numbers of service books were issued by pynson and wynkyn de worde, profusely illustrated with small cuts, most of which appear to have been of home manufacture, though unoriginal in design. it is worth noticing one difference in the cuts of the two printers. pynson's small cuts have generally an open or white background, de worde's are, as a rule, dotted in the french style. since in some of their service books these two printers used exactly similar founts of type the identification of their cuts is of particular value. but these service books almost from the first began to deteriorate. the use of borders was abandoned, and little care was given to keeping sets of cuts together, or using those of similar styles in one book. we find the archaic cuts of caxton, the delicate pictures copied from french models, and roughly designed and executed english blocks all used together, sometimes even on the same page. the same thing is noticeable in all the illustrated books of the period. de worde used caxton's cuts up to the very end of his career, though in many cases the blocks were worm-eaten or broken. the peculiar mixture of cuts is very striking in some books. take as an example the edition of _robert the devil_, published about 1514. no cut used in it is original: one is from a book on good living and dying, another from the _ship of fools_,[22] a third is from a devotional book of the previous century, and so on. in the _oliver of castile_ of 1518, though there are over sixty illustrations, not more than three or four are specially cut for it, but come from the _morte d'arthur_, the _gesta romanorum_, _helias knight of the swan_, the _body of policy_, _richard cuer de lion_, the _book of carving_, and so on, and perhaps many are used in several. indeed, w. de worde minded as little about using the same illustrations over and over again as some of our modern publishers. for all books issued in the early years of the sixteenth century it was thought necessary to have at least an illustration on the title-page, so that practically an examination of the illustrated books of the period means almost an examination of the entire produce of the printing press. in time, when the subject has been thoroughly studied, it will be possible to separate all the cuts into series cut for some special purpose. a rather important influence was introduced into the history of english book illustration about 1518, when pynson obtained a series of borders and other material, closely imitated from the designs made by holbein for froben.[23] they are the first important examples of 'renaissance' design used in english books, and their effect was rapid and marked. wynkyn de worde, who in his devices had hitherto been content to use caxton's trade-mark with some few extra ornaments, introduced a hideous parody of one of froben's devices, poor in design, and wretched in execution. the series of borders used by pynson were good in execution, and their style harmonised with the roman type used by him at that time, but with other books it was different. the heavy english black letter required something bolder, and unless these borders were heavily cut, they looked particularly meagre. a very beautiful title-page of this type (here somewhat reduced) is that in sir thomas elyot's _image of governance_, printed by thomas berthelet at london in 1540-41. [illustration] [illustration: device of thomas berthelet.] the illustrated books of this period offer a curious mixture of styles, for nothing could be more opposed in feeling than the early school of english cuts and the newly introduced renaissance designs. the outsides of the books underwent exactly the same change, for in place of the old pictorial blocks with which the stationers had heretofore stamped their bindings, they used hideous combinations of medallions and pillars. the device of berthelet is an excellent specimen of the new style. despising good old english names and signs, he carried on business at the sign of lucretia romana in fleet street, and his device depicts that person in the act of thrusting a sword into her bosom. in the background is a classical landscape, and on either side pillars. above are festoons, and on ribbons at the head and feet of the figure the name of the printer and of his sign. though the cut is uninteresting it is a beautiful piece of work. another result of the new movement was the banishment of woodcuts from the title-page. those to pynson's books have already been noticed, but lesser printers like scot, godfrey, rastell, and treveris also made use of borders of classical design, and gave up the use of woodcuts. it is extremely curious to notice what excellent effects on a title-page the printers at this time produced from the poorest materials. they seem to have understood much better than those of a later date how to use different sized type with effect, and to make the whole page pleasing, without attracting too much attention to one particular part. [illustration: device of richard faques.] before leaving this early period it will be as well to return a little, and briefly notice some of the more marked illustrated books produced by printers other than pynson and de worde. the two printers of the name of faques, guillam and richard, produced a few most interesting books, and the device of the last named, founded on that of the paris printer, thielman kerver, is a fine piece of engraving. the name was originally cut upon the block as faques, and was so used in his two first books; but in order to make the name appear more english in form, the 'ques' was cut out and 'kes' inserted in type. the last dated book which he printed, the _mirrour of our lady_ of 1530, contains several fine illustrations; that on the reverse of the title-page depicting a woman of some religious order writing a book, has at the bottom the letters e. g. joined by a knot, which may be the initials of the engraver. the cambridge press of 1521-1522, from the scholastic nature of its books, required no illustrations, but it used for the title-page of the _galen_ a woodcut border, rather in the manner of holbein, but evidently of native production. in 1536 this border reappears in a dutch prognostication printed at antwerp. the oxford press of the early sixteenth century borrowed some of its cuts from de worde, but a few, such as the ambitious frontispiece and the four diagrams in the _compotus_ of 1519, were original. john rastell in his _pastyme of people_ used a number of full-page illustrations of the kings of england, coarse in design and execution, and very remarkable in appearance. peter treveris issued a number of books with illustrations, some of which are well worthy of notice. the _grete herbal_, first published in 1516, contained a large number of cuts. jerome of bruynswyke's _worke of surgeri_ has some curious plates of surgical operations, and though the subjects are rather repulsive, they are excellent specimens of the wood-cutting of the period. treveris' best known book is the _policronicon_ of 1527, printed for john reynes, whose mark in red generally occurs on the title-page. this title-page is a fine piece of work, and has been facsimiled by dibdin in his _typographical antiquities_. some of the cuts and ornaments used by treveris passed after his death into the hands of the edinburgh printer, thomas davidson. lawrence andrewe of calais, who printed shortly before 1530, also issued some curious illustrated books. before coming to england he had translated the extraordinary book, _the wonderful shape and nature of man, beasts, serpentes, &c._, printed by john of doesborch, whom we have spoken of above. on his own account he issued the _boke of distyllacyon of waters_ by jerome of brunswick, illustrated with pictures of apparatus, and _the mirror of the world_. this is founded on caxton's edition, but is much more fully illustrated, the cuts to the natural history portion being particularly curious. it is worth noticing that andrewe, like some other printers at this time, introduced his device into many of the initial letters and borders which were cut for him, so that they can be readily identified when they occur, after his death, in books by other printers. after the death of wynkyn de worde in 1535, ideas as regards book-illustration underwent a great change. theology had become popular, and theological books were not adapted for illustration. the ordinary book, with pictures put in haphazard, absolutely died out; and cuts were only used in chap books, or in large illustrated volumes,--descriptions of horrible creatures, and the likenesses of comets or portents on the one hand, chronicles, books of travel, and scientific works on the other. the difference which we noticed between w. de worde and pynson, the one being a popular printer and the other a printer of standard works, is distinctly marked in the succeeding generation. while wyer, byddell, and copland published the popular books, grafton and whytchurch, wolfe and day, issued more solid literature. the old woodcuts passed into the hands of the poorer printers, and were used till they were worn out, and it is curious to notice how long in many cases this took. on the other hand, the illustrations made for new books are, as a rule, of excellent design and execution, owing a good deal, in all probability, to the influence of holbein, who, for the latter portion of his life, was living in england. as examples of his work, we may take two books published in 1548, cranmer's _catechism_, published by walter lynne, and halle's _chronicles_, published by grafton. the first contains a number of small cuts, one of which is signed in full hans holbein, and two others are signed with his initials h. h. some writers insist that these three cuts alone are to be ascribed to him, and that the rest are from an unknown hand. besides these small cuts, there is one full-page cut on the back of the title of very fine work. it represents edward vi. seated on his throne with the bishops kneeling on his right, the peers on his left. from the hands of the king the bishops are receiving a bible. the cut at the end of halle's _chronicles_, very similarly executed and also ascribed to holbein, represents henry viii. sitting in parliament. almost all the volumes of chronicles, of which a number were issued in the sixteenth century, contain woodcuts, and two are especially well illustrated,--grafton's _chronicles_, published in 1569, and holinshed's _chronicles_ in 1577. the illustrations in the latter book, which mr. linton considers to have been cut on metal, do not appear in the later edition of 1586. among the illustrations in the first edition, so dibdin says, is to be found a picture of a guillotine. [illustration: from cranmer's _catechism_, london, 1548.] of all the english printers of the latter half of the sixteenth century, none produced finer books than john day, who, it has been suggested, engraved some of the woodcuts which he used. the best known, perhaps, of his books is the _book of christian prayers_, commonly called queen elizabeth's prayer book, which he published in 1569. in a way, this book is undoubtedly a fine specimen of book-ornamentation, but as it was executed in a style then out of date, having borders like the earlier service books, it suffers by comparison with the 'books of hours' of fifty years earlier. another book of day's which obtained great popularity was the _history of martyrs_, compiled by john fox. we read on day's epitaph in the church of bradley-parva- "he set a fox to wright how martyrs runne, by death to lyfe. fox ventured paynes and health, to give them light; day spent in print his wealth." considering the popularity of the book, and the number of editions that were issued, we can hardly imagine that day lost money upon it. the illustrations are of varied excellence, but the book contains also some very fine initial letters. one, the c at the commencement of the dedication, contains a portrait of queen elizabeth on her throne, with three men standing beside her, two of whom are supposed to be day and fox. below the throne, forming part of the letter, is the pope holding two broken keys. initial letters about this time arrived at their best. they were often very large, and contained scenes, mythological subjects, or coats-of-arms. a fine specimen of this last class is to be found in the _cosmographical glasse_, by william cuningham, 1559. it is a large d containing the arms of robert, lord dudley, to whom the book is dedicated. very soon after this some ingenious printer invented the system of printing an ornamental border for the letter with a blank space for the insertion of an ordinary capital letter,--a system which soon succeeded in destroying any beauty or originality which letters had up to this time possessed. in conclusion, it will be well to notice the growth of engraving on metal in england. the earliest specimen that i know of is the device first used by pynson about 1496. it is certainly metal, and has every appearance of having been cut in this country. some writers have put forward the theory that the majority of early illustrations, though to all appearance woodcuts, were really cut on metal. but wherever it is possible to trace an individual cut for any length of time, we can see from the breakages, and in some cases from small holes bored by insects, that the material used was certainly wood. julian notary had some curious metal cuts, but they were certainly of foreign design and workmanship, and the same may be said of the metal cuts found amongst the early english service books. the border on the title-page of the cambridge _galen_, usually described as engraved on metal, is really an ordinary woodcut. it is not till 1540 that we find a book illustrated with engravings produced in this country. this was thomas raynald's _byrth of mankynde_, which contains four plates of surgical diagrams. in some of the later editions these plates have been re-engraved on wood. in 1545 another medical book appeared, _compendiosa totius delineatio aere exarata per thomam geminum_. it has a frontispiece with the arms of henry viii., and forty plates of anatomical subjects. other editions appeared in 1553 and 1559, and the title-page of the last is altered by the insertion of a portrait of elizabeth in place of the royal arms. the _stirpium adversaria nova authoribus petro pena et mathia de lobel_ of 1570 has a beautifully engraved title-page, and the 1572 edition of parker's _bible_ contains a map of the holy land with the following inscription in an ornamental tablet: 'graven bi humfray cole, goldsmith, an english man born in y^e north, and pertayning to y^e mint in the tower, 1572.' humfray cole is supposed by some authorities to have engraved the beautiful portraits of elizabeth, the earl of leicester, and lord burleigh, which appear in the earlier edition of 1568. saxton's maps, which appeared in 1579, are partly the work of native engravers, for at least eight were engraved by augustine ryther and nicholas reynolds. in 1591 there are two books,--broughton's _concent of scripture_, and sir john harington's _ariosto_. the latter contains almost fifty plates, closely copied from a venetian edition, and was the most ambitious book illustrated with metal plates published in the century. there are a few other books published before 1600 which contain specimens of engraving, but none worthy of particular mention. * * * * * [22] this particular cut, which represents the fool looking out of a window while his house is on fire, meant to illustrate the chapter 'of bostynge or hauynge confydence in fortune,' is not used in the edition of 1517. it may, perhaps, occur in the edition of 1509, of which the unique copy is at paris. [23] sir thomas more, the friend and employer both of pynson and froben, had probably a good deal to do with this purchase of material. index abbeville, 147. æsop, dutch, _leeu's_, 202; english, _caxton's_, 221; german, _steinhöwel's_, 46; italian, _brescia_, 131; _florence_, 122; _milan_, 133; _naples_, 83; _venice_, 90; _verona_, 85. albi, 144. aldus, 99-104. antwerp, 197, 201 _sq._ arndes, s., 67. _art de bien vivre et de bien mourir_, 156-58. augsburg, 37-45, 71-74. _aymon, les quatre fils_, 143. _b_ (engraver's signature), 95. back, g., 203, 207. bacon, sir n., book-plate, 21. baldassaris, h., 140. baleni, g., 126. bämler, j., 41-43. barberiis, p. de, 80. basel, 76-78. bazaleriis, b. de, 135. belcari, m., 125. _belial_, by jacobus de theramo, 37, 44; dutch version called _der sonderen troest_, 198-200. bellaert, j., 198-201, 205 _sq._ benaliis, b. de, 90, 96. benivieni, domenico, 116. benvenuto, f., 126. bergomensis, philippus, _de claris mulieribus_, 132. berthelet, t., 236-39. bettini, a., _monte santo di dio_, 86, 109. bevilaqua, s., device, 137. _bible des poetes_, 150. bibles: _english_, 13; _german_, 1472, 52; 1473 and 1477, 38; _c._ 1480, 52, 94; 1483, 53; lübeck, 1494, 67; _italian_, 94; _latin_, 42-line, 3, 5; 36-line, 7; 1462, 4, 9, 23, 25. _biblia pauperum_, pfister's, 26 _sq._ blastos, n., 137. boccaccio, g., _de claris mulieribus_, 47, 49; _decamerone_, 96. bodner, _edelstein_, 2. bonaventura, st., _deuote meditatione_, 91 _sq._ bonhomme, jacques, 146. bonhomme, macé, 170. brandis, l., 50-52. brant, sebastian, 64-67. breda, j. de, 203. brescia, 131. breydenbach, b. von, 57-60, 162. brocar, a. g., 217. brocar, j., 217. bruges, 196 _sq._ _buch der natur_, 41. _buch der vier historien_, 26 _sq._ _buch der weisheit_, 49. _buch von den sieben todsünden_, 41. buonaccorsi, f., 108, 122. burgkmair, h., 72, 74. caillaut, a., 164. calandro, p., _arithmetic_, 109. _calendario_, 1476, 32. caliergi, z. _see_ kaliergos. cambridge, 241. capcasa. _see_ codecha. capranica, d., _arte di ben morire_, 121. caxton, w., 12, 218-25. celtes, c., 68. centenera, a., 212 sq. cessolis, j. de, chess-book, _dutch_, 202; _english_, 220; _german_, 38; _italian_, 117 _sq._ chambéry, 144. _champfleury_, 167. chaucer, g., _canterbury tales_, caxton's, 221; pynson's, 227. _chroniques de france_, 161. codecha (or capcasa) m. di, 92, 94, 98 note. cole, h., 248. cologne, 52. colonna, f., 99. colophons, 22-25. columna, ægidius, _de regimine principum_, 35. _contrasti_, 128. conway, sir w. m., quoted, 195 _sqq._ _copilacion de leyes_, 1483, 212 _sq._ cousteau, g., 156. cranach, l., 76. cremer, h., 5. cremonese, p., 96. dance of death (danse macabre), 160, 169. dante, _divina commedia_, brescia, 1487, 95, 131; florence, 1481, 86; 1506, 131; venice, 1491, 96. day, j., 245 _sq._ delfft, 202, 206. deventer, 203. _dialogus creaturarum_, 197. dienecker, jost, 71. dinckmut, c., 49. dino, fran. di, 83. directors, 25. doesborch, jan van, 231, 242. dolea, c., 9. dorothea, s., _rappresentatione_, 128. dupré, galliot, 166. du pré, jean, 141, 145-48, 177, 179-83. durandus, _rationale_ (1459), 3, 4. dürer, a., 69 _sq._ egmont, f., 137, 225. _epistole ed evangelii_, 116. eustace, g., 192. faques, g. and r., 240. farfengo, b. da, 131. _fasciculus temporum_, cologneedd., 52; ratdolt's, 88; louvain and utrecht, 196. ferdinand ii., king of naples, 17. ferrara, 131. fichet, g., 14. _fifteen o'es_, 223, 226. _fior di virtú_, brescia, 131; florence, 120; venice, 93 _sq._ florence, 86, 108-31. fogel, j., 5. foresti, g. p., of bergamo, _supplementum chronicarum_, 64 note, 90. fox, john, _acts and monuments_ (book of martyrs), 246. _freydal_, 70, 72. frezzi, f., _quatriregio_, 122. furter, michael, 64, 67. gafori, f., 132. _game of chess._ _see_ cessolis, j. de. _gart der gesundheit_, 56. gérard, p., 147. gerlier, d., 163. giunta, l. a., 94, 98, 104. godard, g., 192. _golden legend._ _see_ voragine, j. de. gorgonzola, n., device, 136. gorricio, g., _contemplaciones sobre el rosario_, 214. gouda, 196-98, 203. graf, urs, 76 _sq._ granjon, r., 170. gregoriis, g. de, 96. grün, hans baldung, 76. grüninger, j., 67, 76. gryphius, f., 170. guillireti, s., 136. haarlem, 198-201. han, u., 79 _sq._ hardouyn, g., 191. harrington, sir j., _orlando furioso_ (1591), 248. headlines, 35. headpieces, 34. _historiarum veteris testamenti icones_, 169 _sqq._ holbein, a., 77. holbein, h., 77, 169, 243 _sqq._ holl, l., 49. hours, books of, 17, 174-94. hroswitha, 68. husz, m., 143. hyginus, _poetica astronomica_, 88 _sq._ _hypnerotomachia_, 99-103, 168. ingold, _das guldin spiel_, 38. jenson, n., 9, 11, 17. johann petri, 116. jornandes, _de rebus gothorum_, 72 note. josephus, _de la bataille judaique_, 149 _sq._ kaliergos, z., 104, 137. kerver, j., 103. kerver, t., 163, 191. ketham, j., _fascicolo de medicina_, 97. knoblochtzer, h., 53. knoblouch, j., 76. koberger, a., 53, 60. koelhoff, j., 35. l., french initial, 153-55. landino, c., 17, 86, 118. lavagna, p., 86. leeu, g., 197 _sqq._ le rouge, p., 148, 153, 158. le signerre, g., 132. lettou, j., 223. lieseveldt, a. van, 202. lignamine, j. p. de, 80, 82. lorenz, nicolaus, 86. louis ii., marquis of saluzzo, 134. louis, st., 134. louvain, 196. lübeck, 50, 67. _lucidario_ (1494), 119. lützelburger, hans, 169. lydgate, j., _falle of princes_, 146. lyndewode, w., _constitutiones_, 223. lyons, 142 _sqq._, 153, 160, 162, 168-72. machlinia, w. de, 33, 223. maillet, j., 153. mansion, c., 197. marchant, g., 146. martorel, t., _tirant lo blanch_, 213 _sq._ maximilian, emperor, 70-72. mazalis, f. de, 136. medici, l. de, 128. meer, jacob van der, 202. meidenbach, j., 56. menard, j., 156. _mer des hystoires_, 158. milan, 86, 132. _mirror of our lady_ (1530), 241. _mirror of the world_ (1480), 220. mischomini, a., 92, 112, 113, 118, 119, 121. more, sir t., 236 note. morgiani, lorenzo di, 107. morin, martin, 162. _morton missal_, 20, 225, 228. naples, 83. neumeister, j., 54, 144. neyret, a., 144. nider, j., _expositio decalogi_, 35. novara, b. di, 90. _novelle_, 128. nuremberg, 52 _sq._, 76. _nuremberg chronicle._ _see_ schedel. olpe, bergmann de, 64-67. os, g. van, 203, 206. os, p. van, 206. ovid, _metamorphoses_, bruges (1484), 197; lyons (1556), 170; paris, vérard (1493), 15, 150; venice (1497), 98. oxford, 223 _sq._, 241. pachel, l., 87. pacini, bernardo di, 121. pacini, piero di, 116, 122. pagination, 35. paris, 145-161. _paris et vienne_, 161. _passion of our lord jesu_, 230. pasti, matteo dei, 84. paulus florentinus, 87. petrarca, f., _de remediis utriusque fortunae_, 73; _trionfi_, 91 _sq._ petri, johann, 121. pfister, a., 26 _sqq._ pigouchet, a., 186 _sqq._ plantin, c., 172. politiano, angelo, 128. polono, stanislao, 214. presentation copies, 14 _sq._ printers' workshop, cuts of, 159 _sq._ prüss, johann, 53. ptolemy, _cosmographia_, 49. pulci, l., _morgante maggiore_, 122. pynson, richard, 227 _sqq._ quentel, h., 52. _rappresentazioni_, 124 _sqq._ rastell, j., 239, 241. ratdolt, erhard, 32, 44, 87-90. _rechtstreit des menschen mit dem tode_, 26. regnault, f., 192. reichenthal, ulrich von, _conciliumbuch_, 43. rennes, 143. riessinger, s., 82 _sq._ _robert the devil_, 235. rome, 79-83. rouen, 147, 162. _rudimentum noviciorum_, 50, 158. rupertus de sancto remigio, _türken-kreuzzüge_, 42. saint albans, book of, 223. saluzzo, 134. san pedro, diego di, _carcel d'amor_, 214 _sq._ santis, hier. de, 92. savonarola tracts, 110-16. schäufelein, h., 71, 74. schedel, h., _liber chronicarum_, 60-64. schenck, p., 143. schobsser, j., 43. schoeffer, p., 3-7, 25, 54, 57 _sq._ schönsperger, h., 44, 71. schott, m., 53. scinzenzeler, u., 87. scotus, oct., 90. sensenschmidt, j., 52. _seven wise masters of rome_, 201. seville, 216. sforza family, 18. simoneta, g., 17. snellaert, c., 203. sorg, a., 42. _speculum vitae christi_, caxton's, 222; de worde's, 225; pynson's, 228. stephan, p., _schatzbehalter_, 60. strassburg, 53, 76. strozzi family, 17. _supplementum chronicarum._ _see_ foresti. tailpieces, 35. _terence_, trechsel's, 162; _eunuchus_, 49, 51. theramo, jac. de. see _belial_. _theuerdank_, 71-73. _tirant lo blanch_, 213 _sq._ title-pages, first use of, 30-34. tory, g., 166 _sq._ tournes, j., de. 16, 168, 172. _trabajos de hercules_, 211, 216. trechsel, j., 162. trechsel, m., 169. trepperel, j., 161. turrecremata, cardinal, _meditationes_, 79 _sqq._ ulm, 45-50. ungut, m., 210, 217. utrecht, 196. valencia, 214, 216. valturius, _de re militari_, 84. veldener, j., 196, 204. vellum, use of, 8 _sq._, 16. venice, 87-106. vérard, antoine, 14-16, 146-158, 183-186. verona, 84 _sq._ _vespasian_, spanish romance of, 216. vienne, 144. villena, e. de. see _trabajos de hercules_. vivaldus, j. l., 134. voragine, jac. de, _legenda aurea_, english, 20, 221, 223, 225, 230; french, 150; german, 37. vostre, simon, 186. _weisskunig_, 70, 72. westphalia, johann de, 196, 203. wittenberg, 76. wohlgemuth, michael, 60, 68. worde, wynkyn de, 222, 225 _sqq._ zainer, günther, 35, 37 _sqq._ zainer, johann, 45 _sqq._ zamora, 211. zarotus, ant., 132. zinna, 74. zwolle, 202. _printed by_ morrison & gibb limited, _edinburgh_ * * * * * transcriber's note page 146: changed comma to period ( ... rather than a printer.) english book-illustration of to-day english book-illustration of to-day appreciations of the work of living english illustrators with lists of their books by r. e. d. sketchley with an introduction by alfred w. pollard [illustration] london kegan paul, trench, trübner and co., ltd. paternoster house, charing cross road, w.c. 1903 chiswick press: charles whittingham and co. tooks court, chancery lane, london. note. the four articles and bibliographies contained in this volume originally appeared in "the library." in connection with the bibliographies, i desire to express cordial thanks to the authorities and attendants of the british museum, without whose courtesy and aid, extending over many weeks, it would have been impossible to bring together the particulars. most of the artists, too, have kindly checked and supplemented the entries relating to their work, but even with the help given me i cannot hope to have produced exhaustive lists. my thanks are due to the publishers with whom arrangements have been made for the use of blocks. r. e. d. sketchley. contents. page note v introduction xi i. some decorative illustrators 1 ii. some open-air illustrators 30 iii. some character illustrators 56 iv. some children's-books illustrators 94 bibliographies. i. some decorative illustrators 121 ii. some open-air illustrators 132 iii. some character illustrators 144 iv. some children's books illustrators 158 index of artists 174 list of illustrations from page "les quinze joies de mariage" xii the "dialogus creaturarum" xiii a venetian chapbook xvii the "rappresentazione di un miracolo del corpo di gesù" xviii the "rappresentazione di s. cristina" xix "la nencia da barberino" xxi the "storia di ippolito buondelmonti e dianora bardi" xxii ingold's "guldin spiel" xxiv the malermi bible xxv a french book of hours xxvii from by "a farm in fairyland." _laurence housman_ xxx grimm's "household stories." _walter crane_ 5 "undine." _heywood sumner_ 7 "keats' poems." _r. anning bell_ 9 "stories and fairy tales." _a. j. gaskin_ 11 "the field of clover." _laurence housman_ 20 and 21 "cupide and psyches." _charles ricketts_ 22 "daphnis and chloe." _charles ricketts and c. h. shannon_ 23 "the centaur." _t. sturge moore_ 25 "royal edinburgh." _sir george reid_ facing 35 "the warwickshire avon." _alfred parsons_ 37 "the cinque ports." _william hyde_ 42 "italian journeys." _joseph pennell_ facing 45 "the holyhead road." _c. g. harper_ 49 "the formal garden." _f. inigo thomas_ 51 "the natural history of selborne." _e. h. new_ 53 "british deer and their horns." _j. g. millais_ 55 "death and the ploughman's wife." _william strang_ 61 "the bride of lammermoor." _fred pegram_ 71 "shirley." _f. h. townsend_ 73 "the heart of midlothian." _claude a. shepperson_ 75 "the school for scandal." _e. j. sullivan_ 78 "the ballad of beau brocade." _hugh thomson_ 82 "the essays of elia." _c. e. brock_ 85 "the talk of the town." _sir harry furniss_ 89 "hermy." _lewis baumer_ 100 "to tell the king the sky is falling." _alice b. woodward_ 105 "fairy tales of the brothers grimm." _arthur rackham_ 109 "indian fairy tales." _j. d. batten_ 111 "the pink fairy book." _h. j. ford_ 113 "fairy tales by q." _h. r. millar_ 115 introduction. some present-day lessons from old woodcuts. by alfred w. pollard. some explanation seems needed for the intrusion of a talk about the woodcuts of the fifteenth century into a book dealing with the work of the illustrators of our own day, and the explanation, though no doubt discreditable, is simple enough. it was to a mere bibliographer that the idea occurred that lists of contemporary illustrated books, with estimates of the work found in them, might form a useful record of the state of english book-illustration at the end of a century in which for the first time (if we stretch the century a little so as to include bewick) it had competed on equal terms with the work of foreign artists. fortunately the bibliographer's scanty leisure was already heavily mortgaged, and so the idea was transferred to a special student of the subject, much better equipped for the task. but partly for the pleasure of keeping a finger in an interesting pie, partly because there was a fine hobby-horse waiting to be mounted, the bibliographer bargained that he should be allowed to write an introduction in which his hobby should have free play, and the reader, who has got a much better book than he was intended to have, must acquiesce in this meddling, or resort to his natural rights and skip. [illustration: from 'les quinze joies de mariage,' paris, treperel, c. 1500.] it is well to ride a hobby with at least a semblance of moderation, and the thesis which this introduction is written to maintain does not assert that the woodcuts of the fifteenth century are better than the illustrations of the present day, only that our modern artists, if they will condescend, may learn some useful lessons from them. at the outset it may frankly be owned that the range of the earliest illustrators was limited. they had no landscape art, no such out-of-door illustrations as those which furnish the subject for one of miss sketchley's most interesting chapters. again, they had little humour, at least of the voluntary kind, though this was hardly their own fault, for as the admission is made the thought at once follows it that of all the many deficiencies of fifteenth-century literature the lack of humour is one of the most striking. the rough horseplay of the life of aesop prefixed to editions of the fables can hardly be counted an exception; the wit combats of solomon and marcolphus produced no more than a title-cut showing king and clown, and outside the 'dialogus creaturarum' i can think of only a single valid exception, itself rather satirical than funny, this curious picture of a family on the move from a french treatise on the joys of marriage. on the 'dialogus' itself it seems fair to lay some stress, for surely the picture here shown of the lion and the hare who applied for the post of his secretary may well encourage us to believe that in two other departments of illustration from which also they were shut out, those of caricature (for which we must go back to thirteenth-century prayer-books) and christmas books for children, the fifteenth-century artist would have made no mean mark. it is, indeed, our children's gift-books that come nearest both to his feeling and his style. [illustration: from the 'dialogus creaturarum.' gouda, 1480.] what remains for us here to consider is the achievement of the early designers and woodcutters in the field of decorative and character illustrations with which miss sketchley deals in her first and third chapters. here the first point to be made is that by an invention of the last twenty years they are brought nearer to the possible work of our own day than to that of any previous time. it has been often enough pointed out that, not from preference, but from inability to devise any better plan, the art of woodcut illustration began on wholly wrong lines. starting, as was inevitable, from the colour-work of illuminated manuscripts, the illustrators could think of no other means of simplification than the reduction of pictures to their outlines. with a piece of plank cut, not across the grain of the wood, but with it, as his material, and a sharp knife and, perhaps, a gouge as his only tools, the woodcutter had to reproduce these outlines as best he could, and it is little to be wondered at if his lines were often scratchy and angular, and many a good design was deplorably ill handled. after a time, soft metal, presumably pewter, was used as an alternative to wood, and perhaps, though probably slower, was a little easier to work successfully. but save in some florentine pictures and a few designs by geoffroy tory, the craftsman's work was not to cut the lines which the artist had drawn, but to cut away everything else. this inverted method of work continued after the invention of crosshatching to represent shading, and was undoubtedly the cause of the rapid supersession of woodcuts by copper engravings during the sixteenth century, the more natural method of work compensating for the trouble caused when the illustrations no longer stood in relief like the type, but had to be printed as incised plates, either on separate leaves, or by passing the sheet through a different press. the eighteenth-century invention of wood-engraving as opposed to woodcutting once again caused pictures and text to be printed together, and the amazing dexterity of successive schools of wood-engravers enabled them to produce, though at the cost of immense labour, work which seemed to compete on equal terms with engravings on copper. at its best the wood-engraving of the nineteenth century was almost miraculously good; at its worst, in the wood-engravings of commerce--the wood-engravings of the weekly papers, for which the artist's drawing might come in on a tuesday, to be cut up into little squares and worked on all night as well as all day, in the engravers' shops--it was unequivocally and deplorably, but hardly surprisingly, bad. upon this strange medley of the miraculously good and the excusably horrid came the invention of the process line-block, and the problem which had baffled so many fifteenth-century woodcutters, of how to preserve the beauty of simple outlines was solved at a single stroke. have our modern artists made anything like adequate use of this excellent invention? my own answer would be that they have used it, skilfully enough, to save themselves trouble, but that its artistic possibilities have been allowed to remain almost unexplored. as for the trouble-saving--and trouble-saving is not only legitimate but commendable--the photographer's camera is the most obliging of craftsmen. only leave your work fairly open and you may draw on as large a scale and with as coarse lines as you please, and the camera will photograph it down for you to the exact space the illustration has to fill and will win you undeserved credit for delicacy and fineness of touch as well. thus to save trouble is well, but to produce beautiful work is better, and what use has been made of the fidelity with which beautiful and gracious line can now be reproduced? the caricaturists, it is true, have seen their opportunity. cleverness could hardly be carried further than it is by mr. phil may, and a caricaturist of another sort, the late mr. aubrey beardsley, degenerate and despicable as was almost every figure he drew, yet saw and used the possibilities which artists of happier temperament have neglected. with all the disadvantages under which they laboured in the reproduction of fine line the craftsmen of venice and florence essayed and achieved more than this. witness the fine rendering into pure line of a picture by gentile bellini of a tall preacher preceded by his little crossbearer in the 'doctrina' of lorenzo giustiniano printed at venice in 1494, or again the impressiveness, surviving even its little touch of the grotesque, of this armed warrior kneeling at the feet of a pope, which i have unearthed from a favourite volume of venetian chapbooks at the british museum. a florentine picture of jacopone da todi on his knees before a vision of the blessed virgin (from bonacorsi's edition of his 'laude,' 1490) gives another instance of what can be done by simple line in a different style. we have yet other examples in many of the illustrations to the famous romance, the 'hypnerotomachia poliphili,' printed at venice in 1499. of similar cuts on a much smaller scale, a specimen will be given later. here, lest anyone should despise these fifteenth-century efforts, i would once more recall the fact that at the time they were made the execution of such woodcuts required the greatest possible dexterity, in cutting away on each side so as to leave the line as the artist drew it with any semblance of its original grace. in many illustrated books which have come down to us what must have been beautiful designs have been completely spoilt, rendered even grotesque, by the fine curves of the drawing being translated into scratchy angularities. but draw he never so finely no artist nowadays need fear that his work will be made scratchy or angular by photographic process. it is only when he crowds lines together, from inability to work simply, that the process block aggravates his defects. [illustration: la lega facta nouamente a morte e destructione de li franzosi & suoí seguaci. venice. c. 1500.] [illustration: from the rappresentazione di un miracolo del corpo di gesù, 1572. jac. chiti.] [illustration: from the rappresentazione di s. cristina, 1555.] i pass on to another point as to which i think the florentine woodcutters have something to teach us. if we put pictures into our books, why should not the pictures be framed? a hard single line round the edge of a woodcut is a poor set-off to it, often conflicting with the lines in the picture itself, and sometimes insufficiently emphatic as a frame to make us acquiesce in what seems a mere cutting away a portion from a larger whole. our florentine friends knew better. here (pp. xiv-xv), for instance, are two scenes, from some unidentified romance, which in 1572 and 1555 respectively (by which time they must have been about fifty and sixty years old) appeared in florentine religious chapbooks, with which they have nothing to do. the little borders are simple enough, but they are sufficiently heavy to carry off the blacks which the artist (according to what is the true method of woodcutting) has left in his picture, and we are much less inclined to grumble at the window being cut in two than we should be if the cut were made by a simple line instead of quite firmly and with determination by a frame. [illustration: from lorenzo de' medici's la nencia da barberino, s.a.] i have given these two florentine cuts, much the worse for wear though they be, with peculiar pleasure, because i take them to be the exact equivalents of the pictures in our illustrated novels of the present day of which miss sketchley gives several examples in her third paper. they are good examples of what may be called the diffused characterization in which our modern illustrators excel. every single figure is good and has its own individuality, but there is no attempt to illustrate a central character at a decisive moment. decisive moments, it may be objected, do not occur (except for epicures) at polite dinner parties, or during the 'mauvais quart d'heure,' which might very well be the subject of our first picture. but it seems to me that modern illustrators often deliberately shun decisive moments, preferring to illustrate their characters in more ordinary moods, and perhaps the florentines did this also. where the illustrator is not a great artist the discretion is no doubt a wise one. what for instance could be more charming, more completely successful than this little picture of a messenger bringing a lady a flower, no doubt with a pleasing message with it? in our next cut the artist has been much more ambitious. preceded by soldiers with their long spears, followed by the hideously masked 'battuti' who ministered to the condemned, ippolito is being led to execution. as he passes her door, dianora flings herself on him in a last embrace. the lady's attitude is good, but the woodcutter, alas, has made the lover look merely bored. in book-illustration, as in life, who would avoid failure must know his limitations. [illustration: from the storia di ippolito buondelmonti e dianora bardi, s.a.] whatever shortcomings these florentine pictures may have in themselves, or whatever they may lose when examined by eyes only accustomed to modern work, i hope that it will be conceded that as character-illustrations they are far from being despicable. nevertheless the true home of character-illustration in the fifteenth century was rather in germany than in italy. inferior to the italian craftsmen in delicacy and in producing a general impression of grace (partly, perhaps, because their work was intended to be printed in conjunction with far heavier type) the german artists and woodcutters often showed extraordinary power in rendering facial expression. my favourite example of this is a little picture from the 'de claris mulieribus' of boccaccio printed at ulm in 1473, on one side of which the roman general scipio is shown with uplifted finger bidding the craven massinissa put away his carthaginian wife, while on the other sophonisba is watched by a horror-stricken messenger as she drains the poison her husband sends her. but there is a naïveté about the figure of scipio which has frequently provoked laughter from audiences at lantern-lectures, so my readers must look up this illustration for themselves at the british museum, or elsewhere. i fall back on a picture of a card-party from a 'guldin spiel' printed at augsburg in 1472, in which the hesitation of the woman whose turn it is to play, the rather supercilious interest of her vis-à-vis, and the calm confidence of the third hand, not only ready to play his best, but sure that his best will be good enough, are all shown with absolute simplicity, but in a really masterly manner. facial expression such as this in modern work seems entirely confined to children's books and caricature, but one would sacrifice a good deal of our modern prettiness for a few more touches of it. [illustration: from ingold's 'guldin spiel.' augsburg, 1472.] the last point to which i would draw attention is that a good deal more use might be made of quite small illustrations. the full-pagers are, no doubt, impressive and dignified, but i always seem to see written on the back of them the artist's contract to supply so many drawings of such and such size at so many guineas apiece, and to hear him groaning as he runs through his text trying to pick out the full complement of subjects. the little sketch is more popular in france than in england, and there is a suggestion of joyous freedom about it which is very captivating. such small pictures did not suit the rather heavy touch of the german woodcutters; in italy they were much more popular. at venice a whole series of large folio books were illustrated in this way in the last decade of the fifteenth century, two editions of malermi's translation of the bible, lives of the saints, an italian livy, the decamerone of boccaccio, the novels of masuccio, and other works, all in the vernacular. at ferrara, under venetian influence, an edition of the epistles of s. jerome was printed in 1497, with upwards of one hundred and eighty such little cuts, many of them illustrating incidents of monastic life. both at venice and ferrara the cuts are mainly in outline, and when they are well cut and two or three come together on a page the effect is delightful. in france the vogue of the small cut took a very special form. by far the most famous series of early french illustrated books is that of the hours of the blessed virgin (with which went other devotions, making fairly complete prayer-books for lay use), which were at their best for some fifteen years reckoning from 1488. these hour-books usually contained some fifteen large illustrations, but their most notable features are to be found in the borders which surround every page. on the outer and lower margins these borders are as a rule about an inch broad, sometimes more, so that they can hold four or five little pictures of about an inch by an inch and a half on the outer margin, and one rather larger one at the foot of the page. the variety of the pictures designed to fill these spaces is almost endless. figures of the saints and their emblems and illustrations of the games or occupations suited to each month fill the margins of the calendar. to surround the text of the book there is a long series of pictures of incidents in the life of christ, with parallel scenes from the old testament, scenes from the lives of joseph and job, representations of the virtues, the deadly sins being overcome by the contrary graces, the dance of death, and for pleasant relief woodland and pastoral scenes and even grotesques. the popularity of these prayer-books was enormous, new editions being printed almost every month, with the result that the illustrations were soon worn out and had frequently to be replaced. i have often wished, if only for the sake of small children in sermon time, that our english prayer-books could be similarly illustrated. an attempt to do this was made in the middle of the last century, but it was pretentious and unsuccessful. the great difficulty in the way of a new essay lies in the popularity of very small prayer-books, with so little margin and printed on such thin paper as hardly to admit of border cuts. the difficulty is real, but should not be insuperable, and i hope that some bold illustrator may soon try his hand afresh. [illustration: from the malermi bible. venice, giunta, 1490.] [illustration: from a french book of hours. paris, kerver, 1498.] i should not be candid if i closed this paper without admitting that my fifteenth-century friends anticipated modern publishers in one of their worst faults, the dragging in illustrations where they are not wanted. in the fifteenth century the same cuts were repeated over and over again in the same book to serve for different subjects. modern publishers are not so simple-hearted as this, but they add to the cost of their books by unpleasant half-tone reproductions of unnecessary portraits and views, and i do not think that book-buyers are in the least grateful to them. miss sketchley, i am glad to see, has not concerned herself with illustrators whose designs require to be produced by the half-tone process. to condemn this process unreservedly would be absurd. it gives us illustrations which are really needed for the understanding of the text when they could hardly be produced in any other way, and while it does this it must be tolerated. but by necessitating the use of heavily-loaded paper--unpleasant to the touch, heavy in the hand, doomed, unless all the chemists are wrong, speedily to rot--it is the greatest danger to the excellence of our english book-work which has at present to be faced, while by wearying readers with endless mechanically produced pictures it is injurious also to the best interests of artistic illustration. [illustration: from mr. housman's "a farm in fairyland." by leave of messrs. kegan paul.] english book-illustration of to-day. i. some decorative illustrators. of the famous 'poems by alfred tennyson,' published in 1857 by edward moxon, mr. gleeson white wrote in 1897: 'the whole modern school of decorative illustrators regard it, rightly enough, as the genesis of the modern movement.' the statement may need some modification to touch exact truth, for the 'modern movement' is no single-file, straightforward movement. 'kelmscott,' 'japan,' the 'yellow book,' black-and-white art in germany, in france, in spain, in america, the influence of blake, the style of artists such as walter crane, have affected the present form of decorative book-illustration. such perfect unanimity of opinion as is here ascribed to a large and rather indefinitely related body of men hardly exists among even the smallest and most derided body of artists. still, allowing for the impossibility of telling the whole truth about any modern and eclectic form of art in one sentence, there is here a statement of fact. what rossetti and millais and holman hunt achieved in the drawings to the 'tennyson' of 1857, was a vital change in the intention of english illustrative art, and whatever form decorative illustration may assume, their ideal is effective while a personal interpretation of the spirit of the text is the creative impulse. the influence of technical mastery is strong and enduring enough. it is constantly in sight and constantly in mind. but it is in discovering and making evident a principle in art that the influence of spirit on spirit becomes one of the illimitable powers. to rossetti the illustration of literature meant giving beautiful form to the expression of delight, of penetration, that had kindled his imagination as he read. he illustrated the 'palace of art' in the spirit that stirred him to rhythmic translation into words of the still music in giorgione's 'pastoral,' or of the unpassing movement of mantegna's 'parnassus.' not the words of the text, nor those things precisely affirmed by the writer, but the spell of significance and of beauty that held his mind to the exclusion of other images, gave him inspiration for his drawings. as mr. william michael rossetti says: 'he drew just what he chose, taking from his author's text nothing more than a hint and an opportunity.' it is said, indeed, that tennyson could never see what the st. cecily drawing had to do with his poem. and that is strange enough to be true. it is clear that such an ideal of illustration is for the attainment of a few only. the ordinary illustrator, making drawings for cheap reproduction in the ordinary book, can no more work in this mood than the journalist can model his style on the prose of milton. but journalism is not literature, and pictured matter-of-fact is not illustration, though it is convenient and customary to call it so. however, here one need not consider this, for the decorative illustrator has usually literature to illustrate, and a commission to be beautiful and imaginative in his work. he has the opportunity of rossetti, the opportunity for significant art. the 'classics' and children's books give greatest opportunity to decorative illustrators. those who have illustrated children's books chiefly, or whose best work has been for the playful classics of literature, it is convenient to consider in a separate chapter, though there are instances where the division is not maintainable: walter crane, for example, whose influence on a school of decorative design makes his position at the head of his following imperative. representing the 'architectural' sense in the decoration of books, many years before the supreme achievements of william morris added that ideal to generally recognized motives of book-decoration, walter crane is the precursor of a large and prolific school of decorative illustrators. many factors, as he himself tells, have gone to the shaping of his art. born in 1846 at liverpool, he came to london in 1857, and there after two years was 'apprenticed' to mr. w. j. linton, the well-known wood-engraver. his work began with 'the sixties,' in contact with the enthusiasm and inspiration those years brought into english art. the illustrated 'tennyson,' and ruskin's 'elements of drawing,' were in his thoughts before he entered mr. linton's workshop, and the 'once a week' school had a strong influence on his early contributions to 'good words,' 'once a week,' and other famous magazines. in 1865 messrs. warne published the first toy-book, and by 1869-70 the 'walter crane toy-book' was a fact in art. the sight of some japanese colour-prints during these years suggested a finer decorative quality to be obtained with tint and outline, and in the use of black, as well as in a more delicate simplicity of colour, the later toy-books show the first effect of japanese art on the decorative art of england. italian art in england and italy, the prints of dürer, the parthenon sculptures, these were influences that affected him strongly. 'the baby's opera' (1877) and 'the baby's bouquet' (1879) are classics almost impossible to criticise, classics familiar from cover to cover before one was aware of any art but the art on their pages. so that if these delightful designs seem less expressive of the greece, germany, and italy of the supreme artists than of the 'crane' countries by whose coasts ships 'from over the sea' go sailing by with strange cargoes and strange crews, it is not in their dispraise. as a decorative draughtsman mr. crane is at his best when the use of colour gives clearness to the composition, but some of his most 'serious' work is in the black-and-white pages of 'the sirens three,' of 'the shepheardes calendar,' and especially of 'the faerie queene.' the number of books he has illustrated--upwards of seventy--makes a detailed account impossible. nursery rhyme and fairy books, children's stories, spenser, shakespeare, the myths of greece, 'pageant books' such as 'flora's feast' or 'queen summer,' or the just published 'masque of days,' his own writings, serious or gay, have given him subjects, as the great art of all times has touched the ideals of his art. [illustration: from mr. walter crane's 'grimm's household stories.' by leave of messrs. macmillan.] but whatever the subject, how strong soever his artistic admirations, he is always walter crane, unmistakable at a glance. knights and ladies, fairies and fairy people, allegorical figures, nursery and school-room children, fulfil his decorative purpose without swerving, though not always without injury to their comfort and freedom and the life in their limbs. an individual apprehension that sees every situation as a conventional 'arrangement' is occasionally beside the mark in rendering real life. but when his theme touches imagination, and is not a supreme expression of it--for then, as in the illustrations to 'the faerie queene,' an unusual sense of subservience appears to dull his spirit--his humorous fancy knows no weariness nor sameness of device. the work of most of mr. crane's followers belongs to 'the nineties,' when the 'arts and crafts' movement, the 'century guild,' the birmingham and other schools had attracted or produced artists working according to the canons of kelmscott. mr. heywood sumner was earlier in the field. the drawings to 'sintram' (1883) and to 'undine' (1888) show his art as an illustrator. undine--spirit of wind and water, flower-like in gladness--seeking to win an immortal soul by submission to the forms of life, is realized in the gracefully designed figures of frontispiece and title-page. where mr. sumner illustrates incident he is 'factual' without being matter-of-fact. the small drawing reproduced is hardly representative of his art, but most of his work is adapted to a squarer page than this, and has had to be rejected on that account. some of the most apt decorations in 'the english illustrated' were by mr. sumner, and during the time when art was represented in the magazine mr. ryland and mr. louis davis were also frequent contributors. the graceful figures of mr. ryland, uninterested in activity, a garden-world set with statues around them, and the carol-like grace of mr. davis's designs in that magazine, represent them better than the one or two books they have illustrated. [illustration: from mr. heywood sumner's 'undine.' by leave of messrs. chapman and hall.] among those associated with the 'arts and crafts' who have given more of their art to book-decoration, mr. anning bell is first. he has gained the approval even of the most exigent of critics as an artist who understands drawing for process. since 1895, when the 'midsummer night's dream' appeared, his winning art has been praised with discrimination and without discrimination, but always praised. trained in an architect's office, widely known as the recreator of coloured relief for architectural decoration, mr. anning bell's illustrations show constructive power no less than that fairy gift of seeming to improvise without labour and without hesitancy, which is one of its especial charms. in feeling, and in many of his decorative forms, his drawings recall the art of florentine bas-relief, when agostino di duccio, or rossellino or mino da fiesole, created shapes of delicate sweetness, pure, graceful--so graceful that their power is hardly realized. the fairy by-play of the 'midsummer night's dream' is exactly to mr. anning bell's fancy. he knows better than to go about to expound this dream, and it is not likely that a more delightful edition will ever be put into the hands of children, or of anyone, than this in the white and gold cover devised by the artist. of his illustrations to the 'poems by john keats' (1897), and to the 'english lyrics from spenser to milton' of the following year--as illustrations--not quite so much can be said, distinguished and felicitous as many of them are. the simple profile, the demure type of beauty that he affects, hardly suit with isabella when she hears that lorenzo has gone from her, with lamia by the clear pool "wherein she passionëd to see herself escaped from so sore ills," or with madeline, 'st. agnes' charmëd maid.' mr. anning bell's drawings to 'the pilgrim's progress' (1898) reveal him in a different mood, as do those in 'the christian year' of three years earlier. his vision is hardly energetic enough, his energy of belief sufficient, to make him a strong illustrator of bunyan, with his many moods, his great mood. a little these designs suggest howard pyle, and anning bell is better in a way of beauty not gothic. [illustration: from mr. anning bell's 'keats.' by leave of messrs. george bell.] so if mr. anning bell represents the 'arts and crafts' movement in the variety of decorative arts he has practised, and in the architectural sense underlying all his art, his work does not agree with the form in which the influence of william morris on decorative illustration has chiefly shown itself. that form, of course, is gothic, as the ideal of kelmscott was gothic. the work of the 'century guild' artists as decorative illustrators is chiefly in the pages of 'the hobby horse.' mr. selwyn image and mr. herbert horne can hardly be included among book illustrators, so in this connection one may not stop to consider the decorative strength of their ideal in art. the birmingham school represents gothic ideals with determination and rigidity. morris addressed the students of the school and prefaced the edition of 'good king wenceslas,' decorated and engraved and printed by mr. a. j. gaskin 'at the press of the guild of handicraft in the city of birmingham,' with cordial words of appreciation for the pictures. these illustrations are among the best mr. gaskin has done. the commission for twelve full-page drawings to 'the shepheardes calendar' (kelmscott press, 1896) marks morris's pleasure in mr. gaskin's work--especially in the illustrations to andersen's 'stories and fairy tales.' if not quite in tune with spenser's elizabethan idyllism, these drawings are distinctive of the definite convictions of the artist. [illustration: from mr. gaskin's 'hans andersen.' by leave of mr. george allen.] these convictions represent a splendid tradition. they are expressive, in their regard for the unity of the page, for harmony between type and decoration, of the universal truth in all fine bookmaking. only at times, birmingham work seems rather heavy in spirit, rather too rigid for development. still, judging by results, a code that would appear to be against individual expression is inspiring individual artists. some of these--as mr. e. h. new--have turned their attention to architectural and 'open-air' illustration, in which connection their work will be considered, and many have illustrated children's books. their quaint and naïve fancy has there, at times, produced a portentous embodiment of the 'old-fashioned' child of fiction. mr. gere, though he has done little book-illustration, is one of the strongest artists of the school. his original wood engravings show unmistakably his decorative power and his craftsmanship. with mr. k. fairfax muckley he was responsible for 'the quest' (1894-96). mr. fairfax muckley has illustrated and decorated a three-volume edition of 'the faerie queene' (1897), wherein the forest branches and winding ways of woodland and of plain are more happily conventionalized than are spenser's figures. some of the headpieces are especially successful. the artist uses the 'mixed convention' of solid black and line with less confusion than many modern draughtsmen. once its dangers must have been evident, but now the puzzle pattern, with solid blacks in the foreground, background, and mid-distance--only there is no distance in these drawings--is a common form of black and white. miss celia levetus, mr. henry payne, mr. f. mason, and mr. bernard sleigh, are also to the credit of the school. miss levetus, in her later work, shows that an inclination towards a more flexible style is not incompatible with the training in gothic convention. mr. mason's illustrations to ancient romances of chivalry give evidence of conscientious craftsmanship, and of a spirit sympathetic to themes such as 'renaud of montauban.' mr. bernard sleigh's original wood-engravings are well known and justly appreciated. strong in tradition and logic as is the work of these designers, it is, for many, too consistent with convention to be delightful. perhaps the best result of the birmingham school will hardly be achieved until the formal effect of its training is less patent. the 'sixties' might have been void of art, so far as these designers are concerned, save that in those days morris and burne-jones and walter crane, as well as millais and houghton and sandys, were about their work. far other is the case with artists such as mr. byam shaw, or with the many draughtsmen, including messrs. p. v. woodroffe, henry ospovat, philip connard, and herbert cole, whose art derives its form and intention from the sixties. differing in technical power and fineness of invention, in all that distinguishes good from less good, they have this in common--that the form of their art would have been quite other if the illustrated books of that period were among things unseen. mr. byam shaw began his work as an illustrator in 1897 with a volume of 'browning's poems,' edited by dr. garnett. he proved himself in these drawings, as in his pictures and later illustrations, an artist with a definite memory for the forms, and a genuine sympathy with the aims of pre-raphaelite art. evidently, too, he admires the black-and-white of mr. abbey. he has the gift of dramatic conception, sees a situation at high pitch, and has a pleasant way of giving side-lights, pictorial asides, by means of decorative head and tailpieces. his illustrations to the little green and gold volumes of the 'chiswick shakespeare' are more emphatic than his earlier work, and in the decorations his power of summarizing the chief motive is put to good use. there is no need of his signature to distinguish the work of byam shaw, though he shows himself under the influence of various masters. probably he is only an illustrator of books by the way, but in the meantime, as the 'boccaccio,' 'browning,' and 'shakespeare' drawings show, he works in black and white with vigorous intention. mr. ospovat's illustrations to 'shakespeare's sonnets' and to 'matthew arnold's poems' are interesting, if not very markedly his own. he illustrates the sonnets as a celebration of a poet's passion for his mistress. as in these, so in the matthew arnold drawings, he shows some genuine creative power and an aptitude for illustrative decoration. mr. philip connard has made spirited and well-realized illustrations in somewhat the same kind; miss amelia bauerle, and mr. bulcock, who began by illustrating 'the blessed damozel' in memory of rossetti, have made appearance in the 'flowers of parnassus' series, and mr. herbert cole, with three of these little green volumes, prepared one for more important work in 'gulliver's travels' (1900). the work of mr. woodroffe was, i think, first seen in the 'quarto'--the organ of the slade school--where also mr. a. garth jones, mr. cyril goldie, and mr. robert spence, gave unmistakable evidence of individuality. mr. woodroffe's wood-engravings in the 'quarto' showed strength, which is apparent, too, in the delicately characterized figures to 'songs from shakespeare's plays' (1898), with their borders of lightly-strung field flowers. his drawings to 'the confessions of s. augustine,' engraved by miss clemence housman, are in keeping with the text, not impertinent. mr. a. garth jones in the 'quarto' seemed much influenced by japanese grotesques; but in illustrations to milton's 'minor poems' (1898) he has shown development towards the expression of beauty more austere, classical, controlled to the presentment of milton's high thought. his recent 'essays of elia' remind one of the forcible work of mr. e. j. sullivan in 'sartor resartus.' mr. sullivan's 'sartor' and 'dream of fair women' must be mentioned. his mastery over an assertive use of line and solid black, the unity of his effects, the humour and imagination of his decorative designs, are not likely to be forgotten, though the balance of his work in illustrations to sheridan, marryat, sir walter scott, obliges one to class him with "character" illustrators, and so to leave a blank in this article. mr. laurence housman stands alone among modern illustrators, though one may, if one will, speak of him as representing the succession of the sixties, or as connected with the group of artists whose noteworthy development dates from the publication of 'the dial' by charles ricketts and charles shannon in 1889. to look at mr. housman's art in either connection, or to record the effect of dürer, of blake, of edward calvert, on his technique, is only to come back to appreciation of all that is his own. as an illustrator he has hardly surpassed the spirit of the 'forty-four designs, drawn and written by laurence housman,' that express his idea of george meredith's 'jump to glory jane' (1890). these designs were the result of the appreciation which the editor, mr. harry quilter, felt for mr. housman's drawings to 'the green gaffer' in 'the universal review.' jane--the village woman with 'wistful eyes in a touching but bony face,' leaping with countenance composed, arms and feet 'like those who hang,' leaping in crude expression of the unity of soul and body, making her converts, failing to move the bishop, dying at last, though not ingloriously, by the wayside--this most difficult conception has no 'burlesque outline' in mr. housman's work, inexperienced and unacademic as is the drawing. 'weird tales from northern seas,' by jonas lie, was the next book illustrated by mr. housman. christina rossetti's 'goblin market' (1893), offered greater scope for freakish imagination than did 'jane.' the goblins, pale-eyed, mole and rat and weasel-faced; the sisters, whose simple life they surround with hideous fantasy, are realized in harmony with the unique effect of the poem--an effect of simplicity, of naïve imagination, of power, of things stranger than are told in the cry of the goblin merchants, as at evening time they invade quiet places to traffic with their evil fruits for the souls of maidens. the frail-bodied elves of 'the end of elfin town,' moving and sleeping among the white mushrooms and slender stalks of field flowers, are of another land than that of the goblin merchant-folk. illustrations to 'the imitation of christ,' to 'the sensitive plant,' and drawings to 'the were-wolf,' by miss clemence housman, complete the list of mr. housman's illustrations to writings not his own, with the exception of frontispiece drawings to several books. [illustration: mercury god of merchandise look on with favourable eyes by leave of messrs. kegan paul.] to explain mr. housman's vision of 'the sensitive plant' would be as superfluous as it would be ineffectual. in a note on the illustrations he has told how the formal beauty, the exquisite ministrations, the sounds and fragrance and sweet winds of the garden enclosed, seem to him as 'a form of beauty that springs out of modes and fashions,' too graceful to endure. in his pictures he has realized the perfect ensemble of the garden, its sunny lawns and rose-trellises, its fountains, statues, and flower-sweet ways; realized, too, the spirit of the sensitive plant, the lady of the garden, and pan, the great god who never dies, who waits only without the garden, till in a little while he enters, 'effacing and replacing with his own image and superscription, the parenthetic grace ... of the garden deity.' of a talent that treats always of enchanted places, where 'reality' is a long day's journey down a dusty road, it is difficult to speak without suggesting that it is all just a charming dalliance with pretty fancies, lacking strength. of the strength of mr. housman's imagination, however, his work speaks. his illustrations to his own writings, fairy tales, and poems, cannot with any force be discussed by themselves. the words belong to the pictures, the pictures to the words. the drawings to 'the field of clover' are seen to full advantage in the wood-engravings of miss housman. only so, or in reproduction by photogravure, is the full intention of mr. housman's pen-drawings apparent. [illustration: the field of clover by laurence housman, engraved by clemence housman be kindly to the weary drover & pipe the sheep into the clover by leave of messrs. kegan paul.] one may group the names of charles ricketts, c. h. shannon, t. sturge moore, lucien pissarro, and reginald savage together in memory of 'the dial,' where the activity of five original artists first became evident, though, save in the case of mr. ricketts and mr. shannon, no continuance of the classification is possible. the first number of 'the dial' (1889) had a cover design cut on wood by mr. c. h. shannon--afterwards replaced by the design of mr. ricketts. twelve designs by mr. ricketts may be said to represent the transitional--or a transitional--phase of his art, from the earlier work in magazines, which he disregards, to the reticent expression of 'vale press' illustrations. in 1891 the first book decorated by these artists appeared, 'the house of pomegranates,' by oscar wilde. there was, however, nothing in this book to suggest the form their joint talent was to take. many delightful designs by mr. ricketts, somewhat marred by heaviness of line, and full-page illustrations by mr. shannon, printed in an almost invisible, nondescript colour, contained no suggestion of 'daphnis and chloe.' the second 'dial'(1892) contained mr. ricketts' first work as his own wood-engraver, and in the following year the result of eleven months' joint work by mr. ricketts and mr. shannon was shown in the publication of 'daphnis and chloe,' with thirty-seven woodcuts by the artists. fifteen of the pictures were sketched by mr. shannon and revised and drawn on the wood by mr. ricketts, who also engraved the initials. it is a complete achievement of individuality subordinated to an ideal. here and there one can affirm that mr. shannon drew this figure, composed this scene, mr. ricketts that; but generally the hand is not to be known. the ideal of their inspiration--the immortal 'hypnerotomachia'--seems equally theirs, equally potent over their individuality. speaking with diffidence, it would seem as though mr. shannon's idea of the idyll were more naïve and humorous. incidents beside the main theme of the pastoral loves of young daphnis and chloe--the household animals, other shepherds--are touched with humorous intent. mr. ricketts shows more suavity, and, as in the charming double-page design of the marriage feast, a more lyrical realization of delight and shepherd joys. the 'hero and leander' of 1894 is a less elaborate, and, on the whole, a finer production. i must speak of the illustrations only, lest consideration of vale press publications should fill the remaining space at my disposal. obviously the attenuated type of these figures shows mr. ricketts' ideal of the human form as a decoration for a page of type. the severe reticence he imposes on himself is in order to maintain the balance between illustrations and text. one has only to turn to illustrations to lord de tabley's 'poems,' published in 1893, to see with what eager imagination he realizes a subject, how strong a gift he has for dramatic expression. that a more persuasive beauty of form was once his wont, much of his early and transitional work attests. but i do not think his power to achieve beauty need be defended. after the publication of 'hero and leander,' mr. shannon practically ceased wood-engraving for the illustration of books, though, as the series of roundel designs in the recent exhibition of his work proved, he has not abandoned nor ceased to go forward in the art. [illustration: from mr. ricketts' 'cupide and psyches.' reproduced by his permission.] [illustration: of the apparition of the three nymphs to daphnis in a dream. from messrs. ricketts and shannon's 'daphnis and chloe.' (mathews and lane.) reproduced by their leave and the publishers'.] 'the sphinx,' a poem by oscar wilde, 'built, decorated and bound' by mr. ricketts--but without woodcuts--was published in 1894, just after 'hero and leander,' and designs for a magnificent edition of 'the king's quhair' were begun. some of these are in 'the dial,' as are also designs for william adlington's translation of 'cupide and psyches' in 'the pageant,' 'the dial,' and 'the magazine of art.' the edition of the work published by the new vale press in 1897, is not that projected at this time. it contains roundel designs in place of the square designs first intended. these roundels are, i think, the finest achievement of mr. ricketts as an original wood-engraver. the engraving reproduced shows of what quality are both line and form, how successful is the placing of the figure within the circle. on the page they are what the artist would have them be. with the beginning of the sequence of later vale press books--books printed from founts designed by mr. ricketts--a consecutive account is impossible, but the frontispiece to the 'milton' and the borders and initials designed by mr. ricketts, must be mentioned. as a designer of book-covers only one failure is set down to mr. ricketts, and that was ten years ago, in the cover to 'the house of pomegranates.' mr. reginald savage's illustrations to some tales from wagner lack the force of designs in 'the pageant,' and of woodcuts in essex house publications. of m. lucien pissarro, in an article overcrowded with english illustrators, i cannot speak. his fame is in france as the forerunner of his art, and we in england know his coloured wood-engravings, his designs for 'the book of ruth and esther' and for 'the queen of the fishes,' printed at his press at epping, but included among vale press books. [illustration: from mr. sturge moore's 'the centaur.' reproduced by permission of mr. ricketts.] 'the centaur,' 'the bacchant,' 'the metamorphoses of pan,' 'siegfried'--young siegfried, wood-nurtured, untamed, setting his lusty strength against the strength of the brutes, hearing the bird-call then, and following the white bird to issues remote from savage life--these are subjects realized by the imagination of mr. t. sturge moore. there are few artists illustrating books to-day whose work is more unified, imaginatively and technically. it is some years since first mr. moore's wood-engravings attracted notice in 'the dial' and 'the pageant,' and the latest work from his graver--finer, more rhythmic in composition though it be--shows no change in ideals, in the direction of his talent. he has said, i think, that the easiest line for the artist is the true basis of that artist's work, and it would seem as though much deliberation in finding that line for himself had preceded any of the work by which he is known. the wood-engraving of mr. sturge moore is of some importance. always the true understanding of his material, the unhesitating realization of his subject, combine to produce the effect of inevitable line and form, of an inevitable setting down of forms in expression of the thought within. only that gives the idea of formality, and mr. moore's art handles the strong impulse of the wild creatures of earth, of the solitary creatures, mighty and terrible, haunting the desert places and fearing the order men make for safety. designs to wordsworth's 'poems,' not yet published, represent with innate perception the earth-spirit as wordsworth knew it, when the great mood of 'impassioned contemplation' came upon his careful spirit, when his heart leapt up, or when, wandering beneath the wind-driven clouds of march, at sight of daffodils, he lost his loneliness. 'the evergreen,' that 'northern seasonal,' represented the pictorial outlook of an interesting group of artists--robert burns, andrew k. womrath, john duncan, and james cadenhead, for example--and the racial element, as well as their own individuality, distinguishes the work of mr. w. b. macdougall and mr. j. j. guthrie of 'the elf.' mr. macdougall has been known as a book-illustrator since 1896, when 'the book of ruth,' with decorated borders showing the fertility of his designing power, and illustrations that were no less representative of a unique use of material, appeared. the conventionalized landscape backgrounds, the long, straightly-draped women, seemed strange enough as a reading of the hebrew pastoral, with its close kinship to the natural life of the free children of earth. their unimpassioned faces, unspontaneous gestures, the artificiality of the whole impression, were undoubtedly a new reading of the ancient charm of the story. two books in 1897, and 'isabella' and 'the shadow of love,' 1898, showed beyond doubt that the manner was not assumed, that it was the expression of mr. macdougall's sense of beauty. the decorations to 'isabella' are more elaborate than to 'ruth,' and inventive handling of natural forms is as marked. again, the faces are de-characterized in accordance with the desire to make the whole figure the symbol of passion, and that without emphasis. mr. j. j. guthrie is hardly among book-illustrators, since 'wedding bells' of 1895 does not represent mr. guthrie, nor does the child's book of the following year, while the illustrations to edgar allan poe's 'poems' are still, i think, being issued from the pear tree press in single numbers. his treatment of landscape is inventive, his rhythmic arrangements, his effects of white line on black, are based on a real sense of the beauty of earth, of tall trees and wooded hills, of mysterious moon-brightness and shade in the leafy depths of the woodlands. mr. granville fell made his name known in 1896 by his illustrations to 'the book of job.' in careful detail, drawn with fidelity, never obtrusive, his art is pre-raphaelite. he touches japanese ideals in the rendering of flower-growth and animals, but the whole effect of his decorative illustrations is far enough away from the art of japan. in the 'book of job' he had a subject sufficient to dwarf a very vital imaginative sense by its grandeur. in the opinion of competent critics mr. granville fell proved more than the technical distinction of his work by the manner in which he fulfilled his purpose. the solid black and white, the definite line of these drawings, were laid aside for the sympathetic medium of pencil in 'the song of solomon' (1897). again, his conception is invariably dramatic, and never crudely dramatic, robust, with no trace of morbid or sentimental thought about it. the garden, the wealth of vineyard and of royal pleasure ground, is used as a background to comely and gracious figures. his other work, illustrative of children's books and of legend, the cover and title-page to mr. w. b. yeats's 'poems,' shows the same definite yet restrained imagination. mr. patten wilson is somewhat akin to mr. granville fell in the energy and soundness of his conceptions. each of these artists is, as we know, a colourist, delighting in brilliant and iridescent colour-schemes, yet in black and white they do not seek to suggest colour. mr. patten wilson's illustrations to coleridge's 'poems' have the careful fulness of drawings well thought out, and worked upon with the whole idea realised in the imagination. he has observed life carefully for the purposes of his art. but it is rather in rendering the circumstance of poems, such as 'the ancient mariner,' or, in a chaucer illustration--constance on the lonely ship--that he shows his grasp of the subject, than by any expression of the spiritual terror or loneliness of the one living man among the dead, the solitary woman on strange seas. few decorative artists habitually use 'wash' rather than line. among these, however, is mr. weguelin, who has illustrated anacreon in a manner to earn the appreciation of greek scholars, and his illustrations to hans andersen have had a wider and not less appreciative reception. his drawings have movement and atmosphere. mr. w. e. f. britten also uses this medium with fluency, as is shown by his successful illustrations to mr. swinburne's 'carols of the year' in the 'magazine of art' in 1892-3. since that time his version of 'undine,' and illustrations to tennyson's 'early poems,' have shown the same power of graceful composition and sympathy with his subject. ii. some open-air illustrators. open-air illustration is less influenced by the tradition of rossetti and of the romanticists of 'the sixties' than any other branch of illustrative art. the reason is obvious. of all illustrators, the illustrator of open-air books has least concern with the interpretation of literature, and is most concerned with recording facts from observation. it is true that usually he follows where a writer goes, and studies garden, village or city, according to another man's inclination. but the road they take, the cities and wayside places, are as obvious to the one as to the other. the artist has not to realize the personal significance of beauty conceived by another mind; he has to set down in black and white the aspect of indisputable cities and palaces and churches, of the actual highways and gardens of earth. no fugitive light, but the light of common day shows him his subject. so, although stevenson's words, that reaching romantic art one becomes conscious of the background, are completely true in application to the drawings of rossetti, of millais, sandys and houghton, these 'backgrounds' have had no traceable effect on modern open-air illustration. nor are the landscape drawings in works such as 'wayside poesies,' or 'pictures of english landscape,' at the beginning of the style or styles--formal or picturesque--most in vogue at present. birket foster has no followers; the pensive landscape is not suited to holiday excursion books; and, though mr. j. w. north is among artists of to-day, as a book-illustrator he has unfortunately added little to his fine record of landscape drawings made between 1864 and 1867. one cannot include his work in a study of contemporary illustration, though it is a pleasure passed over to leave unconsidered drawings that in 'colour,' in effects of winter-weather, of leaf-thrown light and shade amid summer woods and over the green lanes of english country, are delightfully remote from obvious and paragraphic habits of rendering facts. with few exceptions the open-air illustrators of to-day began their work and took their place in public favour, and in the estimation of critics, after 1890. mr. joseph pennell, it is true, had been making sketches in england, in france, and in italy for some years; mr. railton had made some preliminary illustrations; mr. alfred parsons illustrated 'old songs' with mr. abbey in 1889; and mr. fulleylove contributed to 'the picturesque mediterranean,' and published his 'oxford' drawings, in the same year. still, with a little elasticity, 'the nineties' covers the past activity of these men. the only important exception is sir george reid, president of the royal scottish academy, much of whose illustrative work belongs to the years prior to 1890. the one subject for regret in connection with sir george reid's landscape illustrations is that the chapter is closed. he makes no more drawings with pen-and-ink, and the more one is content with those he has made, the less does the quantity seem sufficient. those who know only the portraits on which sir george reid's reputation is firmly based will find in his landscape illustrations a new side to his art. here, as in portraiture, he sees distinctly and records without prejudice the characteristics of his subject. he renders what he sees, and he knows how to see. his conception being clear to himself, he avoids vagueness and obscurity, finding, with apparent ease, plain modes of expression. a straight observer of men and of the country-side, there is this directness and perspicuity about his work, whether he paints a portrait, or makes pen-drawings of the village worthies of 'pyketillim' parish, or draws pyketillim kirk, small and white and plain, with the sparse trees beside it, or great river or city of his native land. but in these pen-stroke landscapes, while the same clear-headed survey, the same logical record of facts, is to be observed as in his work as a portrait painter, there is besides a charm of manner that brings the indefinable element into one's appreciation of excellent work. of course this is not to estimate these drawings above the portraits of sir george reid. that would be absurd. but he draws a country known to him all his life, and unconsciously, from intimate memory, he suggests more than actual observation would discover. this identification of past knowledge with the special scrutiny of a subject to be rendered is not usually possible in portraiture. the 'portrait in-time' is a question of occasion as well as of genius. the first book in which his inimitable pen-drawing of landscape can be properly studied is the illustrated edition of 'johnny gibb of gushetneuk, in the parish of pyketillim,' published in 1880. here the illustrations are facsimile reproductions by amand-durand's heliogravure process, and their delicacy is perfectly seen. these drawings are of the aberdeenshire country-folk and country, the native land of the artist; though, as a lad in aberdeen, practising lithography by day, and seizing opportunities for independent art when work was over, the affairs and doings of gushetneuk, of smiddyward, of pyketillim, or the quiet of benachie when the snow lies untrodden on its slopes, were things outside the city of work. it is as difficult to praise these drawings intelligibly to those who have not seen them, as it is unnecessary to enforce their charm on those who have. unfortunately, a reproduction of one of them is not possible, and admirable as is the drawing from 'royal edinburgh,' it is in subject and in treatment distinct from the 'gushetneuk' and 'north of scotland' illustrations. the 'twelve sketches of scenery and antiquities on the great north of scotland railway,' issued in 1883, were made in 1881, and have the same characteristics as the 'gushetneuk' landscapes. the original drawings for the engraved illustrations in 'the life of a scotch naturalist,' belonging to 1876--drawings made because the artist was 'greatly interested' in the story of thomas edward--must have been of the same delicate force, and the splendid volumes of plates illustrating the 'river clyde,' and the 'river tweed,' issued by the royal association for the promotion of the fine arts in scotland, contain more of his fine work. it was this society, that, in the difficult days following the artist's abandonment of aberdeen and lithography for edinburgh and painting, gave him the opportunity, by the purchase of two of his early landscapes, for study in holland and in paris. there is something of bosboom in a rendering of a church interior such as 'the west kirk,' but of israels, who was his master at the hague, there is nothing to be seen in sir george reid's illustrations. they are never merely picturesque, and when too many men are 'freakish' in their rendering of architecture, the drawings of north of scotland castles--well founded to endure weather and rough times of war--seem as real and true to scottish romance as the "pleasant seat," the martlet-haunted masonry of macbeth's castle set among the brooding wildness of inverness by the fine words of duncan and banquo. the print-black of naked boughs against pale sky, a snow-covered country where roofs are white, and the shelter of the woods is thin after the passing of the autumn winds--this black and white is the black and white of most of sir george reid's studies of northern landscape. to call it black and white is to stretch the octave and omit all the notes of the scale. pure white of plastered masonry, or of snow-covered roof or field in the bleak winter light, pure black in some deep-set window, in the figure of a passer-by, or in the bare trees, are used with the finesse of a colourist. look at the 'pyketillim kirk' drawing in 'johnny gibb.' between the white of the long church wall, and the black of the little groups of village folk in the churchyard, how quiet and easy is the transition, and how true to colour is the result. of the edinburgh drawings the same may be said; but, except in facsimile reproduction, one has to know the scale of tone used by sir george reid in order to see the original effect where the printed page shows unmodified black and white. in 'holyrood castle' the values are fairly well kept, and the rendering of the ancient building in the deep snow, without false emphasis, yet losing nothing of emphatic effect, shows the dominant intellectual quality of the artist's work. [illustration: holyrood castle. by sir george reid. from mrs. oliphant's "royal edinburgh." by leave of messrs. macmillan.] it does not seem as though sir george reid as an illustrator had any followers. he could hardly have imitators. if a man had delicacy and patience of observation and hand to produce drawings in this 'style,' his style would be his own and not an imitation. the number of artists in black and white who cannot plausibly be imitated is a small number. sir george reid is one, mr. alfred parsons is another. inevitably there are points of similarity in the work of artists, the foundation of whose black and white is colour, and who render the country-side with the understanding of the native, the understanding that is beyond knowledge. the difference between them only proves the essential similarity in the elements of their art; but that, like most paradoxes, is a truism. mr. parsons is, of course, thoroughly english in his art. he has the particularity of english nature-poets. pastoral country is dear to him, and homesteads and flowering orchards, or villages with church tower half hidden by the elms, are part of his home country, the country he draws best. it is interesting to compare his drawings for 'the warwickshire avon' with the scottish artist's drawings of the northern rivers. the drawings of shakespeare's river show spring trees in a mist of green, leafy summer trees, meadowsweet and hayfields, green earth and blue sky, and a river of pleasure watering a pleasant country. if a man can draw english summer-time in colour with black and white, he must rank high as a landscape pen-draughtsman. mr. alfred parsons has illustrated about a dozen books, and his work is to be found in 'harper's magazine,' and 'the english illustrated' in early days. two books, the 'old songs' and 'the quiet life,' published in 1887 and 1890, were illustrated by e. a. abbey and alfred parsons. the drawings of landscape, of fruit and flowers, by mr. parsons, the chippendale people and rooms of mr. abbey, fill two charming volumes with pictures whose pleasantness and happy art accord with the dainty verses of eighteenth-century sentiment. 'the warwickshire avon,' and another river book, 'the danube from the black forest to the sea,' illustrated in collaboration with the author, mr. f. d. millet, belong to 1892. the slight sketches--passing-by sketches--in these books, are among fortunate examples of a briefness that few men find compatible with grace and significance. sketches, mostly in wash, of a farther and more decorated country--'japan, the far east, the land of flowers and of the rising sun, the country which for years it had been my dream to see and paint'--illustrate the artist's 'notes in japan,' 1895. in the written notes are memoranda of actual colour, of the green harmony of the japanese summer--harmony culminating in the vivid tint of the rice fields--of sunset and butterflies, of delicate masses of azalea and drifts of cherry-blossom and wisteria, while in the drawings are all the flowers, the green hills and gray hamlets, and the temples, shrines and bridges, that make unspoilt japan one of the perpetual motives of decorative art. illustrations to wordsworth--to a selected wordsworth--gave the artist fortunate opportunities to render the england of english descriptive verse. [illustration: elms by bidford grange. by alfred parsons. reproduced from quiller couch's 'the warwickshire avon.' by leave of osgood, mcilvaine and co.] it is convenient to speak first of these painter-illustrators, because, in a sense, they stand alone among illustrative artists. obviously, that is not to say that their work is worth more than the work of illustrators, who, conforming to the laws of 'process,' make their drawings with brain and hand that know how to win profit by concession. but popularisers of an effective topographical or architectural style are indirectly responsible for a large amount of work besides their own. in one sense a leader does not stand alone, and cannot be considered alone. before, then, passing on to a draughtsman such as mr. joseph pennell, again, to mr. railton, or to mr. new, whose successful and unforgettable works have inspired many drawings in the books whereby authors pay for their holiday journeys, other artists, whose style is no convenience to the industrious imitator, may be considered. another painter, known for his work in black and white, is mr. john fulleylove, whose 'pictures of classic greek landscape,' and drawings of 'oxford,' show him to be one of the few men who see architecture steadily and whole, and who draw beautiful buildings as part of the earth which they help to beautify. compare the greek drawings with ordinary archæological renderings of pillared temples, and the difference in beauty and interest is apparent. in mr. fulleylove's drawings, the relation between landscape and architecture is never forgotten, and he draws both with the structural knowledge of a landscape painter, who is also by training an architect. in aim, his work is in accord with classical traditions; he discerns the classical spirit that built temples and carved statues in the beautiful places of the open-air, a spirit which has nothing of the museum setting about it. the 'oxford' drawings show that mr. fulleylove can draw gothic. though not a painter, mr. william hyde works 'to colour' in his illustrations, and is generally successful in rendering both colour and atmosphere. he has done little with the pen, and it is in wash drawings, reproduced by photogravure, that he is best to be studied. of his early training as an engraver there is little to be seen in his work, though his appreciation of the range of tone existing between black and white may have developed from working within restrictions of monotone, when the colour sense was growing strong in him. at all events he can gradate from black to white with remarkable minuteness and ease. his earliest work of any importance after giving up engraving, was in illustration of 'l'allegro' and 'il penseroso,' 1895, and shows his talent already well controlled. there are thirteen illustrations, and the opportunities for rendering aspects of light, from the moment of the lark's morning flight against the dappled skies of dawn, to the passing of whispering night-winds over the darkened country, given in the verse of a poet sensitive as none before him to the gradations of lightness and dark, are realized. so are the hawthorns in the dale, and the towered cities. but it is as an illustrator of another towered city than that imagined by milton, that some of mr. hyde's most individual work has been produced. in the etchings and pictures in photogravure published with mrs. meynell's 'london impressions,' london beneath the strange great sky that smoke and weather make over the gray roofs, london when the dawn is low in the sky, or when the glow of lamps and lamp-lit windows turns the street darkness to golden haze, is drawn by a man who has seen for himself how beautiful the great city is in 'between lights.' his other work is superficially in contrast with these studies of city light and darkness; but the same love for 'big' skies, for the larger aspects of changing lights and cloud movements, are expressed in the drawings of the wide country that is around and beyond the cinque ports, and in the illustrations to mr. george meredith's 'nature poems.' the reproduction is from a pen drawing in mr. hueffer's book, 'the cinque ports.' there is no pettiness about it, and the 'phrasing' of castle, trees and sky shows the artist. [illustration: saltwood castle. by william hyde. from f. m. hueffer's 'the cinque ports.' by leave of messrs. blackwood.] mr. d. y. cameron has illustrated a book or two with etchings--notably white's 'selborne' 1902,--but to consider him as a book-illustrator would be to stretch a point. a few of his etchings are to be seen in books, and one would like to make them the text for the consideration of other etchings by him, but it would be a digression. he is not among painter-illustrators, but among painters who have illustrated, and that would bring more names into this chapter than it could hold except in catalogue arrangement. coming to artists who are illustrators, not on occasion but always, there is no question with whom to begin. it is true that mr. pennell is american, but he is such an important figure in english illustration that to leave him out would be impossible. he has been illustrating europe for more than fifteen years, and the forcible fashion of his work, and all that he represents, have influenced black-and-white artists in this country, as his master rico influenced him. in range and facility, and in getting to the point and keeping there, there is no open-air illustrator to put beside mr. pennell. always interested and always interesting, he is apparently never bewildered, always ready and able to draw. surely there was never a mind with a greater faculty for quick study; and he can apply this power to the realization of an architectural detail, or of a cathedral, of miles of country with river curves and castles, trees, and hills and fields, and a stretch of sky over all; or of a great city-street crowded with traffic, of new or old buildings, of tuscany or of the stock exchange, with equal ease. to attempt a record of mr. pennell's work would leave no room for appreciation of it. as far as the english public is concerned, it began in 1885 with the publication of 'a canterbury pilgrimage,' and since then each year has added to mr. pennell's notes of the world at the rate of two or three volumes. the highways and byways of england--east, west, south and north--france from normandy to provence, the cities and spaces of italy, the saone and the thames, the 'real' alps and the new zealand alps, london and paris, the cathedrals of europe, the gipsy encampment and the ghetto, chelsea and the alhambra--mr. pennell has been everywhere and seen most things as he went, and one can see it in his drawings. he draws architecture without missing anything tangible, and his buildings belong to cities that have life--and an individual life--in their streets. but where he is unapproachable, or at all events unapproached among pen-draughtsmen, is in drawing a great scheme of country from a height. if one could reproduce a drawing such as that of the country of le puy in mr. wickham flower's 'aquitaine,' or, better still, the etching of the same amazing country, one need say no more about mr. pennell's art in this kind. unluckily the page is too small. this strange and lovely landscape, where curving road and river and tree-bordered fields are dominated by two image-crowned rocks, built about with close-set houses, looks like a design from a dream fantasy worked out by a master of definite imagination. one knows it is not. mr. pennell is concerned to give facts in picturesque order, and here he has a theme that affects us poetically, however it may have affected mr. pennell. his eye measures a landscape that seems outside the measure of observation, and his ability to grasp and render the characteristics of actuality serves him as ever. it is an unforgettable drawing, though the skill displayed in the simplification and relation of facts is no greater than in other drawings by the artist. that power hardly ever fails him. the 'devils of notre dame' again stands out in memory, when one thinks generally of mr. pennell's drawings. and again, though it seems as if he were working above his usual pitch of conception, it is only that he is using his keenness of sight, his logical grasp of form and power of expression, on matter that is expressive of mental passion. the man who carved the devils, like those who crowned the rocks of le puy with the haloed figures, created facts. the outrageous passion that made these evil things made them in stone. you can measure them. they are matter-of-fact. mr. pennell has drawn them as they are, with so much trenchancy, such assertion of their hideous decorativeness, their isolation over modern paris, that no drawings could be better, and any others would be superfluous. it is impossible to enumerate all that mr. pennell has done and can do in black-and-white. he is a master of so many methods. from the sheer black ink and white paper of the 'devils,' to the light broken line that suggests moorish fantastic architecture under a hot sun in the 'alhambra' drawings, there is nothing he cannot do with a pen. nor is it only with a pen that he can do what he likes and what we must admire. he covers the whole field of black-and-white drawing. [illustration: the harbour, sorrento. by joseph pennell. from howell's "italian journeys." by leave of mr. heinemann.] after mr. pennell comes mr. herbert railton. no architectural drawings are more popular than his, and no style is better known or more generally 'adopted' by the illustrators of little guide-books or of magazine articles. an architect's training and knowledge of structure underlies the picturesque dilapidation prevalent in his version of anglo-gothic architecture. his first traceable book-illustrations belong to 1888, though in 'the english illustrated,' in 'the portfolio,' and elsewhere, he had begun before then to formulate the style that has served him so admirably in later work with the pen. the illustrations to mr. loftie's 'westminster abbey' (1890) show his manner much as it is in his latest pen drawings. there is a lack of repose. one would like to undecorate some of the masonry, to reveal the austere lines under the prevalence of pattern. at the same time one realizes that here is the style needed in illustration of picturesquely written books about picturesque places, and that the stone tracery of westminster, or the old brick and tiles of the inns of court, are more interesting to many people in drawings such as these than in actuality. but rico's 'broken line' is responsible for much, and not every draughtsman who adopts it direct, or through a mixed tradition, has the architectural knowledge of mr. railton to support his deviations from stability. mr. railton is the artist of the cathedral guide; he has drawn westminster, st. paul's, winchester, gloucester, peterborough, and many more cathedrals, inside and out, within the last ten years. in illustrations to books where a thread of story runs through historical fact, books such as those written by miss manning concerning mary powell, and the household of sir thomas more, the artist has collaborated with mr. jellicoe, who has put figures in the streets and country lanes. there are so many names in the list of those who, in the beginning, profited by the initiative of mr. pennell or of mr. railton that generally they may be set aside. of artists who have made some position for themselves, there are enough to fill this chapter. mr. holland tringham and mr. hedley fitton were at one time unmistakable in their railtonism. mr. fitton has illustrated cathedral books, and in later drawings by mr. tringham exaggeration of his copy has given place to a more direct record of beautiful buildings. miss nelly erichsen and miss helen james[1] are two artists whose work is much in request for illustrated series, such as dent's 'mediæval towns.' miss james' drawings to 'rambles in dickens' land' (1899) showed study of mr. railton, which is also observable in other books, such as 'the story of rouen.' at the same time, she carries out her work from individual observation, and gets an effect that belongs to study of the subject, whether from actuality or from photographs. miss james and miss erichsen have collaborated in certain books on italian towns, but architectural drawing is only part of miss erichsen's illustrative work, though an important part, as the illustrations to the recently-published 'florentine villas' of mrs. ross show. illustrating stories, she works with graceful distinctness, and many of the drawings in the 'story of rome'--though one remembers that rome is in mr. pennell's province--show what she can do. mr. c. g. harper and mr. c. r. b. barrett are the most prominent among those writers of travel-books who are also their own illustrators. they belong, though with all the difference of time and development, to the succession of mr. augustus hare. mr. hissey also has made many books out of his driving tours through england, and may be said to have first specialized the subject that mr. harper and mr. barrett have made their own. it is plain that the kind of book has nothing to do with the kind of art that is used in its making. mr. hare's famous 'walks' may be the prototypes of later books, but each man makes what he can out of an idea that has obvious possibilities in it. mr. harper has taken to the ancient high-roads of england, and has studied their historical and legendary, past, present, and imagined aspects. of these he has written; while his illustrations rank him rather among illustrators who write than among writers who illustrate. since 1889 he has published a dozen books and more. in 'royal winchester'--the first of these--he is illustrator only. 'the brighton road' of 1892 is the first of the road-books, and the illustrations of the road as it was and is, of town and of country, have colour and open air in their black-and-white. since then mr. harper has been from paddington to penzance, has followed dick turpin along the exeter road, and bygone fashion from london to bath, while accounts of the dover road from southwark bridge to dover castle, by way of dickens' country and hop-gardens, and of the great north road of which stevenson longed to write, are written and drawn with spirited observation. his drawing is not so picturesque as his writing. it has reticence and justness of expression that would not serve in relating tales of the road, but which, together with a sense of colour and of what is pictorial, combine to form an effective and frequently distinctive style of illustration. the drawing reproduced, chosen by the artist, is from mr. harper's recent book on the holyhead road. [illustration: dunchurch. by c. g. harper. from 'the holyhead road.' by his permission.] mr. barrett has described and illustrated the 'highways and byways and waterways' of various english counties, as well as published a volume on the battlefields of england, and studies of ancient buildings such as the tower of london. he is always well informed, and illustrates his subject fully from pen-and-ink drawings. mr. f. g. kitton also writes and illustrates, though he has written more than he has drawn. st. albans is his special town, and the old inns and quaint streets of the little red city with its long cathedral, are truthfully and dexterously given in his pen drawings and etchings. mr. alexander ansted, too, as a draughtsman of english cathedrals and of city churches, has made a steady reputation since 1894, when his etchings and drawings of riviera scenery showed ambition to render tone, and as much as possible of colour and atmosphere, with pen and ink. since then he has simplified his style for general purposes, though in books such as 'london riverside churches' (1897), or 'the romance of our ancient churches' of two years later, many of the drawings are more elaborate than is common in modern illustration. the names of mr. c. e. mallows and of mr. raffles davison must be mentioned among architectural draughtsmen, though they are outside the scope of a study of book-illustration. some of mr. raffles davison's work has been reprinted from the 'british architect,' but i do not think either of them illustrates books. an extension of architectural art lies in the consideration of the garden in relation to the house it surrounds, and mr. reginald blomfield's 'formal garden' treats of the first principles of garden design as distinct from horticulture. the drawings by mr. inigo thomas, whether one considers them as illustrating principles or gardens, are worth looking at, as 'the yew walk' sufficiently shows. [illustration: the yew walk; melbourne derbyshire by f. inigo thomas. from blomfield's 'the formal garden.' by leave of messrs. macmillan.] the sobriety and decorum of mr. new's architectural and landscape drawings are the antithesis of the flagrantly picturesque. i do not know whether mr. gere or mr. new invented this order of landscape and house drawing, but mr. new is the chief exponent of it, and has placed it among popular styles of to-day. it has the effect of sincerity, and of respectful treatment of ancient buildings. mr. new does not lapse from the perpendicular, his hand does not tremble or break off when house-walls or the ridge of a roof are to be drawn. his is a convention that is frankly conventional, that confines nature within decorous bounds, and makes formality a function of art. but though a great deal of mr. new's work is mechanical and done to pattern, so that sometimes little perpendicular strokes to represent grass fill half the pictured space, while little horizontal strokes to represent brick-work, together with 'touches' that represent foliage, fill up the rest except for a corner left blank for the sky; yet, at his best, he achieves an effective and dignified way of treating landscape for the decoration of books. sensational skies that repeat one sensation to monotony, scattered blacks and emphasized trivialities, are set aside by those who follow mr. new. when they are trivial and undiscriminating, they are unaffectedly tedious, and that is almost pleasant after the hackneyed sparkle of the inferior picturesque. mr. new's reputation as a book-illustrator was first made in 1896, when an edition of 'the compleat angler' with many drawings by him appeared. the homely architecture of essex villages and small towns, the low meadows and quiet streams, gave him opportunity for drawings that are pleasant on the page. two garden books, or strictly speaking, one--for 'in the garden of peace' was succeeded by 'outside the garden'--contain natural history drawings similar to those of fish in 'the compleat angler' and of birds in white's 'selborne.' the illustrations to 'oxford and its colleges,' and 'cambridge and its colleges,' are less representative of the best mr. new can do than books where village architecture, or the irregular house-frontage of country high-streets are his subject. illustrating shakespeare's country, 'sussex,' and 'the wessex of thomas hardy,' brought him into regions of the country-town; but the most important of his recent drawings are those in 'the natural history of selborne,' published in 1900. the drawing of 'selborne street' is from that volume. [illustration: selborne street by e. h. new. from white's 'selborne.' by leave of mr. lane.] with mr. new, mr. r. j. williams and mr. h. p. clifford illustrated mr. aymer vallance's two books on william morris. their illustrations are fit records of the homes and working-places of the great man who approved their art. mr. frederick griggs, who since 1900 has illustrated three or four garden books, also follows the principles of mr. new, but with more variety in detail, less formality in tree-drawing and in the rendering of paths and roads and streams and sunshine, in short, with more of art outside the school, than mr. new permits himself. the open-air covers so much that i have little room to give to another aspect of open-air illustration--drawings of bird and animal-life. the work of mr. harrison weir, begun so many years ago, is chiefly in children's books; but mr. charles whymper, who has an old reputation among modern reputations, has illustrated the birds and beasts and fish of great britain in books well known to sportsmen and to natural historians, as also books of travel and sport in tropical and ice-bound lands. the work of mr. john guille millais is no less well known. no one else draws animals in action, whether british deer or african wild beast, from more intelligent and thorough observation, and of his art the graceful rendering of the play of deer in cawdor forest gives proof that does not need words. birds in flight, beasts in action--mr. millais is undisputably master of his subject. many drawings show the humour which is one of the charms of his work. [illustration: figure-of-eight ring in cawdor forest. by j. g. millais. from his 'british deer and their horns.' by leave of messrs. sotheran.] footnotes: [footnote 1: since this book was in type, i have learned with regret of the death of miss helen james.] iii. some character illustrators. so far, in writing of decorative illustrators and of open-air illustrators, the difference in scheme between a study of book-illustration and of 'black-and-white' art has not greatly affected the scale and order of facts. the intellectual idea of illustration, as a personal interpretation of the spirit of the text, finds expression, formally at least, in the drawings of most decorative black-and-white artists. the deliberate and inventive character of their art, the fact that such qualities are non-journalistic, and ineffective in the treatment of 'day by day' matters, keeps the interpretative ideal, brought into english illustration by rossetti, and the artists whose spirits he kindled, among working ideals for these illustrators. for that reason, with the exception of page-decorations such as those of mr. edgar wilson, the subject of decorative illustration is almost co-extensive with the subject of decorative black-and-white. the open-air illustrator represents another aspect of illustration. to interpret the spirit of the text would, frequently, allow his art no exercise. much of his text is itinerary. his subject is before his eyes in actuality, or in photographs, and not in some phrase of words, magical with suggested forms, creating by its gift of delight desire to celebrate its beauty. still, if the artist be independent of the intellectual and imaginative qualities of the book, his is no independent form of black and white. it is illustration; the author's subject is the subject of the artist. open-air facts, those that are beautiful and pleasurable, are too uneventful to make 'news illustration.' unless as background for some event, they have, for most people, no immediate interest. so it happens that open-air drawings are usually illustrations of text, text of a practical guide-book character, or of archæological interest, or of the gossiping, intimate kind that tells of possessions, of journeys and pleasurings, or, again, illustrations of the open-air classics in prose and verse. but in turning to the work of those draughtsmen whose subject is the presentment of character, of every man in his own humour, the illustration of literature is a part only of what is noteworthy. these artists have a subject that makes the opportunities of the book-illustrator seem formal; a subject, charming, poignant, splendid or atrocious, containing all the 'situations' of comedy, tragedy or farce; the only subject at once realized by everyone, yet whose opportunities none has ever comprehended. the writings of novelists and dramatists--life narrowed to the perception of an individual--are limitary notions of the matter, compared with the illimitable variety of character and incident to be found in the world that changes from day to day. and 'real' life, purged of monotony by the wit, discrimination or extravagance of the artist, or--on a lower plane--by the combination only of approved comical or sentimental or melodramatic elements, is the most popular and marketable of all subjects. the completeness of a work of art is to some a refuge from the incompleteness of actuality; to others this completeness is more incomplete than any incident of their own experience. the first bent of mind--supposing an artist who illustrates to 'express himself'--makes an illustrator of a draughtsman, the second makes literature seem no more than _la reste_ to the artist as an opportunity for pictorial characterization. character illustration is then a subject within a subject, and if it be impossible to consider it without overseeing the limitations, yet a different point of view gives a different order of impressions. caricaturists, political cartoonists, news-illustrators and graphic humorists, the artists who pictorialize society, the stage, the slums or some other kind of life interesting to the spectator, are outside the scheme of this article--unless they be illustrators also. for instance, the illustrations of sir harry furniss are only part of his lively activities, and mr. bernard partridge is the illustrator of mr. austin dobson's eighteenth-century muse as well as the 'j. b. p.' of 'socials' in 'punch.' an illustrator of many books, and one whose illustrations have unusual importance, both as interpretations of literature and for their artistic force, mr. william strang is yet so incongruous with contemporary black-and-white artists of to-day that he must be considered first and separately. for the traditions of art and of race that find a focus in the illustrative etchings of this artist, the creative traditions, and instinctive modes of thought that are represented in the forms and formation of his art, are forces of intellect and passion and insight not previously, nor now, by more than the one artist, associated with the practice of illustration. to consider his work in connection with modern illustration is to speak of contrasts. it represents nothing that the gift-book picture represents, either in technical dexterities, founded on the requirements of process reproduction, or in its decorative ideals, or as expressive of the pleasures of literature. one phase of mr. strang's illustrative art is, indeed, distinct from the mass of his work, with which the etched illustrations are congruous, and the line-drawings to three masterpieces of imaginary adventure--to lucian, to baron munchausen and to sindbad--show, perhaps, some infusion of aubrey beardsley's spirit of fantasy into the convictions of which mr. strang's art is compounded. but these drawings represent an excursion from the serious purpose of the artist's work. the element in literature expressed by that epithet 'weird'--exiled from power to common service--is lacking in the extravagances of these _voyages imaginaires_, and, lacking the shadows cast by the unspeakable, the intellectual _chiaroscuro_ of mr. strang's imagination, loses its force. these travellers are too glib for the artist, though his comprehension of the grotesque and extravagant, and his humour, make the drawings expressive of the text, if not of the complete personality of the draughtsman. the 'types, shadows and metaphors' of 'the pilgrim's progress,' with its poignancies of mental experience and conflict, its transcendent passages, its theological and naïve moods, gave the artist an opportunity for more realized imagination. the etchings in this volume, published in 1894, represent little of the allegorical actualities of the text. not the encounters by the way, the clash of blows, the 'romancing,' but the 'man cloathed with rags and a great burden on his back,' or christiana his wife, when 'her thoughts began to work in her mind,' are the realities to the artist. the pilgrims are real and credible, poor folk to the outward sight, worn with toil, limited, abused in the circumstances of their lives; and these peasant figures are to mr. strang, as to his master in etching, professor legros, symbols of endurance, significant protagonists in the drama of man's will and the forces that strive to subdue its strength. to both artists the peasant confronting death is the climax of the drama. in the etchings of professor legros death fells the woodman, death meets the wayfarer on the high-road. there is no outfacing the menace of death. but to mr. strang, the sublimity of bunyan's 'poor man,' who overcomes all influences of mortality by the strength of his faith, is a possible fact. his ballad illustrations deal finely with various aspects of the theme. in 'the earth fiend,' a ballad written and illustrated with etchings by mr. strang in 1892, the peasant subdues and compels to his service the spirit of destruction. he maintains his projects of cultivation, conquers the adverse wildness of nature, makes its force productive of prosperity and order; then, on a midday of harvest, sleeps, and the 'earth fiend,' finding his tyrant defenceless, steals on him and kills him as he lies. 'death and the ploughman's wife' (1894) has a braver ending. it interprets in an impressive series of etchings how 'death that conquers a'' is vanquished by the mother whose child he has snatched from its play. the title-page etching shows a little naked child kicking a skull into the air, while the peasant-mother, patient, vigilant, keeps watch near by. in 'the christ upon the hill' of the succeeding year, a ballad by cosmo monkhouse with etchings by mr. strang, the artist follows, of course, the conception of the writer; but here, too, his work is expressive of the visionary faith that discerns death as one of those 'base things' that 'usher in things divine.' [illustration: from william strang's ballad, 'death and the ploughman's wife' (reduced from the original etching). by leave of mr. a. h. bullen.] the twelve etchings to 'paradise lost' (1896) do not, as i think, represent mr. strang's imagination at its finest. it is in the representation of rude forms of life, subjected to the immeasurable influences of passion, love, sorrow, that the images of mr. strang's art, at once vague and of intense reality, primitive and complex, have most force. adam and eve driven from paradise by the angel with the flaming sword, are not directly created by the artist. they recall masaccio, and are undone by the recollection. eve, uprising in the darkness of the garden where adam sleeps, the speech of the serpent with the woman, the gathering of the fruit, are traditionary in their pictorial forms, and the tradition is too great, it imposes itself between the version of mr. strang and our admiration. but in the thirty etchings illustrative of mr. kipling's works, as in the ballad etchings, the imagination of the artist is unfettered by tradition. the stories he pictures deal, for all their cleverness and definition, with themes that, translated out of mr. kipling's words into the large imagination of mr. strang, have powerful purpose. as usual, the artist makes his picture not of matter-of-fact--and the etching called 'a matter of fact' is specially remote from any such matter--but of more purposeful, more overpowering realities than any particular instance of life would show. he attempts to realize the value, not of an instance of emotion or of endeavour, but of the quality itself. he sets his mind, for example, to realize the force of western militarism in the east, or the attitude of the impulses of life towards contemplation, and his soldiers, his 'purun bhagat,' express his observations or imaginations of these themes. certainly 'a country's love' never went out to this kind of tommy atkins, and the india of mr. strang is not the india that holds the gadsbys, or of which plain tales can be told. but he has imagined a country that binds the contrasts of life together in active operation on each other, and in thirty instances of these schemed-out realities, or of dramatic events resulting from the clash of racial and national and chronological characteristics, he has achieved perhaps his most complete expression of insight into essentials. mr. strang's etchings in the recently published edition of 'the compleat angler,' illustrated by him and by mr. d. y. cameron, are less successful. the charm of his subject seems not to have entered into his imagination, whereas forms of art seem to have oppressed him. the result is oppressive, and that is fatal to the value of his etchings as illustrations of the book that 'it would sweeten a man's temper at any time to read.' intensity and large statement of dark and light; fine dramatizations of line; an unremitting conflict with the superfluous and inexpressive in form and in thought; an art based on the realities of life, and without finalities of expression, inelegant, as though grace were an affectation, an insincerity in dealing with matters of moment: these are qualities that detach the illustrations of mr. strang from the generality of illustrations. save that mr. robert bryden, in his 'woodcuts of men of letters' and in the portrait illustrations to 'poets of the younger generation,' shows traces of studying the portrait-frontispieces of mr. strang, there is no relation between his art and the traditions it represents and any other book-illustrations of to-day. turning now to illustrators who are representative of the tendencies and characteristics of modern book-illustration, and so are less conspicuous in a general view of the subject than mr. strang, there is little question with whom to begin. mr. abbey represents at their best the qualities that belong to gift-book illustration. it would, perhaps, be more correct to say that gift-book illustration represents the qualities of mr. abbey's black and white with more or less fidelity, so effective is the example of his technique on the forms of picturesque character-illustration. it is nearly a quarter of a century since the artist, then a young man fresh from harper's drawing-office in new york, came to england. that first visit, spent in studying the reality of english pastoral life in preparation for his 'herrick' illustrations, lasted for two years, and after a few months' interval in the states he returned to england. resident here for nearly all the years of his work, a member of the royal academy, his art expressive of traditions of english literature and of the english country to which he came as to the actuality of his imaginings, one may include mr. abbey among english book-illustrators with more than a show of reason. in 1882, when the 'selections from the poetry of robert herrick' was published, few of the men whose work is considered in this chapter had been heard of. chronologically, mr. abbey is first of contemporary character-illustrators, and nowhere but first would he be in his proper place, for there is no one to put beside him in his special fashion of art, and in the effect of his illustrative work on his contemporaries. there is inevitable ease and elegance in the pen-drawings of mr. abbey, and for that reason it is easy to underestimate their intellectual quality. he is inventive. the spirit of herrick's muse, or of 'she stoops to conquer,' or of the comedies of shakespeare, is not a quality for which he accepts any formula. he finds shapes for his fancies, rejecting as alien to his purpose all that is not the clear result of his own understanding of the poet. accordingly there is, in all his work, the expression of an intellectual conception. he sees, too, with patience. if he isolates a figure, one feels that figure has stepped forward into a clear place of his imagination as he followed its way through the crowd. if he sets a pageant on the page, or some piece of turbulent action, or moment of decision, the actors have their individual value. he thinks his way through processes of gradual realization to the final picture of the characters in the play or poem. one writes now with special reference to the illustrations of the comedies of shakespeare--so far, the illustrative work most exigent to the intellectual powers of the artist. herrick's verse, full of sweet sounds and suggestive of happy sights, 'she stoops to conquer,' where all the mistakes are but for a night, to be laughed over in the morning, the lilt and measure of 'old songs,' and of the charming verses in 'the quiet life,' called for sensitive appreciation of moods, lyrical, whimsical, humorous, idyllic, but--intellectually--for no more than this. as to mr. abbey's technique, curious as he is in the uses of antiquity as part of the pleasure of a fresh realization, clothing his characters in textiles of the great weaving times, or of a dainty simplicity, a student of architecture and of landscape, of household fittings, of armoury, of every beautiful accessory to the business of living, his clever pen rarely fails to render within the convention of black and white the added point of interest and of charm that these things bring into actuality. truth of texture, of atmosphere, and of tone, an alertness of vision most daintily expressed--these qualities belong to all mr. abbey's work, and in the shakespearean drawings he shows with greater force than ever his 'stage-managing' power, and the correctness and beauty of his 'mounting.' the drawings are dramatic: the women have beauty and individuality, while the men match them, or contrast with them as in the plays; the rogues are vagabonds in spirit, and the wise men have weight; the world of shakespeare has been entered by the artist. but there are gestures in the text, moments of glad grace, of passion, of sudden amazement before the realities of personal experience, that make these active, dignified figures of mr. abbey 'merely players,' his isabella in the extremity of the scene with claudio no more than an image of cloistered virtue, his hermione incapable of her undaunted eloquence and silence, his perdita and miranda and rosalind less than themselves. as illustrations, the drawings of mr. abbey represent traditions brought into english illustrative art by the pre-raphaelites, and developed by the freer school of the sixties. but, as drawings, they represent ideas not effective before in the practice of english pen-draughtsmen; ideas derived from the study of the black and white of spain, of france, and of munich, by american art students in days when english illustrators were not given to look abroad. technically he has suggested many things, especially to costume illustrators, and many names might follow his in representation of the place he fills in relation to contemporary art. but to work out the effect of a man's technique on those who are gaining power of expression is to labour in vain. it adds nothing to the intrinsic value of an artist's work, nor does it represent the true relationship between him and those whom he has influenced. for if they are mere imitators they have no relation with any form of art, while to insist upon derived qualities in work that has the superscription of individuality is no true way of apprehension. what a man owes to himself is the substantial fact, the fact that relates him to other men. the value of his work, its existence, is in the little more, or the much more, that himself adds to the sum of his directed industries, his guided achievements. and to estimate that, to attempt to express something of it, must be the chief aim of a study, not of one artist and his 'times,' but of many artists practising a popular art. so that if, in consideration of their 'starting-point,' one may group most character-illustrators, especially of wig-and-powder subjects, as adherents either of mr. abbey and the 'american school,' or of mr. hugh thomson and the caldecott-greenaway tradition, such grouping is also no more than a starting-point, and everything concerning the achievements of the individual artist has still to be said. considering the intention of their technique, one may permissibly group the names of mr. fred pegram, mr. f. h. townsend, mr. shepperson, mr. sydney paget, and mr. stephen reid as representing in different degrees the effect of american black and white on english technique, though, in the case of mr. paget, one alludes only to pen-drawings such as those in 'old mortality,' and not to his sherlock holmes and martin hewitt performances. the art of mr. pegram and of mr. townsend is akin. mr. pegram has, perhaps, more sense of beauty, and his work suggests a more complete vision of his subject than is realized in the drawings of mr. townsend, while mr. townsend is at times more successful with the activities of the story; but the differences between them seem hardly more than the work of one hand would show. they really collaborate in illustration, though, except in cassell's survey of 'living london,' they have never, i think, made drawings for the same book. mr. pegram served the usual apprenticeship to book-illustration. he was a news-illustrator before he turned to the illustration of literature; but he is an artist to whom the reality acquired by a subject after study of it is more attractive than the reality of actual impressions. neither sensational nor society events appeal to him. the necessity to compose some sort of an impression from the bare facts of a fact, without time to make the best of it, was not an inspiring necessity. that mr. pegram is a book-illustrator by the inclination of his art as well as by profession, the illustrations to 'sybil,' published in 1895, prove. in these drawings he showed himself not only observant of facial expression and of gesture, but also able to interpret the glances and gestures of disraeli's society. from the completeness of the draughtsman's realization of his subject, illustrable situations develop themselves with credibility, and his graceful women and thoughtful men represent the events of the novel with distinction. with 'sybil' may be mentioned the illustrations to 'ormond,' wherein, five years later, the same understanding of the ways and activities of a bygone, yet not remote society, found equally satisfactory expression, while the technique of the artist had gained in completeness. in 'the last of the barons' (1897), mr. pegram had a picturesque subject with much strange humanity in it, despite lord lytton's conventional travesty of events and character. the names of richard and warwick, of hastings and margaret of anjou, are names that break through conventional romance, but the illustrator has to keep up the fiction of the author, and, except that the sham-mediævalism of the novel did not prevent a right study of costumes and accessories in the pictures, the artist had to be content to 'bulwerize.' illustrations to 'the arabian nights' gave him opportunity for rendering textures and atmosphere, and movements charming or grave, and the 'bride of lammermoor' drawings show a sweet-faced lucy ashton, and a ravenswood who is more than melancholy and picturesque. mr. pegram's drawings are justly dramatic within the limits prescribed by a somewhat composed ideal of bearing. a catastrophe is outside these limits, and the discovery of lucy after the bridal lacks real illustration in the artist's version, skilful, nevertheless, as are all his drawings, and expressed without hesitation. averse to caricature, and keeping within ideas of life that allow of unbroken expression, the novels of marryat, where action so bustling that only caricatures of humanity can endure its exigencies, and sentimental episodes of flagrant insincerity, swamp the character-drawing, are hardly suited to the art of mr. pegram. still, he selects, and his selection is true to the time and circumstance of marryat's work. in itself it is always an expression of a coherent and definite conception of the story. [illustration: from mr. pegram's 'the bride of lammermoor.' by leave of messrs. nisbet.] mr. townsend has illustrated hawthorne and peacock, as well as charlotte brontë and scott. hawthorne's men and women--embodiments always of some essential quality, rather than of the combination of qualities that make 'character'--lend themselves to fine illustration as regards gesture, and mr. townsend's drawings represent, not insensitively, the movement and suggestion of 'the blithedale romance' and 'the house of the seven gables.' in the peacock illustrations the artist had to keep pace with an essentially un-english humour, an imagination full of shapes that are opinions and theories and sarcasms masquerading under fantastic human semblances. mr. townsend kept to humanity, and found occasions for representing the eccentrics engaged in cheerful open-air and society pursuits in the pauses of paradoxical discussion. one realizes in the drawings the pleasant aspect of life at gryll grange and at crotchet castle, the courtesies and amusements out of doors and within, while the subjects of 'maid marian,' of 'the misfortunes of elphin' and of 'rhododaphne' declare themselves in excellent terms of romance and adventure. mr. townsend has humour, and he is in sympathy with the vigorous spirit in life; whether the vigour is intellectual as in jane eyre and in shirley keeldar, or muscular as in 'rob roy,' in drawings to a manual of fencing, and in marryat's 'the king's own,' or eccentric as in the fantasies of peacock. his work is never languid and never formal; and if in technique he is sometimes experimental, and frequently content with ineffectual accessories to his figures, his conception of the situation, and of the characters that fulfil the situation, is direct and effective enough. [illustration: from mr. townsend's 'shirley.' by leave of messrs. nisbet.] as an illustrator of current fiction, mr. townsend has also a considerable amount of dexterous work to his name, but a record of drawings contributed to the illustrated journals cannot even be attempted within present limits of space. mr. shepperson in his book-illustrations generally represents affairs with picturesqueness, and with a nervous energy that takes the least mechanical way of expressing forms and substances. illustrating the modern novel of adventure, he is happy in his intrigues and conspiracies, while in books of more weight, such as 'the heart of midlothian' or 'lavengro,' he expresses graver issues of life with un-elaborate and suggestive effect. the energy of his line, the dramatic quality of his imagination, render him in his element as an illustrator of events, but the vigour that projects itself into subjects such as the murder of sir george staunton, or the fight with the flaming tinman, or the alarms and stratagems of mr. stanley weyman, informs also his representation of moments when there is no action. technically mr. shepperson represents very little that is traditional in english black and white, though the tradition seems likely to be there for future generations of english illustrators. [illustration: "ye are ill, effie," were the first words jeanie could utter; "ye are very ill." from mr. shepperson's 'the heart of midlothian.' by leave of the gresham publishing company.] in a recent work, illustrations to leigh hunt's 'old court suburb,' mr. shepperson collaborates with mr. e. j. sullivan and mr. herbert railton, to realize the associations, literary, historical and gossiping, that have kensington palace and holland house as their principal centres. on the whole, of the three artists, the subject seems least suggestive to mr. shepperson. mr. sullivan contributes many portraits, and some subject drawings that show him in his lightest and most dexterous vein. these drawings of _beaux_ and _belles_ are as distinct in their happy flattery of fact from the rigid assertion of the artist's 'fair women,' as they are from the undelightful reporting style that in the beginning injured mr. sullivan's illustrations. one may describe it as the 'daily graphic' style, though that is to recognize only the basis of convenience on which the training of the 'daily graphic' school was necessarily founded. mr. sullivan's early work, the news-illustration and illustrations to current fiction of mr. reginald cleaver and of his brother mr. ralph cleaver, the black and white of mr. a. s. boyd and of mr. crowther, show this journalistic training, and show, too, that such a training in reporting facts directly is no hindrance to the later achievement of an individual way of art. mr. a. s. hartrick must also be mentioned as an artist whose distinctive black and white developed from the basis of pictorial reporting, and how distinctive and well-observed that art is, readers of the 'pall mall magazine' know. as a book-illustrator, however, his landscape drawings to borrow's 'wild wales' represent another art than that of the character-illustrator. nor can one pass over the drawings of mr. maurice greiffenhagen, also a contributor to the 'pall mall magazine,' if better known in illustrations to fiction in 'the ladies' pictorial,' though in an article on book-illustration he has nothing like his right place. as an admirable and original technician and draughtsman of society, swift in sight, excellent in expression, he ranks high among black-and-white artists, while as a painter, his reputation, if based on different qualities, is not doubtful. [illustration: from mr. e. j. sullivan's 'school for scandal.' by leave of messrs. macmillan.] mr. sullivan's drawings to 'tom brown's schooldays' (1896) are mechanical and mostly without charm of handling, having an appearance of timidity that is inexplicable when one thinks of the vigorous news-drawings that preceded them. the wiry line of the drawings appears in the 'compleat angler,' and in other books, including 'the rivals' and 'the school for scandal,' 'lavengro' and 'newton forster,' illustrated by the artist in '96 and '97; but the decorative purpose of mr. sullivan's later work is, in all these books, effective in modifying its perversity. increasing elaboration of manner within the limits of that purpose marks the transition between the starved reality of 'tom brown' and the illustrations to 'sartor resartus' (1898). these emphatic decorations, and those illustrative of tennyson's 'dream of fair women and other poems,' published two years later, are the drawings most representative of mr. sullivan's intellectual ideals. they show him, if somewhat indifferent to charm, and capable of out-facing beauty suggested in the words with statements of the extreme definiteness of his own fact-conception, yet strongly appreciative of the substance and purpose of the text. carlyle gives him brave opportunities, and the dogmatism of the artist's line and form, his speculative humour, working down to a definite certainty in things, make these drawings unusually interesting. tennyson's 'dream,' and his poems to women's names, are not so fit for the exercise of mr. sullivan's talent. he imposes himself with too much force on the forms that the poet suggests. there is no delicacy about the drawings and no mystery. they do not accord with the inspiration of tennyson, an inspiration that substitutes the exquisite realities of memory and of dream for the realities of experience. mr. sullivan's share of the illustrations to white's 'selborne' and to the 'garden calendar,' are technically more akin to the carlyle and tennyson drawings than to other examples by him. in these volumes he makes fortunate use of the basis of exactitude on which his work is founded, exactitude that includes portraiture among the functions of the illustrator. no portrait is extant of gilbert white, but the presentment of him is undertaken in a constructive spirit, and, as in 'the compleat angler' and 'the old court suburb,' portraits of those whose names and personalities are connected with the books are redrawn by mr. sullivan. except mr. abbey, no character-illustrator of the modern school has so long a record of work, and so visible an influence on english contemporary illustration, as mr. hugh thomson. in popularity he is foremost. the slight and apparently playful fashion of his art, deriving its intention from the irresistible gaieties of caldecott, is a fashion to please both those who like pretty things and those who can appreciate the more serious qualities that are beneath. for mr. thomson is a student of literature. he pauses on his subject, and though his invention has always responded to the suggestions of the text, the lightness of his later work is the outcome of a selecting judgment that has learned what to omit by studying the details and facts of things. in rendering facial expression mr. thomson is perhaps too much the follower of caldecott, but he goes much farther than his original master in realization of the forms and manners of bygone times. some fashions of life, as they pass from use, are laid by in lavender. the fashions of the eighteenth century have been so laid by, and mr. abbey and mr. thomson are alike successful in giving a version of fact that has the farther charm of lavender-scented antiquity. when 'days with sir roger de coverley,' illustrated by hugh thomson, was published in 1886, the young artist was already known by his drawings in the 'english illustrated,' and recognized as a serious student of history and literature, and a delightful illustrator of the times he studied. his powers of realizing character, time, and place, were shown in this earliest work. sir roger is a dignified figure; mr. spectator, in the guise of steele, has a semblance of observation; and if will wimble lacks his own unique quality, he is represented as properly engaged about his 'gentleman-like manufactures and obliging little humours.' mr. thomson can draw animals, if not with the possessive understanding of caldecott, yet with truth to the kind, knowledge of movement. the country-side around sir roger's house--as, in a later book, that where the vicarage of wakefield stands--is often delightfully drawn, while the leisurely and courteous spirit of the essays is represented, with an appreciation of its beauty. 'coaching days and coaching ways' (1888) is a picturesque book, where types and bustling action picturesquely treated were the subjects of the artist. the peopling of high-road and county studies with lively figures is one of mr. thomson's successful achievements, as he has shown in drawings of the cavalier exploits of west-country history, illustrative of 'highways and byways of devon and cornwall,' and in episodes of romance and warfare and humour in similar volumes on donegal, north wales, and yorkshire. here the presentment of types and action, rather than of character, is the aim, but in the drawings to 'cranford' (1891), to 'our village,' and to jane austen's novels, behaviour rather than action, the gentilities and proprieties of life and millinery, have to be expressed as a part of the artistic sense of the books. that is, perhaps, why jane austen is so difficult to illustrate. the illustrator must be neither formal nor picturesque. he must understand the 'parlour' as a setting for delicate human comedy. mr. thomson is better in 'cranford,' where he has the village as the background for the two old ladies, or in 'our village,' where the graceful pleasures of miss mitford's prose have suggested delightful figures to the illustrator's fancy, than in illustrating miss austen, whose disregard of local colouring robs the artist of background material such as interests him. three books of verses by mr. austin dobson, 'the ballad of beau brocade' (1892), 'the story of rosina,' and 'coridon's song' of the following years, together with the illustrations to 'peg woffington,' show, in combination, the picturesque and the intellectual interests that mr. thomson finds in life. the eight pieces that form the first of these volumes were, indeed, chosen to be reprinted because of their congruity in time and sentiment with mr. thomson's art. and certainly he works in accord with the measure of mr. austin dobson's verses. both author and artist carry their eighteenth-century learning in as easy a way as though experience of life had given it them without any labour in libraries. [illustration: from mr. hugh thomson's 'ballad of beau brocade.' by leave of messrs. kegan paul.] mr. c. e. brock and mr. h. m. brock are two artists who to some extent may be considered as followers of mr. thomson's methods, though mr. c. e. brock's work in 'punch,' and humorous characterizations by mr. h. m. brock in 'living london,' show how distinct from the elegant fancy of mr. thomson's art are the latest developments of their artistic individuality. mr. c. e. brock's illustrations to hood's 'humorous poems' (1893) proved his indebtedness to mr. thomson, and his ability to carry out caldecott-thomson ideas with spirit and with invention. an active sense of fun, and facility in arranging and expressing his subject, made him an addition to the school he represented, and, as in later work, his own qualities and the qualities he has adopted combined to produce spirited and graceful art. but in work preceding the pen-drawing of 1893, and in many books illustrated since then, mr. brock at times has shown himself an illustrator to whom matter rather than a particular charm of manner seems of paramount interest. in the illustrated gulliver of 1894 there is little trace of the daintiness and sprightliness of caldecott's illustrative art. he gives many particulars, and is never at a loss for forms and details, representing with equal matter-of-factness the crowds, cities and fleets of lilliput, the large details of brobdingnagian existence, and the ceremonies and spectacles of laputa. in books of more actual adventure, such as 'robinson crusoe' or 'westward ho,' or of quiet particularity, such as galt's 'annals of the parish,' the same directness and unmannered expression are used, a directness which has more of the journalistic than of the playful-inventive quality. the jane austen drawings, those to 'the vicar of wakefield,' and to a recent edition of the 'essays of elia,' show the graceful eighteenth-centuryist, while, whether he reports or adorns, whether action or behaviour, adventure or sentiment, is his theme, mr. brock is always an illustrator who realizes opportunities in the text, and works from a ready and observant intelligence. [illustration: from mr. c. e. brock's 'the essays of elia.' by leave of messrs. dent.] mr. henry m. brock is also an effective illustrator, and his work increases in individuality and in freedom of arrangement. 'jacob faithful' (1895) was followed by 'handy andy' and thackeray's 'songs and ballads' in 1896. less influenced by mr. thomson than his brother, the lively thackeray drawings, with their versatility and easy invention, have nevertheless much in common with the work of mr. charles brock. on the whole, time has developed the differences rather than the similarities in the work of these artists. in the 'waverley' drawings and in those of 'the pilgrim's progress,' mr. h. m. brock represents action in a more picturesque mood than mr. charles brock usually maintains, emphasizing with more dramatic effect the action and necessity for action. the illustrations of mr. william c. cooke, especially those to 'popular british ballads' (1894), and, with less value, those to 'john halifax, gentleman,' may be mentioned in relation to the caldecott tradition, though it is rather of the art of kate greenaway that one is reminded in these tinted illustrations. mr. cooke's wash-drawings to jane austen's novels, to 'evelina' and 'the man of feeling,' as well as the pen-drawings to 'british ballads,' have more force, and represent with some distinction the stir of ballad romance, the finely arranged situations of miss austen, and the sentiments of life, as evelina and harley understood it. in a study of english black-and-white art, not limited to book-illustration, 'punch' is an almost inevitable and invaluable centre for facts. few draughtsmen of notability are outside the scheme of art connected with 'punch,' and in this connection artists differing as widely as sir john tenniel and mr. phil may, or mr. linley sambourne and mr. raven hill, form a coherent group. but, in this volume, 'punch' itself is outside the limits of subject, and, with the exception of mr. bernard partridge in the present, and sir harry furniss in the past, the wits of the pencil who gather round the 'mahogany tree' are not among character-illustrators of literature. mr. partridge has drawn for 'punch' since 1891, and has been on the staff for nearly all that time. his drawings of theatrical types in mr. jerome's 'stage-land' (1889)--which, according to some critics, made, by deduction, the author's reputation as a humorist--and to a first series of mr. anstey's 'voces populi,' as well as work in many of the illustrated papers, were a substantial reason for 'punch's' invitation to the artist. from the 'bishop and shoeblack' cut of 1891, to the 'socials' and cartoons of to-day, mr. partridge's drawings, together with those of mr. phil may and of mr. raven hill, have brilliantly maintained the reputation of 'punch' as an exponent of the forms and humours of modern life. his actual and intimate knowledge of the stage, and his actor's observation of significant attitudes and expressions, vivify his interpretation of the middle-class, and of bank-holiday makers, of the 'artiste,' and of such a special type as the 'baboo jabberjee' of mr. anstey's fluent conception. if his 'socials' have not the prestige of mr. du maurier's art, if his women lack charm and his children delightfulness, he is, in shrewdness and range of observation, a pictorial humorist of unusual ability. as a book-illustrator, his most 'literary' work is in the pages of mr. austin dobson's 'proverbs in porcelain.' studied from the model, the draughtsmanship as able and searching as though these figures were sketches for an 'important' work, there is in every drawing the completeness and fortunate effect of imagination. the ease of an actual society is in the pose and grouping of the costumed figures, while, in the representation of their graces and gallantries, the artist realizes _ce superflu si nécessaire_ that distinguishes dramatic action from the observed action of the model. problems of atmosphere, of tone, of textures, as well as the presentment of life in character, action, and attitude, occupy mr. partridge's consideration. he, like mr. abbey, has the colourist's vision, and though the charm of people, of circumstance, of accessories and of association is often less his interest than characteristic facts, in non-conventional technique, in style that is as un-selfconscious as it is individual, mr. abbey and mr. partridge have many points in common. sir harry furniss, alone of caricaturists, has, in the many-sided activity of his career, applied his powers of characterization to characters of fiction, though he has illustrated more nonsense-books and wonder-books than books of serious narrative. sir john tenniel and mr. linley sambourne among cartoonists, sir harry furniss, mr. e. t. reed, and mr. carruthers gould among caricaturists, mark the strong connection between politics and political individualities, and the irresponsible developments and creatures of nonsense-adventures, as a theme for art. to summarize sir harry furniss' career would be to give little space to his work as a character-illustrator, but his character-illustration is so representative of the other directions of his skill, that it merits consideration in the case of a draughtsman as effective and ubiquitous in popular art as is 'lika joko.' the pen-drawings to mr. james payn's 'talk of the town,' illustrated by sir harry furniss in 1885, have, in restrained measure, the qualities of flexibility, of imagination so lively as to be contortionistic, of emphasis and pugnacity of expression, of pantomimic fun and drama, that had been signalized in his parliamentary antics in 'punch' for the preceding five years. his connection with 'punch' lasted from 1880 to 1894, and the 'parliamentary views,' two series of 'm.p.s in session,' and the 'salisbury parliament,' represent experience gained as the illustrator of 'toby m.p.' his high spirits and energy of sight also found scope in caricaturing academic art, 'pictures at play' (1888), being followed by 'academy antics' of no less satirical and brilliant purpose. as caricaturist, illustrator, lecturer, journalist, traveller, the style and idiosyncrasies of sir harry furniss are so public and familiar, and so impossible to emphasize, that a brief mention of his insatiable energies is perhaps as adequate as would be a more detailed account. [illustration: from sir harry furniss' 'the talk of the town.' by leave of messrs. smith, elder.] other book-illustrators whose connection with 'punch' is a fact in the record of their work are mr. a. s. boyd and mr. arthur hopkins. mr. jalland, too, in drawings to whyte-melville used his sporting knowledge on a congenial subject. mr. a. s. boyd's 'daily graphic' sketches prepared the way for 'canny' drawings of scottish types in stevenson's 'lowden sabbath morn,' in 'days of auld lang syne,' and in 'horace in homespun,' and for other observant illustrations to books of pleasant experiences written by mrs. boyd. mr. arthur hopkins, and his brother mr. everard hopkins, are careful draughtsmen of some distinction. without much spontaneity or charm of manner, the pretty girls of mr. arthur hopkins, and his well-mannered men, fill a place in the pages of 'punch,' while illustrations to james payn's 'by proxy,' as far back as 1878, show that the unelaborate style of his recent work is founded on past practice that has the earlier and truer du maurier technique as its standard of thoroughness. mr. e. j. wheeler, a regular contributor to 'punch' since 1880, has illustrated editions of sterne and of 'masterman ready,' other books also containing characteristic examples of his rather precise, but not uninteresting, work. save by stringing names of artists together on the thread of their connection with some one of the illustrated papers or magazines, it would be impossible to include in this chapter mention of the enormous amount of capable black-and-white art produced in illustration of 'serial' fiction. such name-stringing, on the connection--say--of 'the illustrated london news,' 'the graphic,' or 'the pall mall magazine,' would fill a page or two, and represent nothing of the quality of the work, the attainment of the artist. neither is it practicable to summarize the illustration of current fiction. one can only attempt to give some account of illustrated literature, except where the current illustrations of an artist come into the subject 'by the way.' mr. frank brangwyn may be isolated from the group of notable painters, including mr. jacomb hood, mr. seymour lucas and mr. r. w. macbeth, who illustrate for 'the graphic,' by reason of his illustrations to classics of fiction such as 'don quixote' and 'the arabian nights,' as well as to michael scott's two famous sea-stories. to some extent his illustrations are representative of the large-phrased construction of mr. brangwyn's painting, especially in the drawings of the opulent orientalism of 'the arabian nights,' with its thousand and one opportunities for vivid art. mr. brangwyn's east is not the vague east of the stay-at-home artist, nor of the conventional traveller; his imagination works on facts of memory, and both memory and imagination have strong colour and concentration in a mind bent towards adventure. one should not, however, narrow the scope of mr. brangwyn's art within the limits of his work in black and white, and what is no more than an aside in the expression of his individuality, cannot, with justice to the artist, be considered by itself. other 'graphic' illustrators--mr. frank dadd, mr. john charlton, mr. william small, and mr. h. m. paget, to name a few only--represent the various qualities of their art in black-and-white drawings of events and of fiction, and the 'illustrated,' with artists including mr. caton woodville, mr. seppings wright, mr. s. begg, m. amedée forestier and mr. ralph cleaver, fills a place in current art to which few of the more recently established journals can pretend. mr. frank dadd and mr. h. m. paget made drawings for the 'dryburgh' edition of the waverleys. in this edition, too, is the work of well-known artists such as mr. william hole, whose scott and stevenson illustrations show his inbred understanding of northern romance, and together with the character etchings to barrie, shrewd and valuable, represent with some justice the vigour of his art; of mr. walter paget, an excellent illustrator of 'robinson crusoe,' and of many boys' books and books of adventure, of mr. lockhart bogle, and of mr. gordon browne. in the same edition mr. paul hardy, mr. john williamson and mr. overend, showed the more serious purpose of black and white that has earned the appreciation of a public critical of any failure in vigour and in realization--the public that follows the tremendous activity of mr. henty's pen, and for whom dr. gordon stables, mr. manville fenn and mr. sydney pickering write. of m. amedée forestier, whose illustrations are as popular with readers of the 'illustrated' and with the larger public of novel-readers as they are with students of technique, one cannot justly speak as an english illustrator. he, and mr. robert sauber, contributed to ward lock's edition of scott illustrated by french artists. their work, m. forestier's so admirable in realization of episode and romance, mr. sauber's, vivacious up to the pitch of 'the impudent comedian'--as his illustrations to mr. frankfort moore's version of nell gwynn's fascinations showed--needs no introduction to an english public. the black and white of mr. sauber and of mr. dudley hardy--when mr. hardy is in the vein that culminated in his theatrical posters--has many imitators, but it is not a style that is likely to influence illustrators of literature. mr. hal hurst shows something of it, though he, and in greater measure mr. max cowper, also suggest the unforgettable technique of charles dana gibson. iv. some children's-books illustrators. leigh hunt is one of many authors gratefully to praise the best-praised publisher of any day, mr. newbery, who, at "the bible and sun" in st. paul's churchyard, dispensed to long-ago children 'goody two shoes,' 'beauty and the beast,' and other less famous little books, bound in gilt paper and rich with many pictures. charming memories prompt leigh hunt's mention of the little penny books 'radiant with gold,' that 'never looked so well as in adorning literature,' and if the radiance of his estimate of these nursery volumes is from an actual memory of gilt-paper binding, his words exemplify the spirit that makes right appreciation of the newest picture-books so difficult. in no other part of the subject of book-illustration are the books of yesterday fraught with charm so inimical to delight in the books of to-day. the modern child's book--except, let us hope, to the child-owner--is merely a book as other books are. its qualities are as patent as its size, or number of illustrations. the pictures are to the credit or discredit of a known and realized artist; they are, moreover, generally plain to see as a development of the ideas of some 'school' or 'movement.' one knows about them as examples of english book-illustration of to-day. but the pictures between the worn-out covers of the other child's books were known with another kind of knowledge, discovered in a long intimacy, and related, not to any artist, or fashion of art, but to all manner of unreasonable and delightful things. so it is well, perhaps, that the break between a subject of enthralling associations and a subject whose associations are unsentimental, should, by the ordering of facts, occur before the proper beginning of a study of contemporary illustration in children's books. for one reason or another, little work by artists whose reputation is of earlier date than to-day comes within present subject-limits. some, like randolph caldecott and kate greenaway, are dead, some have ceased to draw, or draw no longer for children. happily, the witching drawings of arthur hughes are still among nursery pictures, in reprints of 'at the back of the north wind,' and its companions--though the illustrator of these books, of 'the boy in grey,' and of 'tom brown's schooldays,' has long ceased to weave his fortunate dreams into pictures to content a child. the drawings of robert barnes, of mrs. allingham and of miss m. e. edwards--illustrators of a sound tradition--are known to the present nursery generation; and so are the outline and tinted drawings of 't. pym,' who devised, so far back as the seventies, the naïve and sympathetic style of illustration that is pleasantly unchanged in recent child-books, such as 'the gentle heritage' (1893), and 'master barthemy' (1896). the later work of walter crane is so bent to decorative and allegorical purpose, that the creator of the best nursery-rhyme pictures ever printed in colours--randolph caldecott's are rather ballad than nursery-rhyme pictures--is in his place among decorative illustrators rather than in this connection. sir john tenniel's neat, immortal little alice, with her ankle-strap shoes and pocketed apron, is still followed to wonderland by as many children as in 1866, when she and the splendid prototypes of the degenerate jargon-beasts of to-day first captivated attention. the drawings of these artists, and perhaps also of 'e. v. b.'--for 'child's play,' though published in 1858, is familiar to present children in a reprint--are mentioned because of the place they still take on nursery book-shelves. but from such brief record of some among the books 'radiant with gold' that 'never looked so well as in adorning literature,' one must turn to work that has no such radiance of sentiment and association over its merits and defects. since the eighties mr. gordon browne has been in the forefront of illustrators popular with story-book publishers and with readers of story-books. he is the son of hablot browne, but no trace of the 'caricaturizations' of 'phiz' is in mr. gordon browne's work. probably his earliest published work appeared in 'aunt judy's magazine' some time in the seventies. these unenlivening drawings suggest nothing of the picturesque and unhesitating invention that has shaped his style to its present serviceableness in the rapid production of effective illustrations. the range and quantity of his work is best realized in the bibliographical list, which records his illustrations to shakespeare and henty, to fairy-tales and boys' stories, girls' stories and toy-books, gulliver, cervantes, and sunday-school books, at the rate of six or seven volumes a year. in addition, one must remember unnumbered illustrations in domestic magazines. and, on the whole, the stories illustrated by gordon browne are adequately illustrated. it is true that as a general rule he illustrates stories whose plan is within limits of familiarity, such as those by mrs. ewing, mrs. l. t. meade, or, in a different vein, the boys' stories of henty, manville fenn, or ascott hope. romance and the clash of swords engaged the artist in the pages of 'sintram,' of froissart, of sir walter scott, and--pre-eminently--in the illustrations to the 'henry irving shakespeare,' numbering nearly six hundred, and representing the work of five years. illustrating these subjects, though in varying degree, the vitality and importance of an artist's conception of life and of art is put to the test. so far as prompt and definite representation of persons, places, and encounters, and unflagging facility in devising effective forms of composition constitute interpretation, the artist maintained the level of the undertaking. the illustration of stories such as those collected by the brothers grimm, or those andersen discovered in his exile of dreams among the facts of life, demands a quality of thought differing from, yet hardly less rare than, the thought needed to interpret shakespeare. a fine aptitude for discerning and rendering 'the mysterious face of common things,' a fancy full of shapes, perception of the _rationale_ of magic, are essential to the writer or artist who elects to send his fancy after the elusive forms of fairyland. the recent drawings to andersen, a volume of tales from grimm, published in 1894, and illustrations to modern inventions, such as 'down the snow stairs' (1886), and mr. andrew lang's 'prince prigio,' show that mr. gordon browne's ideas of fairyland, ancient and modern, are no less brisk and picturesque than are his ideas of everyday and of romance. his technique is so familiar that it is surely unnecessary to make even a brief disquisition on its merits in expressing facts as they exist in a popular scheme of reality and imagination. it is a healthy style, the ideals of beauty and of strength are never coarse, wanton or listless, the humour is friendly, and if the pathos occasionally verges on sentimentality, the writer, perhaps, rather than the artist is responsible. mr. gordon browne draws the average child, and represents fun, fancy and adventure as the average child understands them. his art is unsophisticated. to him, the child is no _motif_ in a decorative fantasy, nor a quaint diagram figuring in nursery-gothic elements of design, nor a bold invention among picture-book monsters. the artists whose basis of art is the unadapted child, may, perhaps, be classed as the 'realists' among children's illustrators. among these realists are the illustrators of mrs. molesworth--with the exception of walter crane, first and chief of them. mr. leslie brooke succeeded mr. crane in 1891 as the illustrator of mrs. molesworth's stories, and the careful un-selfconscious fashion of his drawing, his understanding of child-life and home-life as known to children such as those of whom and for whom mrs. molesworth writes, make these pen-drawings true illustrations of the text. his drawings are the result of individual observation and of a sense of what is fit and pleasant, though neither in his filling of a page, nor in the conception of beauty, is there anything definitely inventive to be marked. on the whole, his children and young people are rather representative of a class that maintains a standard of good looks among other desirable things, than of a type of beauty; and if they are not artistic types, neither are they strongly individualized. in his 'everyday' illustrations mr. leslie brooke does not idealize, but that his talent has a range of fancy is proved in illustrations to 'a school in fairyland' (1896), and to some imaginings by roma white. graceful, regardful of an unspoilt ideal in the fairies, elves and flower-spirits, there are also frequent hints in these drawings of the humour that finds more complete expression in 'the nursery rhyme book' of 1897, and in the happy extravagance of 'the jumblies' and 'the pelican chorus' (1900). outside the scope of picture-book drawings are the dainty tinted designs to nash's 'spring song,' and the skilful pen-drawings to 'pippa passes.' mr. lewis baumer's drawings of children, whether in 'the boys and i' and other stories by mrs. molesworth, or in less known child-stories, have distinction that is partly a development of an admiration for du maurier, though mr. baumer is too quick-sighted and appreciative of charm to remain faithful to any model in art with the model in life before his eyes. the children of mr. baumer are of to-day. the effect of the earlier 'punch' artist on the work of the younger man is hardly more than suggested in certain felicities of pose and expression added to those that a delightful kind of child discovers to an observer unusually sensitive to the vivid and engaging qualities of his subject. these children are swift of movement and of spirit, and the _verve_ of the artist's style is rarely forced, and still more rarely inadequate to the occasion. [illustration: from mr. lewis baumer's 'hermy.' by leave of messrs. chambers.] the acceptance of a formula, rather than the expression of a hitherto unexpressed order of form, is the basis of page-decoration by members of the birmingham school, whose work in its wider aspect has already been considered. originality finds exercise in modifying details, but, pre-eminent over differences in style, is the similarity of style that suggests 'birmingham' before the variations in detail suggest the work of an individual artist. the influence of kate greenaway is strongly marked in the work of many of these designers for children's books. indeed, miss winifred green's drawings to charles and mary lamb's 'poetry for children,' and to 'mrs. leicester's school,' contain figures that, if one allows for some assertion necessary to justify their reappearance, might have come direct from 'under the window.' the typical illustrative art of birmingham is, however, of another kind. the quaint propriety of 'old-fashioned' childhood, which kate greenaway's delicate pencil first represented at its artistic value, is akin to the conception of the child that prevails on the pages decorated by mrs. arthur gaskin, but the work of mrs. gaskin shows nothing of the stothard-like ideal that seems to have been the suggesting cause of 'greenaway' play-pictures. in the arabesques of flowers and leaves which decorate many pages designed by mrs. gaskin one sees a freedom and fluency of line that are checked to quaintness and naïve angularity when the child is the subject. her conception of a pictorial child is very definite, and in her later work, one must confess, it is a conception hardly corroborated by observation of fact. 'horn book jingles' and 'the travellers' of 1897 and 1898 show the culmination of a style that had more sympathetic charm in the tinted pages of the 'a. b. c.' (1895), or the 'divine and moral songs' of the following year. book-illustration is with mrs. gaskin, as with many members of the school, only a part of craftsmanship. miss calvert's winsome drawings in 'baby lays' and 'more baby lays' are obviously related to the drawings of mrs. gaskin, though observation of real babies seems to have come between a rigid adherence to the model. the decorative illustrations by the miss holdens to 'jack and the beanstalk' (1895), and to 'the real princess,' show evidence of fancy that finds expression while nothing of mr. gaskin's teaching is forgotten. as different in spirit from the drawings of the birmingham designers as is the lambs' 'poetry for children' from 'a child's garden of verses,' the captivating illustrations of mr. charles robinson seem a direct pictorial evocation of the mood of stevenson's child's rhymes, or of eugene field's lullabies. familiar now, and exaggerated in imitations and in some of the artist's later work, the children and child-fantasies of mr. robinson, as they were realized in the first unspoilt freshness of improvisation, are among the delightful surprises of modern book-illustration. in the pages of 'a child's garden of verses' (1896), of 'the child world,' and of field's 'lullaby land,' the frolic babes of his fancy play hide and seek wherever the text leaves space for them, rioting, or attitudinizing with spritely ceremony, from cover to cover. the mood of imaginative play, of daylight make-believe with its realistic and romantic excesses, and of the make-believe enforced by flickering fire-light, and by the shadows in the darkened house, is expressed in mr. robinson's drawings. not children, but child's-play, and the unexplored shadows and mysteries that lie 'up the mountain side of dreams' are the motives of the fantasies he sets on the page beside stevenson's rhymes of old delights, and the rhymes of the land of counterpane, where wynken blynken and nod, the rockaby lady from hushaby street, and all kind drowsy fancies close round and shut away the crooked shadows into the night outside the nursery. the three books mentioned represent, as i think, the artist's work at its truest value. there is variety of touch and of method, and the heavier fact-enforcing line of 'child voices,' of 'lilliput lyrics,' or of the coloured pictures to 'jack of all trades' is used, as well as the fanciful line of the by-the-way drawings, and the arabesques and delicate detail of the fantasy and dream pictures. a scheme of solid black and white, connected and rendered fully valuable by interweaving with line, white lines telling against black masses, and black lines relieved against white, with pattern as a resource to fill spaces when plain black or plain white seem uninteresting, is, of course, the scheme of the majority of decorative illustrators. but of this scheme mr. charles robinson has made individual use. whether his lines trace a fairy's transparent wing on a background of night-sky, of drifting cloud or of dream mountain-side, or make the child visible among dream-buildings, or seated on the world of fancy in the immensity of night, or passing in a sleep-ship through faëry seas, they have the quality of imagination, imagination in their disposition to form a decorative effect, and in the forms they express. the full-page drawings to 'king longbeard' have this quality, and hardly a drawing to any theme of fancy, whether in old or in new fairy tales, or in verses, but is the result of a vision of charm and distinction. it would seem that the imagination of mr. charles robinson realizes a subject with more delight when the text is suggestive, rather than impressive with definite conceptions. the mighty forms of 'the odyssey,' the chivalric symbolism of 'sintram and aslaugas knight,' even the magical particularity of hans andersen, are not, apparently, supreme in his imagination, as is his vision of fairy-seeing childhood. one is unenlightened by the graceful drawings to 'the adventures of odyseus,' or the romances of de la motte fouqué. that miss alice woodward has, on occasion, made one of the many illustrators who have profited by the example of mr. charles robinson, various drawings seem to show, but few of these illustrators have the originality and purpose that allow miss woodward to enlarge her range of expression without nullifying the spontaneity of her work. she has illustrated over a dozen books, beginning with 'banbury cross' in 1895, and mostly she treats her subject with humour and variety and with a consistent idea of the pictorial aspect of things. she has quick appreciation of unconscious humour in attitude and in expression, though she seems at times to rely too much on memory, thereby diminishing vividness. when most successful she can draw a pleasing child with lines almost as few as those used by any modern artist. miss gertrude bradley is another pleasant illustrator. her later drawings of children are modified from the print-pinafore freshness of those in 'songs for somebody' (1893), to a type that has evident affinities with the charles robinson child, though in 'just forty winks' (1897) miss bradley proves her individual sense of humour. the taking simplicity of miss marion wallace-dunlop's illustrations of elf-babies in 'fairies, elves and flower babies,' and of the human twins who adventure in 'the magic fruit garden' also suggests the influence of the fortunate inventor of an admirable child. [illustration: from miss woodward's 'to tell the king the sky is falling.' by leave of messrs. blackie.] the greater amount of mr. bedford's work for children consists of coloured illustrations to nursery-books, and, when the humour of half-penny paper journalism is supposed to be entertainment for babies, one may be thankful for the pleasant and peaceful drawings of this artist. little miss muffet, wee willie winkie, and the activities of town and country, are a relief from the _jeunesse dorée_, and the lethargy of the war office as toy-book subjects, while 'the battle of the frogs and mice'--though miss barlow's version of aristophanes, with mr. bedford's effective decorations, is hardly a nursery-book--is a better child's subject than the punishable pretensions of other nations. in work hitherto noticed, the child may be regarded as the central figure of the design, whether fact or fancy be set about his little personality. besides the illustrators whose subject is childhood in some aspect or another, and those children's illustrators who pictorialize the wide imaginings of the national fairy tales, there are others in whose work the child figures incidentally, but not as the central fact. in this connection one may consider those draughtsmen who illustrate modern wonder-books with zankiwanks, krabs and wallypugs. mr. archie macgregor should be classed, perhaps, among artists of the child in wonderland, but the personalities of tomakin and his sisters, though judge parry sets them forth in prose and in verse with his usual high spirits, are not the illustrator's first care. 'katawampus,' 'the first book of krab,' and 'butterscotia,' have made mr. macgregor's robust and strongly-defined drawings familiar, and, within the limits of the author's hearty imagination, his droll and unflagging representations of adventures, ceremonies and humours, are extremely apt. children, goblins, animals and queer monsters are drawn with unhesitating spirit and humour, and with decorative invention that would be even more successful if it were less fertile in devising detail. more fortunate in rendering action than facial expression, without the mystery that is the atmosphere of the magical fairy-land, the fact and fancy of mr. macgregor are so admirably illustrative of judge parry's text that one is almost inclined to attribute the absence of glamour to the artist's strong conception of the function of an illustrator. mr. alan wright's work, again, is inevitably associated with the invention of an author, though mr. farrow's 'wallypug' books have not all been illustrated by one artist. mr. wright's drawings are proof of an energetic and serviceable conception of all sorts of out-of-the-way things. his humour is unelaborate, he goes straight to the fact, and, having expressed its extraordinary and fantastic characteristics, he does not linger to develop his drawing into a decorative scheme. apparently he draws 'out of his head,' whether his subject is fact or extravagance. the three small humans who figure in 'the little panjandrum's dodo,' and the ambassador's son of 'the mandarin's kite,' are as briefly sketched as the whimsicalities with whom they consort. mr. arthur rackham's illustrations to 'two old ladies, two foolish fairies, and a tom-cat' (1897), and to 'the zankiwank and the bletherwitch' show inspiriting talent for nursery extravaganza. the children, whirled from reality into a phantasmagoria of adventure, are deftly and happily drawn, the fairies have fairy grace, and the rout of hobgoblins and grotesques fill their parts. drawing real animals, mr. rackham is equally quick to note what is characteristic, and his facility in realizing fact and magic finds expression in the illustrations to 'grimm's fairy tales' (1900). this is the most important work of mr. rackham as a child's illustrator, and if the drawings are somewhat calculated to impress the horrid horror of witches and forest enchantments on uneasy minds, the charm of princesses and peasant maids, the sagacious humour of talking animals and the grotesque enlivenment of cobolds and gnomes are no less vividly represented. that mr. rackham admires mr. e. j. sullivan's scheme of decorative black-and-white is evident in these drawings, but not to the detriment of their inventive worth. [illustration: from mr. arthur rackham's 'grimm's fairy tales.' by leave of messrs. freemantle.] mr. j. d. batten, mr. h. j. ford, and mr. h. r. millar represent, in various ways, the modern art of fairy-tale illustration at its best. mr. batten's connection with mr. joseph jacob's treasuries of fairy-lore, mr. ford's long record of work in the multicoloured fairy and true story books edited by mr. lang, and the drawings of mr. millar in various collections of fairy tales, entitle them to a foremost place among contemporary illustrators of the world's immortal wonder-stories. mr. batten knows the rules of chivalry, of sentiment, humour, and horridness, as they exist in the magical convention of the real fairy-tales, and whether their purpose be merry or sad, heroic or grotesque, he illustrates the old tales of celt and saxon, of india, arabia and greece with appreciation of the largeness and splendour of their conception. one might wish for more vitality in his women, and think that a representation of the mournful beauty of deirdre, the passion of circe or of medea, should differ from the untroubled sweetness of the king's daughter of faery. still one appreciates the dignity of these smooth-browed women, and, after all, the passionate figures of greek and celtic epics need translation before they can figure in fairy-tale books. mr. batten's ideas are never trite and never morbid. his giants are gigantic, his monsters of true devastating breed, and his drawings--especially the later ones--are as able technically as they are apt to the occasion. [illustration: from mr. batten's 'indian fairy tales.' by leave of david nutt.] there can hardly be an existent fairy-story among the hundreds told before the making of books that mr. ford has not illustrated in one version or another. the telling-house of every nation has yielded stories for mr. lang's annual volumes; and since the appearance of 'the blue fairy book' in 1888, mr. ford, alone or in collaboration with mr. jacomb hood, mr. lancelot speed and other well-known artists, has illustrated the stories mr. lang has gathered. moreover, in addition to seven volumes of fairy tales, and many true story and animal story books, mr. ford has made drawings for æsop, for the 'arabian nights,' and for 'early italian love stories.' his decorative and illustrative ideal has never lacked distinction, and his recent work is the coherent development of that of fourteen years ago, though he has gained in freedom and variety of conception and in quality of expression. mr. ford's art is obviously founded on that of walter crane, but he looks at a subject with greater interest in its dramatic possibilities, and in the facts of place and time than the later 'crane' convention admits. an abundant fancy, familiarity with the facts of legendary, romantic and animal life, over a wide tract of country and through long ages of time, fill the decorative pages of the artist with a plentitude of graceful, vigorous and persuasive forms. the well-devised pages of miss emily j. harding's 'fairy tales of the slav peasants and herdsmen,' are akin in form to the drawings of mr. batten and of mr. ford, though regard for the national tone of the stories gives these illustrations individuality and interest. [illustration: from mr. ford's 'pink fairy book.' by leave of messrs. longmans.] the principles of art represented by the drawings of mr. ford have little in common with those which determine the scheme of mr. millar's many illustrations. vierge, and gigoux, the master of vierge, are the indubitable suggesters of his style, and the antitheses of sheer black and white, the audacities, evasions and accentuations of these jugglers with line and form, are dexterously handled by mr. millar. he has not invented his convention, he has accepted it, and begun original work within accepted limits. a less original artist would thereby have doomed himself to extinction, but mr. millar has a lively apprehension of romance, especially in an oriental setting, and interest in subject is incompatible with merely imitative work. illustrations to 'hajji baba' (1895), and to 'eothen,' show how dramatic and true to picturesque notions of the east are the conceptions, and the same vigour projects itself into themes of western adventure in 'frank mildmay' and 'snarleyow.' but his right to be considered here is determined by the rapid visions of fairy romance realized in the pages of 'fairy tales by q.' (1895), of 'the golden fairy book' with its companions, and on the more concrete but not less sufficient drawings to 'the book of dragons,' and 'nine unlikely tales for children.' [illustration: from mr. millar's 'fairy tales by q.' by leave of messrs. cassells.] the pen-drawings of mr. t. h. robinson in the "andersen" illustrated by the brother artists, show ability to realize not only the incidents and ideas of the stories, but also something of the national inspiration that is an element in all _märchen_. at times determinedly decorative, his work is generally in closer alliance with actuality than is the typical work of mr. charles or of mr. w. h. robinson. character, action, costume, picturesque facts of life and scenery are suggested, and suggested with interest in the actual geographical and chronological circumstances of the stories, whether a poet's denmark, the arabia of scheherazade, the greece of kingsley's 'the heroes,' or the rivers and mountains of carmen sylva's stories determine the fact-scheme for his decorative invention. in addition to these vigorous and generally harmonious illustrations, the artist's drawings to 'cranford,' 'the scarlet letter,' 'lichtenstein,' 'the sentimental journey,' and 'esmond,' prove his interest and inventive sense to be effective in realizing actual historical and local conditions. if mr. w. h. robinson is also an apt illustrator of legends and of folk-tales, whose setting demands attention to the facts of life as they were to story-tellers in far countries of once-upon-a-time, the more individual side of his talent is discovered in work of wilder and more intense fancy. andersen's 'marsh king's daughter,' the snow queen with her frozen eyes, the picaresque mood of little claus, or the doom of proud inger, are to his mind, and in illustrations to 'don quixote' (1897), to 'the pilgrim's progress,' and especially in the fully decorated volume of poe's 'poems,' the forcible conceptions of the text find pictorial expression. mr. a. g. walker, though a sculptor by profession, claims notice as an illustrator of various children's books, notably 'the lost princess' (1895), 'stories from the faerie queene' (1897), and 'the book of king arthur.' his pen-drawings are expressive of a thoughtful realization of the subject in its actual and moral beauty. the nobility of spenser's conceptions, the remote beauty of the arthurian legend, appeal to him, and the careful rendering of costume, landscape and the aspect of things, is only part of a scheme of execution that has as its complete intention the rendering of the 'mood' of the narrative. these drawings are realizations rather than illuminations of the text, and one appreciates their thoroughness, clearness, and dignity. miss helen stratton published some pleasant but not very vigorous drawings of children in 'songs for little people' (1896), and illustrations to a selection from andersen suggested the later direction of her ability. this, as the copiously illustrated 'fairy tales from hans christian andersen' (1899), and the large number of drawings contributed to messrs. newnes' edition of 'the arabian nights,' show, is in realizing themes less actual than those of nursery lyrics. a sense of drama in the pose and grouping of the multitudes of figures on the pages of the danish and arabian stories, and a sufficient care for the background, as the poet's eyes might have seen it behind the dream-figures that passed between him and reality, are qualities that give miss stratton's competent work imaginative value. the work of miss r. m. m. pitman comes within the subject in her illustrations to lady jersey's fairy tale, 'maurice and the red jar,' and to 'the magic nuts' of mrs. molesworth. but though their decorative intention and technique represent the forms of the artist's work, the spirit of fantasy that informs her illustrations to 'undine' finds only modified expression. the symbolism of 'undine' is wrought into decorations of inventive elaborateness. the technical ideal of miss pitman suggests study of dürer's pen-drawing, and though at times there is too much sweetness and luxury in her representation of beauty, at her best she expresses free fancy with distinction not common in modern book-illustration. brief allusion only--where drawings of more definitely illustrative purpose over-crowd the available space--can be made to the numerous animal books, serious and comic. mr. percy j. billinghurst's full-page designs to 'a hundred fables of æsop,' 'a hundred fables of la fontaine,' and 'a hundred anecdotes of animals' deserve more than passing mention for their decorative and observant qualities and their enlivening humour. another decorative draughtsman of animals for children's books is mr. carton moore park, who, since 1899, when the 'alphabet of animals' and 'the book of birds' appeared, has published seven or eight volumes of his strongly devised designs. one can hardly conclude without reference to mr. louis wain, the cats' artist of twenty years' standing, and to mr. j. a. shepherd, chief caricaturist of animals; but while toy-book artists such as mrs. percy dearmer, mrs. farmiloe, miss rosamond praeger, mr. aldin, and mr. hassall (whose subject--the child--takes precedence of zoological subjects) must be left unconsidered, the humourists of the zoo can hardly be included. bibliography. bibliography. (_to september, 1901._) some decorative illustrators. amelia bauerle. _happy-go-lucky._ ismay thorn. 8º. (innes, 1894.) 3 f. p. _a mere pug._ nemo. 8º. (long, 1897.) 6 f. p. _allegories._ frederic w. farrar. 8º. (longmans, 1898.) 20 f. p. _sir constant._ w. e. cule. 8º. (melrose, 1899.) 6 f. p. _glimpses from wonderland._ 8º. j. ingold. (long, 1900.) 6 f. p. _the day-dream._ alfred tennyson. 8º. (lane, 1901. 'flowers of parnassus.') 7 illust. (5 f. p.) r. anning bell. _jack the giant-killer_ and _beauty and the beast_. edited by grace rhys. 32º. (dent, 1894. banbury cross series.) 35 illust. (13 f. p.) _the sleeping beauty_ and _dick whittington and his cat_. edited by grace rhys. 32º. (dent, 1894. banbury cross series.) 35 illust. (13 f. p.) _the christian year._ 8º. (methuen, 1895.) 5 f. p. _a midsummer night's dream._ 4º. (dent, 1895.) 59 illust. and decorations. (15 f. p.) _the riddle._ walter raleigh. 4º. (privately printed, 1895.) 2 illust. (1 f. p.) _an altar book._ fol. (merrymount press, u.s.a., 1896.) 7 f. p. _keats' poems._ edited by walter raleigh. 8º. (bell, 1897. endymion series.) 65 illust. and decorations. (23 f. p.) _the milan._ walter raleigh. 4º. (privately printed, 1898.) 1 f. p. _english lyrics from spenser to milton._ 8º. (bell, 1898. endymion series.) 57 illust. and decorations. (20 f. p.) _pilgrim's progress._ 8º. (methuen, 1898.) 39 illust. (26 f. p.) _lamb's tales from shakespeare._ 8º. (fremantle, 1899.) 15 f. p. w. e. f. britten. _the elf-errant._ moira o'neill. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1895.) 7 f. p. _undine._ translated from the german of baron de la motte fouqué by edmund gosse. 4º. (lawrence and bullen, 1896.) 10 f. p., photogravure. _the early poems of alfred lord tennyson._ edited by john churton-collins. 8º. (methuen, 1901.) 10 f. p., photogravure. percy bulcock. _the blessed damozel._ dante gabriel rossetti. 8º. (lane, 1900. 'flowers of parnassus.') 8 illust. (6 f. p.) herbert cole. _gulliver's travels._ j. swift. 8º. (lane, 1900.) 114 illust. (20 f. p.) _the rubaiyat._ 8º. (lane, 1901. 'flowers of parnassus.') 9 illust. (6 f. p.) _the nut-brown maid._ a new version by f. b. money-coutts. 8º. (lane, 1901. 'f. of p.') 9 illust. (6 f. p.) _a ballade upon a wedding._ sir john suckling. 8º. (lane, 1901. 'f. of p.') 9 illust. (6 f. p.) _the rime of the ancient mariner._ s. t. coleridge. 8º. (gay and bird, 1900.) 6 f. p. philip connard. _the statue and the bust._ robert browning. 8º. (lane, 1900. 'flowers of parnassus.') 9 illust. (6 f. p.) _marpessa._ stephen phillips. 8º. (lane, 1900. 'f. of p.') 7 illust. (5 f. p.) walter crane. _the new forest._ j. r. wise. 4º. (smith, elder, 1863.) 63 illust. engraved by w. j. linton. (a new edition, published by henry sotheran, 1883, with the original illust. and 12 etchings by heywood sumner.) _stories from memel._ mrs. de haviland. 12º. (william hunt, 1864.) 6 f. p. _walter crane's toy-books._ issued in single numbers, from 1865-1876. ---_collected editions_, all published in 4º, by george routledge, and printed throughout in colours. _walter crane's picture book._ (1874.) 64 pp. _the marquis of carabas' picture book._ (1874.) 64 pp. _the blue beard picture book._ (1876.) 32 pp. _song of sixpence toy-book._ (1876.) 32 pp. _chattering jack's picture book._ (1876.) 32 pp. _the three bears picture book._ (1876.) 32 pp. _aladdin's picture book._ (1876.) 24 pp. _the magic of kindness._ h. and a. mayhew. 8º. (cassell, petter and galpin, 1869.) 8 f. p. _sunny days, or a month at the great stowe._ author of 'our white violet.' 8º. (griffith and farran, 1871.) 4 f. p., in colours. _our old uncle's home._ 'mother carey.' 8º. (griffith and farran, 1871.) 4 f. p. _the head of the family._ mrs. craik. 8º. (macmillan, 1875.) 6 f. p. _agatha's husband._ mrs. craik. 8º. (macmillan, 1875.) 6 f. p. _tell me a story._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1875.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the quiver of love._ a collection of valentines, ancient and modern. 4º. (marcus ward, 1876.) with kate greenaway. 8 f. p. in colours. _carrots._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1876.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _songs of many seasons._ jemmett browne. 4º. (simpkin, marshall, 1876.) with others. 1 f. p. by walter crane. _the baby's opera._ 4º. (routledge, 1877.) 55 pictured pages in colours. (11 f. p.) _the cuckoo clock._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1877.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _grandmother dear._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1878.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the tapestry room._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1879.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the baby's bouquet._ 4º. (routledge, 1879.) 53 pictured pages, in colours. (11 f. p.) _a christmas child._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1880.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the necklace of princess fiorimonde._ mrs. de morgan. 8º. (macmillan, 1880.) 25 illust. _herr baby._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1881.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the first of may._ a fairy masque. j. r. wise. fol. (henry sotheran, 1881.) 56 decorated pages. (1 f. p.) _household stories._ translated from the german of the brothers grimm by lucy crane. 8º. (macmillan, 1882.) 120 illust. (11 f. p.) _rosy._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1882.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _pan-pipes._ a book of old songs. theo. marzials. oblong folio. (routledge, 1883.) 52 pictured pages, in colours. _christmas tree land._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1884.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _walter crane's new series of picture books._ 4º. (marcus ward, 1885-6.) _slate and pencilvania._--_little queen anne._--_pothooks and perseverance._ 24 pages each, in colours. _the golden primer._ j. m. d. meiklejohn. 8º. (blackwood, 1885.) part i. and part ii. 14 decorated pages in colours in each part. _folk and fairy tales._ c. c. harrison. 8º. (ward and downey, 1885.) 24 f. p. _"us."_ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1885.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the sirens three._ walter crane. 4º. (macmillan, 1886.) 41 pictured pages. _the baby's own æsop._ 4º. (routledge, 1886.) 56 pictured pages, in colours. _echoes of hellas._ the tale of troy and the story of orestes from homer and aeschylus. with introductory essay and sonnets by prof. george c. warr. fol. (marcus ward, 1887.) 82 decorated pages. _four winds farm._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1887.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _legends for lionel._ 4º. (cassell, 1887.) 40 pictured pages, in colours. _a christmas posy._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1888.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _the happy prince, and other tales._ oscar wilde. 4º. (nutt, 1888.) 14 illust. and decorations with g. p. jacomb-hood. 3 f. p. by walter crane. _the book of wedding days._ quotations for every day in the year, compiled by k. e. j. reid, etc. 4º. (longmans, 1889.) 100 pictured pages. _the rectory children._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1889.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _flora's feast._ a masque of flowers. walter crane. 4º. (cassell, 1889.) 40 pictured pages, in colours. _the turtle dove's nest._ 8º. (routledge, 1890.) 87 illust. (8 f. p.) with others. _chambers twain._ ernest radford. 4º. (elkin matthews, 1890.) 1 f. p. _a sicilian idyll._ dr. todhunter. 4º. (elkin matthews, 1890.) 1 f. p. _renascence._ a book of verse. walter crane. including 'the sirens three' and 'flora's feast.' 4º. (elkin mathews, 1891.) 39 illust. and decorations, some engraved on wood by arthur leverett. _a wonder book for girls and boys._ nathaniel hawthorne. (osgood, 1892.) 60 illust. and decorations in colours. (19 f. p.) _queen summer, or the tourney of the lily and the rose._ walter crane. 4º. (cassell, 1892.) 40 pictured pages in colours. _the tempest._ 8 illust. to shakespeare's 'tempest.' engraved and printed by duncan c. dallas. (dent, 1893.) _under the hawthorn._ augusta de gruchy. 8º. (mathews and lane, 1803.) 1 f. p. _the old garden._ margaret deland. 8º. (osgood, 1893.) 96 decorated pages. _the two gentlemen of verona._ 8 illust. to shakespeare's 'two gentlemen of verona.' engraved and printed by duncan c. dallas. (dent, 1894.) _the story of the glittering plain._ william morris. 4º. (kelmscott press. 1894.) 23 illust. borders, titles and initials by william morris. _the history of reynard the fox._ english verse by f. s. ellis. 4º. (david nutt, 1894.) 53 illust. and decorations. (1 f. p.) _the merry wives of windsor._ 8 illust. to shakespeare's 'merry wives of windsor.' engraved and printed by duncan c. dallas. 4º. (george allen, 1894.) _the vision of dante._ miss harrison. 8º. 1894. 4 f. p. _the faerie queene._ edited by thomas j. wise. 3 vols. 4º. (george allen, 1895.) 231 illust. and decorations. (98 f. p.) _a book of christmas verse._ selected by h. c. beeching. 8º. (methuen, 1895.) 10 illust. (5 f. p.) _the shepheard's calendar._ edmund spenser. 4º. (harper, 1898.) 16 illust. and decorations. (12 f. p.) _the walter crane readers._ nelle dale. 3 vols. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 109 pictured pages, in colours. (8 f. p.) _a floral fantasy in an old english garden._ walter crane. 8º. (harper, 1899.) 40 pictured pages, in colours. h. granville fell. _our lady's tumbler._ a twelfth century legend transcribed for lady day, 1894. 4º. (dent, 1894.) 4 f. p. _wagner's heroes._ constance maud. 8º. (arnold, 1895.) 8 f. p. _cinderella_ and _jack and the beanstalk_. 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 38 illust. (14 f. p.) _ali baba_ and _the forty thieves_. 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 38 illust. (11 f. p.) _the fairy gifts_ and _tom hickathrift_. 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 38 illust. (16 f. p.) _the book of job._ 4º. (dent, 1896.) 43 illust. and decorations. (24 f. p., 3 double pages.) _the song of solomon._ 4º. (chapman and hall, 1897.) 29 illust. and decorations. (12 f. p.) _wonder stories from herodotus._ re-told by c. h. boden and w. barrington d'almeida. 8º. (harper, 1900.) 19 illust. in colours. (12 f. p.) a. j. gaskin. _a book of pictured carols._ designed by members of the birmingham art school under the direction of a. j. gaskin. 4º. (george allen, 1893.) 13 illust. and decorations with c. m. gere, henry payne, bernard sleigh, fred. mason, and others. (1 f. p. by a. j. gaskin.) _stories and fairy tales._ hans andersen. 8º. (george allen. 1893.) 100 illust. (11 f. p.) _a book of fairy tales._ re-told by s. baring gould. 8º. (methuen, 1894.) 20 illust. (5 f. p.) _good king wenceslas._ dr. neale. 4º. (cornish brothers, birmingham, 1895.) 6 f. p. _the shepheard's calendar._ e. spenser. 8º. (kelmscott press, 1896.) 12 f. p. c. m. gere. _russian fairy tales._ r. nisbet bain. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1893.) 6 f. p. _news from nowhere._ william morris. 8º. (kelmscott press, 1893.) 1 f. p. _the imitation of christ._ thomas à kempis. introduction by f. w. farrar. 8º. (methuen, 1894.) 5 f. p. _a book of pictured carols._ see _a. j. gaskin_. j. j. guthrie. _wedding bells._ a new old nursery rhyme by a. f. s. and e. de passemore. 4º. (simpkin, marshall, 1895.) 7 decorated pages. _the little men in scarlet._ frances h. low. (jarrold, 1896.) 42 illust. (8 f. p.) _the garden of time._ mrs. davidson. 8º. (jarrold, 1896.) 40 illust. (8 f. p.) _an album of drawings._ fol. (the white cottage, shorne, kent, 1900.) 24 f. p. from various magazines. laurence housman. _jump-to-glory jane._ george meredith. 8º. (swan, sonnenschein, 1892.) 44 illust. (8 f. p.) _goblin market._ christina rossetti. 8º. (macmillan, 1893.) 42 illust. and decorations. (12 f. p.) _weird tales from northern seas._ from the danish of jonas lie. 8º. (kegan paul, 1893.) 12 f. p. _the end of elfin-town._ jane barlow. 8º. (macmillan, 1894.) 15 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _a farm in fairyland._ laurence housman. 8º. (kegan paul, 1894.) 14 f. p. _the house of joy._ laurence housman. 8º. (kegan paul, 1895.) 10 f. p. _poems._ francis thompson. 8º. (mathews and lane, 1895.) 1 f. p. _sister songs._ francis thompson. 8º. (lane, 1895.) 1 f. p. _green arras._ laurence housman. 8º. (lane, 1896.) 6 f. p. _all-fellows._ laurence housman. 8º. (kegan paul, 1896.) 7 f. p. _the were-wolf._ clemence housman. 8º. (lane, 1896.) 6 f. p. _the sensitive plant._ p. b. shelley. 4º. (aldine house, 1898.) 12 f. p. photogravure. _the field of clover._ laurence housman. 8º. (kegan paul, 1898.) 12 f. p., engraved by clemence housman. _the little flowers of saint francis._ translated by t. w. arnold. 12º. (dent, 1898, temple classics.) 1 f. p. _of the imitation of christ._ thomas à kempis. 8º. (kegan paul, 1898.) 5 f. p. _the little land._ laurence housman. 8º. (grant richards, 1899.) 4 f. p. _at the back of the north wind._ g. macdonald. 8º. (blackie, 1900.) 1 f. p. _the princess and the goblin._ g. macdonald. 8º. (blackie, 1900.) 1 f. p. a. garth jones. _the tournament of love._ w. t. peters. 8º. (brentano, 1894.) 3 illust. (2 f. p.) _the minor poems of john milton._ 8º. (bell, 1898. endymion series.) 46 illust., and decorations. (28 f. p.) _contes de haute-lisse._ jérome doucet. (bernoux and cumin, 1899.) 56 illust. and decorations. _contes de la fileuse._ jérome doucet. (tallandier, 1900.) 163 illust. and decorations. celia levetus. _turkish fairy tales._ trans. by r. nisbet bain. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1896.) 10 illust. (9 f. p.) _verse fancies._ edward l. levetus. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1898.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) _songs of innocence._ william blake. 32º. (wells, gardner, and darton, 1899.) 25 illust. (14 f. p.) w. b. macdougall _chronicles of strathearn._ 8º. (david philips, 1896.) 15 f. p. _the fall of the nibelungs._ in two books. translated by margaret armour. 8º. (dent, 1897.) 8 f. p. in each book. _thames sonnets and semblances._ margaret armour. 8º. (elkin mathews, 1897.) 12 f. p. _the book of ruth._ introduction by ernest rhys. 4º. (dent, 1896.) 8 f. p. _isabella, or the pot of basil._ john keats. 4º. (kegan paul, 1898.) 8 f. p. _the shadow of love and other poems._ margaret armour. 8º. (duckworth, 1898.) 2 f. p. fred. mason. _a book of pictured carols._ see _a. j. gaskin_. _the story of alexander._ robert steele. 4º. (david nutt, 1894.) 27 illust. (5 f. p.) _huon of bordeaux._ robert steele. 8º. (george allen, 1895.) 22 illust. (6 f. p.) _renaud of montauban._ robert steele. 8º. (george allen, 1897.) 12 f. p. t. sturge moore. _the centaur._ _the bacchant._ translated from the french of maurice de guérin by t. sturge moore. (vale press, 1899.) 4º. 5 wood engravings. _some fruits of solitude._ william penn. 8º. (essex house press, 1901.) wood engraving on title-page. l. fairfax muckley. _the faerie queene._ e. spenser. introduction by prof. hales. 3 vols. 4º. (dent, 1897.) 42 illust. and decorations. (24 f. p., 10 double page.) _fringilla._ r. d. blackmore. 8º. (elkin mathews, 1895.) 21 illust. and decorations. (11 f. p.) 3 by james linton. henry ospovat. _shakespeare's sonnets._ 8º. (lane, 1899.) 14 illust. (10 f. p.) _poems._ matthew arnold. 8º. edited by a. c. benson. (lane, 1900.) 65 illust. and decorations. (16 f. p.) charles ricketts. _a house of pomegranates._ oscar wilde. 4º. (osgood, 1891.) 17 illust. with c. h. shannon. 13 by c. ricketts. _poems, dramatic and lyrical._ lord de tabley. 8º. (mathews and lane, 1893.) 5 f. p., photogravure. _daphnis and chloe._ longus. translated by geo. thornley. 4º. (mathews and lane, 1893.) 37 illust. drawn on the wood by charles ricketts from the designs of charles ricketts and charles shannon. engraved by both artists. _the sphinx._ oscar wilde. 4º. (ballantyne press, 1894.) 10 illust. (9 f. p.) _hero and leander._ christopher marlowe and george chapman. 8º. (vale press, 1894.) 7 illust., border and initials, drawn on the wood, engraved by charles ricketts and charles shannon. _nymphidia and the muses elizium._ michael drayton. 8º. (vale press, 1896.) frontispiece, border and initials, engraved on wood. _spiritual poems._ t. gray. 8º. (vale press, 1896.) frontispiece and border, engraved on wood. _milton's early poems._ 8º. (vale press, 1896.) frontispiece, border and initials, engraved on wood. _songs of innocence._ w. blake. 8º. (vale press, 1897.) frontispiece, border and initials, engraved on wood. _sacred poems of henry vaughan._ 8º. (vale press, 1897.) frontispiece and border, engraved on wood. _the excellent narration of the marriage of cupide and psyches._ translated from the latin of lucius apuleius, by william adlington. 8º. (vale press, 1897.) 5 illust. engraved on wood. _the book of thel_, _songs of innocence_ and _songs of experience_. william blake. 4º. (vale press, 1897.) frontispiece, initials and border, engraved on wood. _blake's poetical sketches._ 4º. (vale press, 1899.) frontispiece and initials, engraved on wood. reginald savage. _der ring des nibelungen._ described by r. farquharson sharp. 4º. (marshall, russell, 1898.) 5 f. p. essex house press. _the pilgrim's progress._ _venus and adonis._ _the eve of st. agnes._ _the journal of john woolman._ _epithalamium._ (1900-1.) frontispiece engraved on wood to each volume. charles shannon. see _charles ricketts_. 'house of pomegranates,' 'hero and leander,' 'daphnis and chloe.' byam shaw. _poems by robert browning._ 8º. (bell, 1897. endymion series.) 67 illust. (22 f. p.) _tales from boccaccio._ joseph jacobs. 4º. (george allen, 1899.) 20 f. p. _the chiswick shakespeare._ 8º. (bell, 1899, etc.) 11 illust. and decorations (6 f. p.), in each volume. bernard sleigh. _the sea-king's daughter, and other poems._ amy mark. printed at the press of the birmingham guild of handicraft. (g. napier, birmingham, 1895.) 39 decorated pages (4 f. p.), engraved with l. a. talbot. _a book of pictured carols._ see _a. j. gaskin_. 2 f. p., by bernard sleigh. heywood sumner. _the itchen valley._ fol. (seeley, jackson and halliday, 1881.) _the avon from naxby to tewkesbury._ fol. (seeley, jackson and halliday, 1882.) 21 etchings. _cinderella:_ a fairy opera. john farmer and henry leigh. 4º. (novello, ewer, 1882.) 17 illust. _epping forest._ e. m. buxton. 8º. (stamford, 1884.) 36 illust. (5 f. p.) _sintram and his companions._ translated from the german of de la motte fouqué. 4º. (seeley, jackson and halliday, 1883.) 22 illust. (1 f. p.) _the new forest._ j. r. wise. see _walter crane_. _undine._ 4º. (chapman and hall, 1888.) 16 illust. (2 f. p.) _the besom maker, and other country folk songs._ collected by heywood sumner. 4º. (longmans, 1888.) 26 decorated pages. 1 f. p. _jacob and the raven._ frances m. peard. 8º. (george allen, 1896.) 40 illust. and decorations. (9 f. p.) j. r. weguelin. _lays of ancient rome._ lord macaulay. 8º. (longmans, 1881.) 41 illust. (7 f. p.) _the cat of bubastes._ g. a. henty. 8º. (blackie, 1889.) 8 f. p. _anacreon: with thomas stanley's translation._ edited by a. h. bullen. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1892.) 11 f. p. _the little mermaid and other stories._ hans andersen. translated by r. nisbet bain. 4º. (lawrence and bullen, 1893.) 61 illus. (36 f. p.) _catullus: with the pervigilium veneris._ edited by s. g. owen. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1893.) 8 f. p. _the wooing of malkatoon_; _commodus_. lewis wallace. 8º. (harper, 1898.) 12 f. p. with du mond. 6 by j. r. weguelin. patten wilson. _miracle plays. our lord's coming and childhood._ katherine tynan hinkson. 8º. (lane, 1895.) 6 f. p. _a houseful of rebels._ walter c. rhoades. 8º. (archibald constable, 1897.) 10 f. p. _selections from coleridge._ andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1898.) 18 f. p. _king john._ edited by j. w. young. 8º. (longmans, 1899. swan shakespeare.) 9 f. p. paul woodroffe. _shakespeare's songs._ edited by e. rhys. 4º. (dent, 1898.) 12 f. p. _the little flowers of st. francis._ 8º. (kegan paul, 1899.) 8 f. p. _the confessions of st. augustine._ 8º. (kegan paul, 1900.) 4 f. p. title-page by laurence housman. _the little flowers of st. benet._ 8º. (kegan paul, 1901.) 8 f. p. some open-air illustrators. alexander ansted. _the rivers of devon._ j. l. warden-page. 8º. (seeley, 1893.) 17 illust. (4 etched plates.) _the riviera._ notes by the artist. fol. (seeley, 1894.) 64 illust. (20 etched plates.) _the coasts of devon._ j. l. warden-page. 8º. (h. cox, 1895.) 21 illust. _episcopal palaces of england._ canon venables and others. 4º. (isbister, 1895.) etched frontispiece and 104 illust. (7 f. p.) _the master of the musicians._ emma marshall. 8º. (seeley, 1896.) 8 f. p. _london riverside churches._ a. e. daniell. 8º. (constable, 1897.) 84 illust. (27 f. p.) english cathedral series. 8º. (isbister, 1897-8.) _salisbury cathedral._ the very rev. dean boyle. 15 illust. (10 f. p.) _york minster._ the very rev. dean purey-cust. 14 illust. (11 f. p.) _norwich cathedral._ the very rev. dean lefroy. 9 f. p. _ely cathedral._ the rev. canon dickson. 10 f. p. _carlisle cathedral._ chancellor r. s. ferguson. 11 f. p. _the romance of our ancient churches._ sarah wilson. 8º. (constable, 1899.) 180 illust. (15 f. p.) _boswell's life of johnson._ edited by augustine birrell. (constable, 1899.) 6 vols. frontispiece to each vol. c. r. b. barrett. _the tower._ c. r. b. barrett. fol. (catty and dobson, 1889.) 26 illust. (13 etched plates.) _essex: highways, byways and waterways._ c. r. b. barrett. 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1892-3.) series i. 99 illust. (13 etched plates.) series ii. 128 illust. (13 etched plates.) _the trinity house of deptford strond._ c. r. b. barrett. 4º. (lawrence and bullen, 1893.) 18 illust. (1 etched plate.) _barrett's illustrated guides._ 8º. (lawrence and bullen, 1892-3.) 9 numbers. _somersetshire: highways, byways and waterways._ c. r. b. barrett. 4º. (bliss, sands and foster, 1894.) 167 illust. (6 etched plates.) _shelley's visit to france._ charles j. elton. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1894.) 16 illus. (2 etched plates.) _charterhouse, in pen and ink._ by c. r. b. barrett. preface by george e. smythe. 4º. (bliss, sands and foster, 1895.) 43 illust. (1 f. p.) _surrey: highways, byways and waterways._ c. r. b. barrett. 4º. 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(10 f. p.) by nelly erichsen. _the story of florence._ edmund g. gardner. 45 illust., with others. 20 f. p. by nelly erichsen. hedley fitton. english cathedral series. 8º. (isbister, 1899-1901.) _worcester cathedral._ the rev. canon teignmouth shore. 9 f. p. _rochester cathedral._ the rev. canon benham. 11 illust. (10 f. p.) _hereford cathedral._ the very rev. dean leigh. 11 illust. (10 f. p.) _æschylos._ translated by g. h. plumtre. 2 vols. 8º. (isbister, 1901.) 1 f. p. john fulleylove. _henry irving._ austin brereton. 8º. (bogue, 1883.) 17 f. p. with others. _the picturesque mediterranean._ 4º. (cassell, 1899.) with others. 68 illust. by john fulleylove. _oxford._ with notes by t. humphry ward. fol. (fine art society, 1889.) 40 illust. (30 plates.) _in the footprints of charles lamb._ see _herbert railton_. _pictures of classic greek landscape and architecture._ with text in explanation by henry w. nevinson. 4º. (dent, 1897.) 40 plates. _the stones of paris._ b. e. and c. m. martin. 2 vols. 8º. (smith, elder, 1900.) 62 illust. 40 (16 f. p.) by j. fulleylove. frederick l. griggs. _seven gardens and a palace._ e. v. b. 8º. (lane, 1900.) 9 illust. with arthur gordon. 5 by frederick l. griggs. _stray leaves from a border garden._ mary pamela milne-home. 8º. (lane, 1901.) 8 f. p. _the chronicle of a cornish garden._ harry roberts. 8º. (lane, 1901.) 7 f. p. charles g. harper. _royal winchester._ rev. a. g. l'estrange. 8º. (spencer, 1889.) 37 illust. (22 f. p.) _the brighton road._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1892.) 90 illust. 60 (29 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _from paddington to penzance._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chatto and windus, 1893.) 104 illust. (34 f. p.) _the marches of wales._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1894.) 114 illust. 95 (24 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _the dover road._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1895.) 57 illust. 48 (12 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _the portsmouth road._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1895.) 77 illust. 44 (12 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _some english sketching grounds._ c. g. harper. 8º. (reeves, 1897.) 44 illust. (18 f. p.) _stories of the streets of london._ h. barton baker. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1899.) 38 illust. 30 (15 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _the exeter road._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1899.) 69 illust. 51 (20 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _the bath road._ c. g. harper. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1899.) 75 illust. 64 (19 f. p.) by c. g. harper. _the great north road._ c. g. harper. 2 vols. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1900.) 132 illust. 100 (30 f. p.) by c. g. harper. william hyde. _an imaged world._ edward garnett. 8º. (dent, 1894.) 5 f. p. _milton's l'allegro and il penseroso._ 8º. (dent, 1896.) 13 f. p. _london impressions._ alice meynell. fol. (constable, 1898.) 3 etchings, 23 photogravures. (13 f. p.) _the nature poems of george meredith._ 4º. (constable, 1898.) etched frontispiece and 20 photogravures. _the cinque ports._ ford madox hueffer. 4º. (blackwood, 1900.) 33 illust. (20 f. p., 14 in photogravure.) _the victoria history of the counties of england. hampshire; norfolk._ 8º. (constable, 1901.) 1 f. p. frederic g. kitton. _charles dickens and the stage._ t. edgar pemberton. 8º. (redway, 1888.) 3 f. p., photogravure. _charles dickens by pen and pencil._ f. g. kitton. 4º. (sabini and dexter, 1889-90.) with others. 15 by f. g. kitton. _in tennyson land._ j. cuming walters. 8º. (redway, 1890.) 12 f. p. _a week's tramp in dickens' land._ wm. r. hughes. 8º. (chapman and hall, 1891.) 100 illust., chiefly by f. g. kitton. (12 f. p.) _hertfordshire county homes._ (published by subscription, 1892.) 40 f. p. _st. albans, historical and picturesque._ c. h. ashdown. 4º. (elliot stock, 1893.) 70 illust., chiefly by f. g. kitton (15 f. p.) _st. albans abbey._ the rev. canon liddell. 8º. (isbister, 1897. english cathedral series.) 9 illust. (7 f. p.) _the romany rye._ george borrow. (murray, 1900.) 8 f. p. john guille millais. _a fauna of sutherland, caithness and west cromarty._ j. harvie brown and t. e. buckley. 8º. (douglas, 1887.) 12 illust., with others. 2 (1 f. p.) by j. g. millais. _shooting._ lord walsingham and sir r. payne gallwey. (badminton library.) 8º. (longmans, 1887.) with others. 3 illust. (1 f. p.) by j. g. millais. _a monograph of the charadriidae._ henry seebohm. 4º. (sotheran, 1888.) 28 illust. _a fauna of the outer hebrides._ j. harvie brown and t. e. buckley. 8º. (douglas, 1888.) 12 illust., with others. 1 by j. g. millais. _a fauna of the orkney islands._ j. harvie brown and t. e. buckley. 8º. (douglas, 1891.) 13 illust., with others. 3 f. p. photogravures by j. g. millais. _a fauna of argyll and the inner hebrides._ j. harvie brown and t. e. buckley. 8º. (douglas, 1892.) 9 illust., with others. 1 photogravure by j. g. millais. _game-birds and shooting sketches._ j. g. millais. 4º. (sotheran, 1892.) 64 illust., 33 plates. _a breath from the veldt._ j. g. millais. 4º. (sotheran, 1895.) 149 illust. (24 plates.) _letters to young shooters._ 3rd series. sir r. payne gallwey. (longmans, 1896.) 46 illust. _elephant hunting in east equatorial africa._ arthur newmann. 8º. (ward, 1897.) 3 f. p. _british deer and their horns._ j. g. millais. 4º. (sotheran, 1897.) 185 illust., mostly by the author. (20 plates.) _pheasants._ w. b. tegetmeier. 8º. (cox, 1897.) 16 illust. (1 f. p. by j. g. millais.) with others. _encyclopaedia of sport._ edited by the earl of berkshire. (lawrence and bullen, 1898.) 31 illust. (2 f. p. in photogravure.) _the wildfowler in scotland._ j. g. millais. 4º. (longmans, 1901.) 60 illust., 10 plates. (13 f. p.) edmund h. new. _the compleat angler._ izaak walton and charles cotton. edited by richard le gallienne. 4º. (lane, 1896.) 200 illust. (47 f. p.) _in the garden of peace._ helen milman. 8º. (lane, 1896. the arcady library.) 24 illust. _oxford and its colleges._ j. wells. 8º. (methuen, 1897.) 27 drawings from photographs. _cambridge and its colleges._ a. hamilton thompson. 8º. (methuen, 1898.) 23 drawings from photographs. _the life of william morris._ j. w. mackail. 2 vols. 8º. (longmans, 1899.) 15 illus. (14 f. p.) _shakespeare's country._ bertram c. a. windle. 8º. (methuen, 1899.) 14 f. p. drawings from photographs. _the natural history of selborne._ gilbert white. edited by grant allen. 4º. (lane, 1900.) 178 illust. (43 f. p.) _outside the garden._ helen milman. 8º. (lane, 1900.) 30 illust. and decorations. _sussex._ f. g. brabant. 8º. (methuen, 1900.) 12 f. p. drawings from photographs. _the malvern country._ bertram c. a. windle. 8º. (methuen, 1901.) 11 f. p. drawings from photographs. alfred parsons. _god's acre beautiful._ w. robinson. 8º. ("garden" office, 1880.) 8 f. p. _selections from the poetry of robert herrick._ 4º. (sampson low, 1882.) 59 illust. (2 f. p.) with e. a. abbey. _springhaven._ r. d. blackmore. 8º. (sampson low, 1888.) 64 illust. (35 f. p.) with f. barnard. _old songs._ 4º. (macmillan, 1889.) 102 illust. with e. a. abbey. _the quiet life._ certain verses by various hands: prologue and epilogue by austin dobson. 4º. (sampson low, 1890.) 82 illust. with e. a. abbey. 42 by alfred parsons. (9 f. p.) _a selection from the sonnets of william wordsworth._ 8º. (osgood, 1891.) 55 illust. and decorations. (24 f. p.) _the warwickshire avon._ notes by a. t. quiller-couch. 8º. (osgood, 1892.) 96 illust. (25 f. p.) _the danube from the black forest to the sea._ f. d. millet. 8º. (osgood, 1892.) 133 illust. with f. d. millet. 61 by alfred parsons. (41 f. p.) _the wild garden._ w. robinson. 8º. (murray, 1895.) 90 wood-engravings. (14 f. p.) _the bamboo garden._ a. b. freeman-mitford. 8º. (macmillan, 1896.) 11 illust. and decorations. (7 f. p.) _notes in japan._ alfred parsons. 8º. (osgood, 1896.) 119 illust. (36 f. p.) _wordsworth._ andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1897. selections from the poets.) 17 illust., and initials to each poem. (9 f. p.) joseph pennell. _a canterbury pilgrimage._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (seeley, 1885.) 30 illust. (7 f. p.) _tuscan cities._ w. d. howells. 4º. (ticknor, boston, 1886.) 67 illust., chiefly by joseph pennell. (11 f. p.) _the saone._ p. g. hamerton. 4º. (seeley, 1887.) 148 illust. with the author. 102 by joseph pennell; 24 by j. pennell after pencil drawings by p. g. hamerton. (16 f. p.) _an italian pilgrimage._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (seeley, 1887.) 30 f. p. _our sentimental journey through france and italy._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (longmans, 1888.) 122 illust. (21 f. p.) _old chelsea._ benjamin ellis martin. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1889.) 23 illust. (20 f. p.) _our journey to the hebrides._ elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1889.) 43 illust. (29 f. p.) _personally conducted._ f. r. stockton. 4º. (sampson low, 1889.) 48 illust. with others. _charing cross to st. paul's._ justin mccarthy. fol. (seeley, 1891.) 36 illust. (12 f. p.) _the stream of pleasure._ joseph and elizabeth robins pennell. with a practical chapter by j. g. legge. 4º. (fisher unwin, 1891.) 90 illust. (16 f. p.) _play in provence._ joseph and elizabeth robins pennell. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1892.) 92 illust. (29 f. p.) _the jew at home._ joseph pennell. 8º. (heinemann, 1892.) 27 illust. (15 f. p.) _english cathedrals._ mrs. schuyler van rensselaer. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1892.) 154 illust. 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(spottiswoode, 1900.) with dudley hardy. 7 illust. by joseph pennell. 3 proof plates. _highways and byways in the lake district._ a. g. bradley. 8º. (macmillan, 1901.) 86 illust. _east london._ walter besant. 8º. (chatto, 1901.) 54 illust. (17 f. p.) with others. 36 by joseph pennell. _highways and byways in east anglia._ william a. dutt. 8º. (macmillan, 1901.) 150 illust. (15 f. p.) _italian journeys._ w. d. howells. 8º. (heinemann, 1901.) 103 illust. (39 f. p.) herbert railton. _coaching days and coaching ways._ 4º. (macmillan, 1888.) 213 illust. with hugh thomson. 140 by herbert railton. _the essays of elia._ charles lamb. edited by augustine birrell. 8º. (dent, 1888. the temple library.) 3 etchings. _select essays of dr. johnson._ edited by george birkbeck hill. 8º. (dent, 1889. the temple library.) 2 vols. 6 etchings. figures by john jellicoe. _the poems and plays of oliver goldsmith._ edited by austin dobson. 8º. (dent, 1889. the temple library.) 2 vols. 6 etchings with john jellicoe. 3 by herbert railton. _pericles and aspasia._ w. s. landor. 8º. (dent, 1890. the temple library.) 2 vols. 2 etchings. _westminster abbey._ w. j. loftie. fol. (seeley, 1890.) 75 illust. _the citizen of the world._ oliver goldsmith. edited by austin dobson. 8º. (dent, 1891. the temple library.) 2 vols. 6 etchings. _the poetical works of thomas lovell beddoes._ edited, with a memoir, by edmund gosse. 8º. (dent, 1891. the temple library.) 2 vols. 2 etchings. _in the footsteps of charles lamb._ benjamin ellis martin. 8º. (bentley, 1891.) 11 f. p. with john fulleylove. 6 by herbert railton. _the collected works of thomas love peacock._ edited by richard garnett. 8º. (dent, 1891.) 10 vols. 4 etchings. _essays and poems of leigh hunt._ selected and edited by r. brimley johnson. 8º. (dent, 1891.) 2 vols. 5 etchings. _dreamland in history._ the very rev. dean spence. 8º. (isbister, 1891.) 59 illust. (7 f. p.) engraved by l. chefdeville. _the peak of derbyshire._ john leyland. 8º. (seeley, 1891.) 20 illust. (8 f. p.) with alfred dawson. 16 by herbert railton. _ripon millenary._ 4º. (w. harrison, ripon, 1892.) 140 illust. with others, also from old prints. 32 by herbert railton. (10 f. p.) _the inns of court and chancery._ w. j. loftie. fol. (seeley, 1893.) 57 illust. (10 f. p.) 42 by herbert railton. _the household of sir thomas more._ anne manning. 8º. (nimmo, 1896.) 26 illust. (9 f. p.) with john jellicoe. 12 by herbert railton, figures by john jellicoe. _the haunted house._ thomas hood. introduction by austin dobson. (lawrence and bullen, 1896.) 63 illust. (21 f. p.) _cherry and violet._ anne manning. 8º. (nimmo, 1897.) 26 illust. with john jellicoe. _hampton court._ william holden hutton. 8º. (nimmo, 1897.) 43 illust. (32 f. p.) english cathedral series. 8º. 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(macmillan, 1890.) 60 illust. (22 f. p.) _familiar letters of sir walter scott._ edited by d. douglas. 2 vols. 8º. (douglas, 1894.) 2 vignettes, photogravure. f. inigo thomas. _the formal garden in england._ reginald blomfield and f. inigo thomas. 8º. (macmillan, 1892.) 74 illust. (19 f. p.) 46 by f. inigo thomas. charles whymper. _wild sport in the highlands._ charles st. john. 8º. (murray, 1878.) 30 illust. _the game-keeper at home._ richard jefferies. 8º. (smith, elder, 1880.) 41 illust. _siberia in europe._ henry seebohm. 8º. (murray, 1880.) 47 illust. _matabele land and victoria falls._ frank oates. 8º. (kegan paul, 1881.) 50 illust. (13 f. p.) with others. _siberia in asia._ henry seebohm. 8º. (murray, 1882). 67 illust. _the fowler in ireland._ sir r. payne gallwey. 8º. (van voorst, 1882.) 88 illust. (17 f. p.) _a highland gathering._ e. lennox peel. 8º. (longmans, 1885.) 35 illust. _a highland gathering._ e. lennox peel. 8º. (longmans, 1885.) 31 illust, engraved on wood by e. whymper. (6 f. p.) _our rarer birds._ charles dixon. 8º. (bentley, 1888.) 20 illust. (1 f. p.) _story of the rear-guard of emin relief expedition._ j. s. jameson. 8º. (porter, 1890.) 97 illust. _travel and adventure in south africa._ f. c. selous. 8º. (ward, 1893.) 37 illust. (23 f. p.) with others. 3 by charles whymper. _birds of the wave and moorland._ p. robinson. 8º. (isbister, 1894.) 44 illust. (18 f. p.) with others. _sporting days in southern india._ lieut.-colonel pollock. 8º. (cox, 1894.) 27 illust. (19 f. p.) _big game shooting._ clive phillipps-wolley and other writers. 8º. (longmans, 1895. the badminton library.) 2 vols. 150 illust. with others. (22 f. p.) 67 by charles whymper. _the pilgrim fathers of new england and their puritan successors._ john brown. 8º. (religious tract society, 1895.) 15 illust. (9 f. p.) _icebound on kolguev._ a. trevor-battye. 8º. 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(gibbings, 1897.) 36 f. p. _the history of don quixote._ translated by thomas shelton. introduction by j. h. mccarthy. 4 vols. 8º. (gibbings, 1898.) 24 illust. _tom cringle's log._ michael scott. 8º. (gibbings, 1898.) 2 vols. _the cruise of the midge._ michael scott. 8º. (gibbings, 1898.) 2 vols. _a spliced yarn._ g. cupples. 8º. (gibbings, 1899.) 5 f. p. _naval yarns._ collected and edited by w. h. long. 8º. (gibbings, 1899.) 1 f. p. charles e. brock. _the parachute and other bad shots._ j. r. johnson. 4º. (routledge, 1891.) 44 illust. (4 f. p.) _hood's humorous poems._ preface by alfred ainger. 8º. (macmillan, 1893.) 130 illust. (3 f. p.) _scenes in fairyland._ canon atkinson. 8º. (macmillan, 1893.) 34 illust. (5 f. p.) _the humour of america._ edited by j. barr. 8º. (scott, 1893.) 78 illust. (32 f. p.) _the humour of germany._ edited by hans mueller-casenov. 8º. (scott, 1893.) 54 illust. (15 f. p.) _english fairy and folk tales._ edited by e. s. hartland. 8º. 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(methuen, 1897.) 5 illust. with b. munns. 3 f. p. by f. h. townsend. the works of nathaniel hawthorne. edited by moncure d. conway. 8º. (service and paton, 1897-9.) _the scarlet letter._ 8 f. p. _the house of the seven gables._ 8 f. p. _the blithedale romance._ 8 f. p. _the path of a star._ sara jeannette duncan. 8º. (methuen, 1899.) 12 f. p. some children's books illustrators. john d. batten. _oedipus the wreck; or, 'to trace the knave.'_ owen seaman. 8º. (f. johnson, cambridge, 1888.) 18 illust. (5 f. p.) with lancelot speed. _english fairy tales._ collected by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1890.) 60 illust. and decorations. 2 by henry ryland. (8 f. p.) _celtic fairy tales._ selected and edited by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1892.) 70 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _indian fairy tales._ selected and edited by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1892.) 65 illust. and decorations. (9 f. p.) _fairy tales from the arabian nights._ edited and arranged by e. dixon. 8º. (dent, 1893.) 50 illust. and decorations. (5 f. p. in photogravure.) _more english fairy tales._ collected and edited by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1894.) 50 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _more celtic fairy tales._ selected and edited by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1894.) 67 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _more fairy tales from the arabian nights._ edited and arranged by e. dixon. 8º. (dent, 1895.) 40 illust. and decorations. (5 f. p. in photogravure.) _a masque of dead florentines._ maurice hewlett. obl. fol. (dent, 1895.) 15 illust. (4 f. p.) _the book of wonder voyages._ edited by joseph jacobs. 8º. (nutt, 1896.) 26 illust. (7 f. p. in photogravure.) _the saga of the sea-swallow and greenfeather the changeling._ 8º. (innes, 1896.) 33 illust. and decorations. (4 f. p.) with hilda fairbairn. lewis baumer. _jumbles._ lewis baumer. 8º. (pearson, 1897.) 50 pictured pages. (24 f. p., in colours.) _hoodie._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (chambers, 1897.) 17 illust. (8 f. p.) _elsie's magician._ fred whishaw. 8º. (chambers, 1897) 10 illust. (5 f. p.) _the baby philosopher._ ruth berridge. 8º. (jarrold, 1898.) 13 illust. (4 f. p.) _the story of the treasure seekers._ e. nesbit. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1899.) 17 f. p.; 15 by gordon browne. by mrs. molesworth. 8º. (chambers, 1898-1900.) _hermy._ _the boys and i._ _the three witches._ 17 illust. (12 f. p.) in each. f. d. bedford. _old country life._ s. baring-gould. 4º. (methuen, 1890.) 37 illust. and decorations. _the deserts of southern france._ s. baring-gould. 2 vols. 4º. methuen, 1894. 144 illust. and diagrams; 37 by f. d. bedford. (14 f. p.) _the battle of the frogs and mice._ rendered into english by jane barlow. (methuen, 1894.) 147 pictured pages. (5 f. p.) _old english fairy tales._ s. baring-gould. 8º. (methuen, 1895.) 19 illust. _a book of nursery rhymes._ 8º. (methuen, 1897.) 66 pictured pages. (21 f. p. in colours.) _the vicar of wakefield._ o. goldsmith. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 12 f. p. in colours. _the history of henry esmond._ w. m. thackeray. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 12 f. p., in colours. _the book of shops._ e. v. lucas. obl. 4º. (grant richards, 1899.) 28 illust. and decorations. (26 f. p. in colours.) _four and twenty toilers._ e. v. lucas. obl. 4º. (grant richards, 1900.) 28 illust. and decorations. (26 f. p. in colours.) _westminster abbey._ g. e. troutbeck. 8º. methuen, 1900. 28 illust. (13 f. p.) percy j. billinghurst. _a hundred fables of æsop._ from the english version of sir roger l'estrange. introduction by kenneth grahame. 8º. (lane, 1899.) 101 f. p. _a hundred fables of la fontaine._ 8º. (lane, 1900.) 101 f. p. _a hundred anecdotes of animals._ 8º. (lane, 1901.) 101 f. p. gertrude m. bradley. _songs for somebody._ dollie radford. 8º. (nutt, 1893.) 33 pictured pages. (7 f. p.) _the red hen and other fairy tales._ agatha f. 8º. (wilson, dublin, 1893.) 4 f. p. _new pictures in old frames._ gertrude m. bradley and amy mark. 4º. (mark and moody, stourbridge, 1894.) 37 pictured pages. (6 f. p.) _just forty winks._ hamish hendry. 8º. (blackie, 1897.) 80 illust. and decorations. (11 f. p.) _tom, unlimited._ m. l. warborough. 8º. (grant richards, 1897.) 56 illust. (1 f. p.) _nursery rhymes._ 8º. (review of reviews, 1899.) 95 pictured pages. with brinsley le fanu. (1 f. p. in colours.) _puff-puff._ gertrude bradley. obl. fol. (sands, 1899.) 18 f. p. in colours. _pillow stories._ s. l. howard and gertrude m. bradley. (grant-richards, 1901). 41 illust. l. leslie brooke. _miriam's ambition._ evelyn everett-green. 8º. (blackie, 1889.) 4 f. p. _thorndyke manor._ mary c. rowsell. 8º. (blackie, 1890.) 6 f. p. _the secret of the old house._ evelyn everett-green. 8º. (blackie, 1890.) 6 f. p. _the light princess._ george macdonald. 8º. (blackie, 1890.) 3 f. p. _brownies and rose leaves._ roma white. 8º. (innes, 1892.) 19 illust. (9 f. p.) _bab._ ismay thorn. 8º. (blackie, 1892.) 3 f. p. _marian._ annie e. armstrong. 8º. (blackie, 1892.) 4 f. p. _a hit and a miss._ hon. eva knatchbull-hugessen. 8º. (innes, 1893. dainty books.) 10 illust. (5 f. p.) _moonbeams and brownies._ roma white. 8º. (innes, 1894. dainty books.) 12 illust. (5 f. p.) _penelope and the others._ amy walton. 8º. (blackie, 1896.) 2 f. p. _school in fairy land._ e. h. strain. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1896.) 7 f. p. _the nursery rhyme book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (warne, 1897.) 109 illust. and decorations. (9 f. p.) _a spring song._ t. nash. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 16 pictured pages, in colours. _pippa passes._ robert browning. 8º. (duckworth, 1898.) 7 f. p. lemerciergravures. _the pelican chorus and other nonsense verses._ edward lear. 4º. (warne, 1900.) 38 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p., in colours.) _the jumblies and other nonsense verses._ edward lear. 4º. (warne, 1900.) 36 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p., in colours.) by mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1891-7.) _nurse heatherdale's story._ _the girls and i._ _mary._ _my new home._ _sheila's mystery._ _the carved lions._ _the oriel window._ _miss mouse and her boys._ 8 illust. (7 f. p.) in each. gordon browne. _stories of old renown._ ascott r. hope. 8º. (blackie, 1883.) 96 illust. (8 f. p.) _a waif of the sea._ kate wood. 8º. (blackie, 1884.) 4 f. p. _miss fenwick's failures._ esme stuart. 8º. (blackie, 1885.) 4 f. p. _thrown on the world._ edwin hodder. 8º. (hodder, 1885.) 8 f. p. _winnie's secret._ kate wood. 8º. (blackie, 1885.) 4 f. p. _robinson crusoe._ daniel defoe. 8º. (blackie, 1885.) 103 illust. (8 f. p.) _kirke's mill._ mrs. robert o'reilly. 8º. (hatchards, 1885.) 3 f. p. _the champion of odin._ j. f. hodgetts. 8º. (cassell, 1885.) 8 f. p. _'that child.'_ by the author of 'l'atelier du lys.' 8º. (hatchards, 1885.) 2 f. p. _christmas angel._ b. l. farjeon. 8º. (ward, 1885.) 22 illust. _the legend of sir juvenis._ george halse. obl. 8º. (hamilton, 1886.) 6 f. p. _mary's meadow._ juliana horatia ewing. 8º. (s.p.c.k., 1886.) 23 illust. _fritz and eric._ john c. hutcheson. 8º. (hodder, 1886.) 8 f. p. _melchior's dream._ juliana horatia ewing. 8º. (bell, 1886.) 8 f. p. _the hermit's apprentice._ ascott r. hope. 8º. (nimmo, 1886.) 4 illust. (3 f. p.) _gulliver's travels._ jonathan swift. 8º. (blackie, 1886.) 101 illust. (8 f. p.) _rip van winkle._ washington irving. 8º. (blackie, 1887.) 46 illust. (42 f. p.) _devon boys._ geo. manville fenn. 8º. (blackie, 1887.) 12 f. p. _the log of the 'flying fish.'_ harry collingwood. 8º. (blackie, 1887.) 12 f. p. _down the snow-stairs._ alice corkran. 8º. (blackie, 1887.) 60 illust. (5 f. p.) _dandelion clocks._ juliana horatia ewing. 4º. (s.p.c.k., 1887.) 13 illust. by gordon browne, etc. (4 f. p.) _the peace-egg._ juliana horatia ewing. 4º. (s.p.c.k., 1887.) 13 illust. (4 f. p.) _the seven wise scholars._ ascott r. hope. 8º. (blackie, 1887.) 93 illust. (4 f. p.) _chirp and chatter._ alice banks. 8º. (blackie, 1888.) 54 illust. (4 f. p.) _the henry irving shakespeare. the works of william shakespeare._ edited by henry irving and frank a. marshall. 4º. (blackie, 1888, etc.) 8 vols. 642 illust. by gordon browne, w. h. margetson and maynard brown. (37 f. p. etchings.) 552 by gordon browne. (32 etchings.) _snap-dragons._ juliana horatia ewing. 8º. (s.p.c.k., 1888.) 14 illust. (4 f. p.) _a golden age._ ismay thorn. 8º. (hatchards, 1888.) 6 f. p. _fairy tales by the countess d'aulnoy._ translated by j. r. planché. 8º. (routledge, 1888.) 60 illust. (11 f. p.) _harold the boy-earl._ j. f. hodgetts. 8º. (religious tract society, 1888.) 11 f. p. with alfred pearse. _bunty and the boys._ helen atteridge. 8º. (cassell, 1888.) 4 f. p. _tom's nugget._ j. f. hodgetts. 8º. (sunday school union, 1888.) 13 illust. (6 f. p.) _claimed at last._ sibella b. edgcumb. 8º. (cassell, 1888.) 4 f. p. _great-uncle hoot-toot._ mrs. molesworth. 4º. (s.p.c.k., 1889.) 24 illust. (4 f. p.) _my friend smith._ talbot baines reed. 8º. (religious tract society, 1889.) 16 illust. (6 f. p.) _the origin of plum pudding._ frank hudson. 8º. (ward, 1889.) 9 illust. (4 f. p., in colours.) _prince prigio._ andrew lang. 8º. (arrowsmith, bristol, 1889.) 24 illust. (9 f. p.) _a flock of four._ ismay thorn. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1889.) 7 f. p. _a apple pie._ 8º. (evans, 1890.) 12 pictured pages. _syd belton._ g. manville fenn. 8º. (methuen, 1891.) 6 f. p. _great-grandmamma._ georgina m. synge. 8º. (cassell, 1891.) 19 illust. (3 f. p.) _master rockafellar's voyage._ w. clarke russell. 8º. (methuen, 1891.) 27 illust. (6 f. p.) _the red grange._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (methuen, 1891.) 6 f. p. _a pinch of experience._ l. b. walford. 8º. (methuen, 1892.) 6 f. p. _the doctor of the 'juliet.'_ h. collingwood. 8º. (methuen, 1892.) 6 f. p. _a young mutineer._ l. t. meade. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1893.) 3 f. p. _graeme and cyril._ barry pain. 8º. (hodder, 1893.) 19 f. p. _the two dorothys._ mrs. herbert martin. 8º. (blackie, 1893.) 4 f. p. _one in charity._ silas k. hocking. 8º. (warne, 1893.) 4 f. p. _the book of good counsels._ hitopadesa. translated by sir edwin arnold. 8º. (w. h. allen, 1893.) 20 illust. and decorations. (7 f. p.) _beryl._ georgina m. synge. 8º. (skeffington, 1894.) 3 f. p. _fairy tales from grimm._ with introduction by s. baring gould. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1895.) 169 illust. and decorations. (16 f. p.) _prince boohoo and little smuts._ harry jones. 8º. (gardner, darton, 1896.) 93 illust. and decorations. (27 f. p.) _sintram and his companions_ and _undine_. baron de la motte fouqué. 8º. (gardner, darton, 1896.) 80 illust. (12 f. p.) _the surprising adventures of sir toady lion._ s. r. crockett. 8º. (gardner, darton, 1897.) 127 illust. and decorations. (18 f. p.) _an african millionaire._ grant allen. 8º. (grant richards, 1897.) 66 illust. _butterfly ballads and stories in rhyme._ helen atteridge. 8º. (milne, 1898.) 63 illust. (4 f. p.) with louis wain and others. 32 by gordon browne. _paleface and redskin and other stories._ f. anstey. 8º. (grant richards, 1898.) 73 illust. and decorations. (10 f. p.) _dr. jollyboy's a. b. c._ 4º. (wells, gardner, 1898.) 43 pictured pages. (21 f. p.) _paul carah cornishman._ charles lee. 8º. (bowden, 1898.) 4 f. p. _macbeth._ wm. shakespeare. 8º. (longmans, 1899. swan edition.) 10 f. p. _miss cayley's adventures._ grant allen. 8º. (grant richards, 1899.) 79 illus. (2 f. p.) _the story of the treasure seekers._ (see _baumer_.) _stories from froissart._ henry newbolt. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1899.) 32 illust. (17 f. p.) _eric, or little by little._ f. w. farrar. 8º. (black, 1899.) 78 illust. _hilda wade._ grant allen. 8º. (grant richards, 1900.) 98 illust. (1 f. p.) _st. winifred's._ f. w. farrar. 8º. (black, 1900.) 152 illust. _daddy's girl._ l. t. meade. 8º. (newnes, 1901.) 37 illust. (2 f. p.) _gordon browne's series of old fairy tales._ 4º. (blackie, 1886-7.) _hop o' my thumb._ 28 pictured pages. (4 f. p.) _beauty and the beast._ 34 pictured pages. (4 f. p.) _ivanhoe._ _guy mannering._ _count robert of paris._ walter scott. 8º. (black. dryburgh edition.) 10 woodcuts from drawings by gordon browne. by g. a. henty. 8º. (blackie, 1887, etc.) _bonnie prince charlie._ _with wolfe in canada._ _true to the old flag._ _in freedom's cause._ _with clive in india._ _under drake's flag._ 12 f. p. in each vol. _with lee in virginia._ _the lion of st. mark._ 10 f. p. in each vol. _orange and green._ _for home and fame._ _st. george for england._ _hold fast for england._ _facing death._ 8 f. p. in each vol. edith calvert. _baby lays._ a. stow. 8º. (elkin matthews, 1897.) 16 illust. (15 f. p.) _more baby lays._ a stow. 8º. (elkin matthews, 1898.) 14 illust. (13 f. p.) marion wallace-dunlop. _fairies, elves and flower babies._ m. rivett-carnac. obl. 8º. (duckworth, 1899.) 55 pictured pages. (4 f. p.) _the magic fruit garden._ marion wallace-dunlop. 8º. (nister, 1899.) 48 illust. (5 f. p.) h. j. ford. _æsop's fables._ arthur brookfield. 4º. (fisher unwin, 1888.) 29 illust. _the blue fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1899.) 137 illust. (8 f. p.) with g. p. jacomb hood. _the red fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1890.) 99 illust. (4 f. p.) with lancelot speed. _when mother was little._ s. p. yorke. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1890.) 13 f. p. _a lost god._ francis w. bourdillon. 8º. (elkin matthews, 1891.) 3 photogravures. _the blue poetry book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1891.) 98 illust. (12 f. p.) with lancelot speed. _the green fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1892.) 101 illust. (12 f. p.) _the true story book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1893.) 64 illust. (8 f. p.) with l. bogle, etc. _the yellow fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1894.) 104 illust. (22 f. p.) _the animal story book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1896.) 66 illust. (29 f. p.) _the blue true story book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1896.) 22 illust. (8 f. p.) with lucien davis, etc. some from _the true story book_. _the red true story book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1897.) 41 illust. (10 f. p.) _the pink fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1897.) 68 illust. (33 f. p.) _the arabian nights' entertainment._ selected and edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1898.) 66 illust. (33 f. p.) _early italian love stories._ taken from the original by una taylor. 4º. (longmans, 1899.) 12 illust. and photogravure frontispiece. _the red book of animal stories._ selected and edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1899.) 67 illust. (32 f. p.) _the grey fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1900.) 59 illust. (32 f. p.) _the violet fairy book._ edited by andrew lang. 8º. (longmans, 1901.) 66 illust. (33 f. p., 8 in colours.) mrs. arthur gaskin. _a. b. c._ mrs. arthur gaskin. 8º. (elkin matthews, 1896.) 56 pictured pages. _divine and moral songs for children._ isaac watts. 8º. (elkin matthews, 1896.) 14 illust. (13 f. p.) in colours. _horn-book jingles._ mrs. arthur gaskin. 8º. (leadenhall press, 1896-7.) 70 pictured pages. _little girls and little boys._ mrs. arthur gaskin. 12º. (dent, 1898.) 27 pictured pages, in colours. _the travellers and other stories._ mrs. arthur gaskin. 8º. (bowden, 1898.) 61 pictured pages, in colours. winifred green. _poetry for children._ charles and mary lamb. prefatory note by israel gollancz. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 56 illust. and decorations. (30 f. p., in colours.) _mrs. leicester's school._ charles and mary lamb. obl. 8º. (dent, 1899.) 41 illust. and decorations. (13 f. p., in colours.) emily j. harding. _an affair of honour._ alice weber. 4º. (farran, 1892.) 19 illust. (6 f. p.) _the disagreeable duke._ ellinor davenport adams. 8º. (geo. allen, 1894.) 8 f. p. _fairy tales of the slav peasants and herdsmen._ from the french of alex. chodsko. translated by emily j. harding. (allen, 1896.) 56 illust. (33 f. p.) _hymn on the morning of christ's nativity._ (see _t. h. robinson_.) violet m. and e. holden. _the real princess._ blanche atkinson. 8º. (innes, 1894.) 19 illust. (5 f. p.) _the house that jack built._ 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 39 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p.) archie macgregor. _katawampus: its treatment and cure._ judge parry. 8º. (nutt, 1895.) 31 illust. and decorations. (7 f. p.) _butterscotia, or a cheap trip to fairyland._ judge parry. 8º. (nutt, 1896.) 35 illust. (5 f. p.) _the first book of krab._ judge parry. 8º. (nutt, 1897.) 25 illust. and decorations. (3 f. p.) _the world wonderful._ charles squire. 8º. (nutt, 1898.) 35 illust. and decorations. (10 f. p.) h. r. millar. _the humour of spain._ selected with an introduction and notes by susan m. taylor. 8º. (scott, 1894.) 52 illust. (39 f. p.) _the golden fairy book._ george sand, etc. (hutchinson, 1894.) 110 illust. (11 f. p.) _fairy tales far and near._ 8º. (cassell, 1895.) 28 illust. (7 f. p.) _the adventures of hajji baba of ispahan._ james morier. 8º. (macmillan, 1895.) 40 illust. (25 f. p.) _the silver fairy book._ sarah bernhardt, etc. 8º. (hutchinson, 1895.) 84 illust. (7 f. p.) _the phantom ship._ captain marryat. 8º. (macmillan, 1896. illustrated standard novels.) 40 f. p. _headlong hall, and nightmare abbey._ t. love peacock. with introduction by george saintsbury. 8º. (macmillan, 1896.) 40 f. p. _frank mildmay._ captain marryat. introduction by david hannay. 8º. (macmillan, 1897. illustrated standard novels.) 40 illust. (27 f. p.) _snarleyyow._ captain marryat. introduction by david hannay. 8º. (macmillan, 1897. illustrated standard novels.) 40 illust. (33 f. p.) _the diamond fairy book._ isabel bellerby, etc. 8º. (hutchinson, 1897.) 83 illust. (12 f. p.) _untold tales of the past._ beatrice harraden. 8º. (blackwood, 1897.) 39 illust. (31 f. p.) _eothen._ a. w. kinglake. 8º. (newnes, 1898.) 40 illust. (17 f. p.) _phroso._ anthony hope. 8º. (methuen, 1897.) 8 f. p. _the book of dragons._ e. nesbit. 8º. (harper, 1900.) 15 f. p. decorations by h. granville fell. _nine unlikely tales for children._ e. nesbit. 8º. (fisher unwin, 1901.) 27 f. p. _booklets by count tolstoi._ 8º. (walter scott, 1895-7.) 2 f. p. in each vol. _master and man._ _ivan the fool._ _what men live by._ _where love is there god is also._ _the two pilgrims._ carton moore park. _an alphabet of animals._ carton moore park. 4º. (blackie, 1899.) 52 pictured pages. (26 f. p.) _a book of birds._ carton moore park. fol. (blackie, 1900.) 27 f. p. _a child's london._ hamish hendry. 4º. (sands, 1900.) 46 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p.) _the confessions of harry lorrequer._ charles lever. with introduction by w. k. leask. 8º. (gresham publishing co., 1900.) 6 f. p. _a book of elfin rhymes._ norman. 4º. (gay and bird, 1900.) 40 illust., in colours. _the child's pictorial natural history._ 4º. (s.p.c.k., 1901.) 12 illust. (9 f. p.) rosie m. m. pitman. _maurice, or the red jar._ the countess of jersey. 8º. (macmillan, 1894.) 9 f. p. _undine._ baron de la motte fouqué. 8º. (macmillan, 1897.) 63 illust. and decorations. (32 f. p.) _the magic nuts._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1898.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) arthur rackham. _the dolly dialogues._ anthony hope. 8º. ('westminster gazette,' 1894.) 4 f. p. _sunrise-land._ mrs. alfred berlyn. 8º. (jarrold, 1894.) 136 illust. (2 f. p.) _tales of a traveller._ washington irving. 2 vols. 4º. (putman, 1895. buckthorne edition.) 25 illust., with borders and initials. 5 photogravures by arthur rackham. _the sketch book._ washington irving. 2 vols. 4º. (putman, 1895. van tassel edition.) 32 illust., with others. borders. 4 photogravures by arthur rackham. _the money spinner and other character notes._ henry seton merriman and s. g. tallintyre. 8º. (smith, elder, 1896.) 12 f. p. _the zankiwank and the bletherwitch._ s. j. adair fitzgerald. 8º. (dent, 1896.) 41 illust. (17 f. p.) _two old ladies, two foolish fairies and a tom cat._ maggie browne. 8º. (cassell, 1897.) 23 illust. (14 f. p., 4 in colours.) _charles o'malley._ charles lever. 8º. (service and paton, 1897.) 16 f. p. _the grey lady._ henry seton merriman. 8º. (smith, elder, 1897.) 12 f. p. _evelina._ frances burney. 8º. (newnes, 1898.) 16 f. p. _the ingoldsby legends._ h. r. barham. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 102 illust. (40 f. p.) 12 printed in colours. _feats on the fjords._ harriet martineau. 8º. (dent, 1899. temple classics for young people.) 12 f. p. _tales from shakespeare._ charles and mary lamb. 8º. (dent, 1899. temple classics for young people.) 12 f. p. _fairy tales of the brothers grimm._ translated by mrs. edgar lucas. 8º. (freemantle, 1900.) 102 illust. (32 f. p., in colours.) charles robinson. _æsop's fables._ 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 45 illust. and decorations. (15 f. p.) _animals in the wrong places._ edith carrington. 16º. (bell, 1896.) 14 illust. (11 f. p.) _the child world._ gabriel setoun. 8º. (lane, 1896.) 104 illust. and decorations. (11 f. p.) _make-believe._ h. d. lowry. 8º. (lane, 1896.) 53 illust. and decorations. (4 f. p.) _a child's garden of verses._ robert louis stevenson. 8º. (lane, 1896.) 173 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p.) _dobbie's little master._ mrs. arthur bell. (bell, 1897.) 8 illust. (3 f. p.) _king longbeard, or annals of the golden dreamland._ barrington macgregor. 8º. (lane, 1898.) 116 illust. and decorations. (12 f. p.) _lullaby land._ eugene field. selected by kenneth grahame. 8º. (lane, 1898.) 204 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p.) _lilliput lyrics._ w. b. rand. edited by r. brimley johnson. 8º. (lane, 1899.) 113 illust. and decorations. (9 f. p., 1 in colours.) _fairy tales from hans christian andersen._ translated by mrs. e. lucas. 8º. (dent, 1899.) 107 illust. and decorations. (40 f. p., 1 in colours.) with messrs. t. h. and w. h. robinson. _pierrette._ henry de vere stacpoole. 8º. (lane, 1900.) 21 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p.) _child voices._ w. e. cule. 8º. (melrose, 1900.) 17 illust. and decorations. (13 f. p.) _the little lives of the saints._ rev. percy dearmer. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1900.) 64 illust. and decorations. (13 f. p.) _the adventures of odysseus._ retold in english by f. s. marion, r. j. g. mayor, and f. m. stawell. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 28 illust. and decorations. (14 f. p., 1 in colours.) _the true annals of fairy land. the reign of king herla._ edited by william canton. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 185 illust. and decorations. (22 f. p., 1 in colours.) _sintram and his companions_ and _aslauga's knight_. baron de la motte fouqué. 8º. (dent, 1900. temple classics for young people.) 12 f. p., 1 in colours. _the master mosaic-workers._ george sand. translated by charlotte c. johnston. 8º. (dent, 1900. temp. class. for young people.) 12 f. p., 1 in colours. _the suitors of aprille._ norman garstin. 8º. (lane, 1900.) 18 illust. and decorations. (15 f. p.) _jack of all trades._ j. j. bell. 4º. (lane, 1900.) 32 f. p., in colours. t. h. robinson. _old world japan._ frank rinder. 8º. (allen, 1895.) 34 illust. (14 f. p.) _cranford._ mrs. gaskell. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1896.) 17 illust. (16 f. p.) _legends from river and mountain._ carmen sylva and alma strettell. 8º. (allen, 1896.) 41 illust. (10 f. p.) _the history of henry esmond._ w. m. thackeray. 8º. (allen, 1896.) 72 illust. and decorations, (1 f. p.) _the scarlet letter._ nathaniel hawthorne. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1897.) 8 f. p. _a sentimental journey through france and italy._ laurence sterne. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1897.) 89 illust. and decorations. (13 f. p.) _hymn on the morning of christ's nativity._ john milton. 8º. (allen, 1897.) 15 f. p. with emily j. harding. _a child's book of saints._ w. canton. 8º. (dent, 1898.) 19 f. p. (1 in colours.) _the heroes, or greek fairy tales for my children._ chas. kingsley. 8º. (dent, 1899. temple classics for young people.) 12 f. p., 1 in colours. _fairy tales from the arabian nights._ 11 f. p., 1 in colours. _fairy tales from hans christian andersen._ 8º. (dent, 1899.) (see _c. h. robinson_.) _a book of french songs for the young._ bernard minssen. 8º. (dent, 1899.) 55 illust. and decorations. (9 f. p.) _lichtenstein._ adapted from the german of wilhelm hauff by l. l. weedon. 8º. (nister, 1900.) 20 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _the scottish chiefs._ jane porter. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 65 illust. (19 f. p.) w. h. robinson. _don quixote._ translated by charles jarvis. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1897.) 16 f. p. _the pilgrim's progress._ john bunyan. edited by george offer. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1897.) 24 f. p. _the giant crab and other tales from old india._ retold by w. h. d. rouse. 8º. (nutt, 1897.) 52 illust. and decorations. (7 f. p.) _danish fairy tales and legends._ hans christian andersen. 8º. (bliss, sands, 1897.) 16 f. p. _the arabian nights' entertainments._ 4º. (newnes, by arrangement with messrs. constable, 1899.) 546 illust. with helen stratton, a. d. mccormick, a. l. davis and a. p. norbury. (38 f. p.) _the talking thrush and other tales from india._ collected by w. cooke. retold by w. h. d. rouse. 8º. (dent, 1899.) 84 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _fairy tales from hans christian andersen._ (see _charles robinson_.) _the poems of edgar allan poe._ introduction by h. noel williams. 8º. (bell, 1900. the endymion series.) 103 illust. and decorations. (2 double-page, 26 f. p.) _tales for toby._ ascott r. hope. 8º. (dent, 1900.) 29 illust. and decorations. (5 f. p.) with s. jacobs. helen stratton. _songs for little people._ norman gale. 8º. (constable, 1896.) 119 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _tales from hans andersen._ 8º. (constable, 1896.) 58 illust. and decorations. (6 f. p.) _beyond the border._ walter douglas campbell. 8º. (constable, 1898.) 167 illust. (40 f. p.) _the fairy tales of hans christian andersen._ 4º. (newnes, by arrangement with messrs. constable, 1899.) 424 illust. some reprinted from _tales from hans andersen_. _the arabian nights' entertainments._ (see _w. h. robinson_.) a. g. walker. _the lost princess, or the wise woman._ george macdonald. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1895.) 22 illus. (6 f. p.) _stories from the faerie queene._ mary macleod. with introduction by j. w. hales. 8º. (gardner, darton, 1897.) 86 illust. (40 f. p.) _the book of king arthur and his noble knights._ stories from sir thomas malory's _morte d'arthur_. mary macleod. 8º. (wells, gardner, 1900.) 72 illust. (35 f. p.) alice b. woodward. _eric, prince of lorlonia._ countess of jersey. 8º. (macmillan, 1895.) 8 f. p. _banbury cross and other nursery rhymes._ 32º. (dent, 1895. banbury cross series.) 62 pictured pages. (23 f. p.) _to tell the king the sky is falling._ sheila e. braine. 8º. (blackie, 1896.) 85 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _bon-mots of the eighteenth century._ 16º. (dent, 1897.) 64 grotesques. (7 f. p.) _bon-mots of the nineteenth century._ 16º. (dent, 1897.) 64 grotesques. (9 f. p.) _brownie._ alice sargant. music by lilian mackenzie. obl. folio. (dent, 1897.) 44 pictured pages, in colours. _red apple and silver bells._ hamish hendry. 8º. (blackie, 1897.) 152 pictured pages. (21 f. p., in colours.) _adventures in toyland._ edith hall king. 4º. (blackie, 1897.) 78 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p., in colours.) _the troubles of tatters and other stories._ alice talwin morris. 8º. (blackie, 1898.) 62 illust. and decorations. (8 f. p.) _the princess of hearts._ sheila e. braine. 4º. (blackie, 1899.) 69 illust. and decorations. (4 f. p., in colours.) _the cat and the mouse._ obl. 4º. (blackie, 1899.) 24 pictured pages. (6 f. p., in colours.) _the elephant's apology._ alice talwin morris. 8º. (blackie, 1899.) 35 illust. _the golden ship and other tales._ translated from the swahili. 8º. (universities' mission, 1900.) 36 illust. and decorations, with lilian bell. (19 f. p., 4 by a. b. woodward.) _the house that grew._ mrs. molesworth. 8º. (macmillan, 1900.) 8 illust. (7 f. p.) alan wright. _queen victoria's dolls._ frances h. low. 4º. (newnes, 1894.) 73 illust. and decorations. (36 f. p., 34 in colours.) _the wallypug in london._ g. e. farrow. 8º. (methuen, 1898.) 56 illust. (13 f. p.) _adventures in wallypug land._ g. e. farrow. 8º. (methuen, 1898.) 55 illust. (18 f. p.) _the little panjandrum's dodo._ g. e. farrow. 8º. (skeffington, 1899.) 72 illust. (4 f. p.) _the mandarin's kite._ g. e. farrow. 8º. (skeffington, 1900.) 57 illust. index of artists. abbey, e. a., 36, 64, 87, 144. allingham, mrs., 95. ansted, alexander, 50, 132. barnes, robert, 95. barrett, c. r. b., 47, 48, 132. batten, j. d., 109, 110, 158. bauerle, amelia, 14, 121. baumer, lewis, 99, 159. bedford, f. d., 106, 159. bell, r. anning, 7, 121. billinghurst, p. j., 117, 160. boyd, a. s., 76, 90, 145. bradley, gertrude m., 106, 160. brangwyn, frank, 91, 146. britten, w. e. f., 29, 122. brock, c. e., 83, 146. brock, h. m., 83, 84, 148. brooke, l. leslie, 99, 160. browne, gordon, 96, 161. bryden, robert, 64. bulcock, percy, 14, 122. burns, robert, 26. cadenhead, james, 26. calvert, edith, 102, 165. cameron, d. y., 41, 64, 133. cleaver, ralph, 76. cleaver, reginald, 76. clifford, h. p., 53. cole, herbert, 13, 14, 122. connard, philip, 13, 14, 122. cooke, w. cubitt, 84, 149. cowper, max, 93. crane, walter, 3, 96, 98, 122. dadd, frank, 92. davis, louis, 7. davison, raffles, 50. duncan, john, 26. dunlop, marion wallace, 106, 165. edwards, m. e., 95. erichsen, nelly, 46, 133. fell, h. granville, 27, 126. fitton, hedley, 46, 133. ford, h. j., 109, 110, 165. forestier, amedée, 92, 93. fulleylove, j., 31, 39, 134. furniss, sir harry, 58, 86, 88, 150. gaskin, a. j., 10, 126. gaskin, mrs. arthur, 101, 166. gere, c. m., 12, 50, 126. goldie, cyril, 14. gould, f. carruthers, 88. green, winifred, 101, 166. greiffenhagen, maurice, 76. griggs, f. l., 54, 134. guthrie, j. j., 26, 27, 127. harding, emily j., 112, 166. hardy, dudley, 93. hardy, paul, 92. hare, augustus, 47. hartrick, a. s., 76. harper, c. g., 47, 134. hill, l. raven, 86, 87. holden, violet m. and e., 102, 167. hole, william b., 92, 151. hood, g. p. jacomb, 91. hopkins, arthur, 90. hopkins, edward, 90. horne, herbert, 10. housman, laurence, 15, 127. hughes, arthur, 95. hurst, hal, 93. hyde, william, 39, 135. image, selwyn, 10. jalland, g. p., 90. james, helen, 46. jones, a. garth, 14, 15, 128. kitton, f. g., 48, 135. levetus, celia, 12, 128. macdougall, w. b., 26, 128. macgregor, archie, 107, 167. mallows, c. e., 50. mason, fred, 12, 128. may, phil, 86, 87. millais, j. g., 54, 135. millar, h. r., 109, 112, 167. millet, f. d., 36. moore, t. sturge, 18, 24, 129. muckley, l. fairfax, 12, 129. new, e. h., 10, 38, 50, 136. north, j. w., 31. ospovat, henry, 13, 14, 129. paget, h. m., 92, 152. paget, sidney, 68, 152. paget, walter, 92, 152. park, carton moore, 118, 168. parsons, alfred, 31, 35, 137. partridge, j. bernard, 58, 86, 153. payne, henry, 12. pegram, fred, 68, 69, 153. pennell, joseph, 31, 38, 41, 137. pissarro, lucien, 18, 24. pitman, rosie m. m., 117, 168. "pym, t.," 95. rackham, arthur, 108, 168. railton, herbert, 31, 38, 45, 74, 139 reed, e. t., 88. reid, sir george, 31, 141. reid, stephen, 68. ricketts, charles, 18, 129. robinson, charles, 102, 114, 169. robinson, t. h., 114, 170. robinson, w. h., 114, 116, 171. ryland, henry, 7. sambourne, linley, 86, 88. sauber, robert, 93. savage, reginald, 18, 24, 130. shannon, c. h., 18, 130. shaw, byam, 13, 130. shepherd, j. a., 118. shepperson, c. a., 68, 74, 154. sleigh, bernard, 12, 130. speed, lancelot, 110. spence, robert, 14. strang, william, 58, 154. stratton, helen, 116, 172. sullivan, e. j., 15, 74, 77, 155. sumner, heywood, 6, 130. tenniel, sir john, 86, 88, 96. thomas, f. inigo, 50, 142. thomson, hugh, 68, 79, 156. townsend, f. h., 68, 69, 72, 157. tringham, holland, 46. wain, louis, 118. walker, a. g., 116, 172. weguelin, j. r., 29, 131. weir, harrison, 54. wheeler, e. j., 91. whymper, charles, 54, 142. williams, r. j., 53. wilson, edgar, 56. wilson, patten, 28, 131. woodroffe, p. v., 13, 14, 131. woodward, alice b., 104, 172. wright, alan, 107, 173. [illustration] chiswick press: charles whittingham and co. tooks court, chancery lane, london. * * * * * transcriber's notes italicized text is shown within _underscores_. quarto, (normally 4to), is shown as 4º, and octavo, (normally 8vo), is shown as 8º. illustrations were moved outside of paragraphs and closer to their pertinent paragraphs. although the list of illustrations displays the original page number, the html version of this book links the page numbers to the illustrations. made minor punctuation corrections and the following changes: page vii: contents, bibliographies: changed "book" to "books" and "illustrations" to "illustrators". orig.: some children's-book illustrations. page 55: illustration: changed "homes" to "horns". orig.: from his 'british deer and their homes.' page 130: indented essex house press under author reginald savage. changed "woolam" to "woolman". orig.: essex house press ... the journal of john woolam. page 141: changed "tho" to "the". orig.: ripon cathedral. tho ven. archdeacon danks. page 170: changed "ohe" to "the", and "hesla" to "herla". orig.: the true annals of fairy land. ohe reign of king hesla. note: the remainder of this text matches the original publication, which might contain additional title, author, or spelling errors. generously made available by internet archive (https://archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the numerous original illustrations. see 45426-h.htm or 45426-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45426/45426-h/45426-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45426/45426-h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see https://archive.org/details/englishillustrat00whit english illustration the sixties [illustration: morgan le fay.] english illustration 'the sixties': 1855-70 by gleeson white with numerous illustrations by ford madox brown : a. boyd houghton arthur hughes : charles keene m. j. lawless : lord leighton, _p._r.a. sir j. e. millais, _p._r.a. : g. du maurier j. w. north, r.a.: g. j. pinwell dante gabriel rossetti : w. small frederick sandys: j. mcneill whistler frederick walker, a.r.a. : and others london archibald constable and co. ltd. 16 james street haymarket 1906 _third impression_ *.* _this is a re-impression of the original edition of 1897. a few small errors have been corrected. in other respects the text has been left, as it came from the late mr. gleeson white's hands, unaltered._ edinburgh: t. and a. constable, printers to his majesty to a. m. g. w. and c. r. g. w. in memory of the many hours spent ungrudgingly in proof reading preface in a past century the author of a well-digested and elaborately accurate monograph, the fruit of a life's labour, was well content to entitle it 'brief contributions towards a history of so-and-so.' nowadays, after a few weeks' special cramming, a hastily written record of the facts which most impressed the writer is labelled often enough 'a history.' were this book called by the earlier phrase, it would still be overweighted. nor did an english idiom exist that would provide the exact synonym for _catalogue-raisonné_, could the phrase be employed truthfully. it is at most a roughly annotated, tentative catalogue like those issued for art critics on press-days with the superscription 'under revision'--an equivalent of the legal reservation 'without prejudice.' to conceal the labour and present the results in interesting fashion, which is the aim of the chancellor of the exchequer on a 'budget' night, ought also to be that of the compiler of any document crammed with distantly unrelated facts. but the time required for rewriting a book of this class, after it has grown into shape, would be enough to appal a person who had no other duties to perform, and absolutely prohibitive to one not so happily placed. in estimating the errors which are certain to have crept into this record of a few thousand facts selected from many thousands, the author is obviously the last person to have any idea of their number; for did he suspect their existence, they would be corrected before the work appeared. yet all the same, despite his own efforts and those of kindly hands who have re-collated the references in the majority of cases, he cannot flatter himself he has altogether escaped the most insidious danger that besets a compilation of this kind, namely, overlooking some patently obvious facts which are as familiar to him as to any candid critic who is sure to discover their absence. the choice of representative illustrations has been most perplexing. some twenty years' intimacy with most of the books and magazines mentioned herein made it still less easy to decide upon their abstract merits. personal prejudice--unconscious, and therefore the more subtle--is sure to have influenced the selection; sometimes, perhaps, by choosing old favourites which others regard as second-rate, and again by too reticent approval of those most appreciated personally, from a fear lest the partiality should be sentimental rather than critical. but, and it is as well to make the confession at once, many have been excluded for matters quite unconnected with their art. judging from the comments of the average person who is mildly interested in the english illustrations of the past, his sympathy vanishes at once if the costumes depicted are 'old-fashioned.' whilst i have been working on these books, if a visitor called, and turned over their pages, unless he chanced to be an artist by profession as well as by temperament, the spoon-bill bonnet and the male 'turban' of the 'sixties' merely provoked ridicule. as my object is to reawaken interest in work familiar enough to artists, but neglected at present by very many people, it seems wiser not to set things before them which would only irritate. again, it is difficult to be impartial concerning the beauty of old favourites; whether your mother or sister happen to be handsome is hardly a point of which you are a trustworthy judge. other omissions are due to the right, incontestable if annoying, every other person possesses in common with oneself, 'to do what he likes with his own'; and certain publishers, acting on this principle, prefer that half-forgotten engravings should remain so. the information and assistance so freely given should be credited in detail, yet to do so were to occupy space already exceeded. but i cannot avoid naming mr. g. h. boughton, r.a., mr. dalziel, mr. g. r. halkett, mr. fairfax murray, and mr. joseph pennell for their kind response to various inquiries. thanks are also due to the many holders of copyrights who have permitted the illustrations to be reproduced. as some blocks have changed hands since they first appeared, the original source given below each picture does not always indicate the owner who has allowed it to be included. the artists' names are printed in many cases without titles bestowed later, as it seemed best to quote them as they stood at the time the drawing was published. lastly, i have to thank mr. temple scott for his elaborate index, prepared with so much care, which many interested in the subject will find the most useful section of the book. the claims of wood-engraving _versus_ process have been touched upon here very rarely. if any one doubts that nearly all the drawings of the 'sixties' lost much, and that many were wholly ruined by the engraver, he has but to compare them with reproductions by modern processes from a few originals that escaped destruction at the time. if this be not a sufficient evidence, the british museum and south kensington have many examples in their permanent collections which will quickly convince the most stubborn. if some few engravers managed to impart a certain interest at the expense of the original work, which not merely atones for the loss but supplies in its place an intrinsic work of art, such exceptions no way affect the argument. wood-engraving of the first order is hardly likely to die out. it is true that, as the craft finds fewer recruits, the lessened number of journeymen, experts in technique (whence real artist-engravers may be expected to spring up at intervals), will diminish the supply. given the artist as craftsman, he may always be trusted to distance his rival, whether it be mechanism or a profit-making corporation which reduces the individuality of its agents to the level of machines. for in art, still more than in commerce, it is the personal equation that finally controls and shapes the project to mastery, and the whole charm of the sixties is the individual charm of each artist. the incompetent draughtsman, then, was no less uninteresting than he is to-day; even the fairly respectable illustrators gain nothing by the accident that they flourished in 'the golden decade.' but the best of the work which has never ceased to delight fellow-workers will, no doubt, maintain its interest in common with good work of all schools and periods. therefore, this rough attempt at a catalogue of some of its most striking examples, although its publication happens to coincide with a supposed 'boom,' may have more than ephemeral value if it save labour in hunting up commonplace facts to many people now and in the future. this plea is offered in defence of the text of a volume which, although cut down from its intended size, and all too large, is yet but a rough sketch. collectors of all sorts know the various stages which their separate hobbies impose on them. first, out of pure love for their subject, they gather together chance specimens almost at haphazard. then, moved by an ever-growing interest, they take the pursuit more seriously, and, as one by one the worthier objects fall into their hands, they grow still more keen. later, they discover to their sorrow that a complete collection is, humanly speaking, impossible: certain unique examples are not to be obtained for love or money, or, at all events, for the amount at their personal disposal. at last they realise, perhaps, that after all the cheapest and most easily procured are also the most admirable and delightful. this awakening comes often enough when a catalogue has been prepared, and on looking over it they find that the treasures they valued at one time most highly are only so estimated by fellow-collectors; then they realise that the more common objects which fall within the reach of every one are by far the best worth possessing. a homely american phrase (and the word homely applies in a double sense) runs: 'he has bitten off more than he can chew.' the truth of the remark is found appropriate as i write these final words. to mark, learn, and inwardly digest the output of ten to fifteen years' illustration must needs be predestined failure, if space and time for its preparation are both limited. the subject has hitherto been almost untouched, and when in certain aspects it has attracted writers, they have approached it almost always from the standpoint of artistic appreciation and criticism. here, despite certain unintentional lapses into that nobler path, the intention has been to keep strictly to a catalogue of published facts and with a few bibliographical notes added. setting out with a magnificent scheme--to present an iconography of the work of every artist of the first rank--the piles of manuscript devoted to this comprehensive task which are at my side prove the impracticability of the enterprise. to annotate the work of sir john gilbert or mr. birket foster would require for each a volume the size of this. but as _punch_, _the illustrated london news_, and the moxon _tennyson_ have already been the subject of separate monographs, no doubt in future years each branch of the subject that may be worth treating exhaustively will supply material for other monographs. the chief disappointment in preparing a reference-book of this class belongs to the first compiler only; the rest have the joy of exposing his shortcomings and correcting his errors, combined with the pleasure of indulging in that captious criticism which any overheard dialogue in the streets shows to be the staple of english conversation. gleeson white. 10 theresa terrace, ravenscourt park, w., _october 1896_. contents chapter i page the new appreciation and the new collector, 1 chapter ii the illustrated periodicals before the sixties, 9 chapter iii some illustrated magazines of the sixties: i. 'once a week,' 16 chapter iv some illustrated magazines of the sixties: ii. 'the cornhill,' 'good words,' and 'london society,' 38 chapter v other illustrated periodicals of the sixties: 'churchman's family magazine,' 'sunday magazine, etc., 63 chapter vi some illustrated weekly papers in the sixties, 88 chapter vii some illustrated books of the period before 1860, 95 chapter viii some illustrated books of the period 1860-1864, 112 chapter ix some illustrated books of the period 1865-1872, 125 chapter x the aftermath: a few belated volumes, 143 chapter xi certain influences upon the artists of the sixties, 150 chapter xii some illustrators of the sixties, 155 index, 181 list of illustrations (where two or more illustrations follow each other with no text between, the references are given to the nearest page facing) facing page anonymous, 'enoch arden,' _leisure hour_ (religious tract society), 82 armstead, h. h., r.a., a dream, _willmott's sacred poetry_ (routledge), 112 brown, ford madox, prisoner of chillon, _willmott's poets of the nineteenth century_ (routledge), 104 elijah and the widow's son, _bible gallery_ (routledge), 150 joseph's coat, " " 156 down stream, from the original drawing in the wood (photographed by mr. fred hollyer)--(_photogravure_), " " 80 burne-jones, bt., sir e., parable of the boiling-pot, " " 146 clayton, j. r., olympia and bianca, _barry cornwall's dramatic scenes_ (chapman and hall), 108 crane, walter treasure-trove, _good words_ (strahan), 176 dalziel, t., bedreddin hassan and the _arabian nights_ pastrycook, (ward, lock and co.), 178 the destruction of sodom, _bible gallery_ (routledge), 178 du maurier, g., on her deathbed, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 34 per l'amore d'una donna, " " 34 a time to dance, _good words_ (strahan), 44 a legend of camelot (nos. i. _punch_ (bradbury, agnew, to v.), and co.), 88 send the culprit from the _story of a feather_ (bradbury, house instantly, agnew, and co.), 132 he felt the surpassing importance of his position, " " 132 fildes, s. l., the farmer's daughter, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 68 foster, birket, the green lane, _pictures of english landscape_ (routledge), 116 the old chair-mender, " " 116 gilbert, sir john, r.a., hohenlinden, _willmott's poets of the nineteenth century_ (routledge), 106 graham, t., honesty, _good words_ (strahan), 48 gray, paul, cousin lucy, _the quiver_ (cassell), 78 herkomer, hubert, r.a., wandering in the wood, _good words for the young_ (strahan), 78 houghton, a. boyd, my treasure, _good words_ (strahan), 166 a lesson to a king, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 68 luther the singer " " 68 john baptist, " " 68 the parable of the sower, " " 70 the vision of sheik hamil, _the argosy_ (strahan), 74 noureddin ali, _arabian nights_ (routledge), 122 love, _golden thoughts from golden fountains_ (warne), 136 don jose's mule, _good words for the young_ (strahan), 78 reading the chronicles, from the original drawing on the block (_photogravure_), (british museum), 164 hughes, arthur, fancy, _good words_ (strahan), 54 the letter, " " 170 the dial (sun comes, moon comes), " " 170 my heart, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 70 blessings in disguise, " " 70 barbara's pet lamb, _good words for the young_ (strahan), 78 mercy, " " 78 hunt, w. holman, the lent jewels, _willmott's sacred poetry_ (routledge), 144 keene, charles, 'a good fight,' _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 26 lawless, m. j., effie gordon, " " 28 dr. johnson's penance, " " 28 john of padua, " " 28 rung into heaven, _good words_ (strahan), 48 the bands of love, " " 48 the player and the listeners, " " 50 honeydew, _london society_ (hogg), 56 one dead, _churchman's family magazine_ (hogg), 64 lawson, j., ariadne, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 144 leighton, lord, p.r.a., cain and abel, _bible gallery_ (routledge), 146 moses views the promised land, " " 146 abram and the angel, " " 146 leighton, john, a parable, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 70 mahoney, j., summer, " " 66 yesterday and to-day, _good words_ (strahan), 68 marks, h. s., r.a., a quiet mind, _willmott's sacred poetry_ (routledge), 114 in a hermitage, " " 114 millais, sir j. e., p.r.a., there's nae luck about the house, _home affections_ (routledge), 108 the border widow, " " 108 grandmother's apology, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 22 the plague of elliant, " " 22 tannhäuser, " " 24 sister anne's probation, " " 24 the hampdens, " " 24 death dealing arrows, " " 24 the prodigal son, _good words_ (strahan), 120 the tares, " " 120 the sower, " " 120 morten, t., the cumæan sibyl, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 34 izaak walton, _the quiver_ (cassell), 132 gulliver in lilliput, _gulliver's travels_ (cassell), 134 the laputians " " 134 north, j. w., r.a., glen oona, _wayside poesies_ (routledge), 130 glen oona (from the original drawing), _magazine of art_ (cassell), 130 the nutting, _wayside poesies_ (routledge), 130 afloat, " " 130 anita's prayer, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 68 winter, " " 66 pettie, j., r.a., the monks and the heathen, _good words_ (strahan), 48 pickersgill, f. r., r.a., the water nymph, _willmott's poets of the nineteenth century_ (routledge), 106 pinwell, g. j., the sailor's valentine, _the quiver_ (cassell), 74 king pippin, _wayside poesies_ (routledge), 125 the little calf, " " 128 madame de krudener, _sunday magazine_ (strahan), 68 what, bill! you chubby rogue, _goldsmith's works_ (ward and lock), 126 from the original drawing on the block for _she stoops to conquer_--(_photogravure_), (british museum), 1 poynter, e. j., p.r.a., joseph before pharaoh, _bible gallery_ (routledge), 148 pharaoh honours joseph, " " 148 rossetti, dante gabriel, the maids of elfen-mere, _the music-master_ (routledge), 98 you should have wept _the prince's progress_ her yesterday, (macmillan), 162 sandys, frederick, the three statues of ægina, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 30 the old chartist, " " 30 harold harfagr, " " 30 death of king warwolf, " " 143 rosamund, queen of the lombards, " " 30 legend of the portent, _cornhill magazine_ (smith and elder), 40 manoli, " " 40 cleopatra, " " 42 the waiting time, _churchman's family magazine_ (hogg), 64 amor mundi--(_photogravure_), _shilling magazine_ (bosworth), 63 sleep, _good words_ (strahan), 48 until her death, " " 48 'if,' _the argosy_ (strahan), 72 october, _the quiver_ (cassell), 174 danae in the brazen _the hobby horse_ chamber, (chiswick press), 172 life's journey, _willmott's sacred poetry_ (routledge), 114 a little mourner, " " 114 jacob hears the voice of the lord, _bible gallery_ (routledge), 172 morgan le fay- (_photogravure_), _frontispiece_ shields, frederick, the plague-cart, _defoe's history of the plague_ (munby), 118 small, w., between the cliffs, _the quiver_ (cassell), 78 mark the grey-haired man, _golden thoughts from golden fountains_ (warne), 136 solomon, simeon, the veiled bride, _good words_ (strahan), 46 the feast of tabernacles, _leisure hour_ (religious tract society), 83 the day of atonement, " " 83 tenniel, sir john, the norse princess, _good words_ (strahan), 48 walker, frederick, the nursery friend, _willmott's sacred poetry_ (routledge), 112 a child in prayer, " " 112 out among the wild-flowers, _good word_ (strahan), 46 portrait of a minister, _english sacred poetry_ (religious tract society), 124 autumn, _a round of days_ (routledge), 126 autumn, from the original drawing on the block (_photogravure_), (british museum), 125 the bit o' garden, _wayside poesies_ (routledge), 128 watson, j. d., too late, _london society_ (hogg), 56 ash wednesday, " " 56 whistler, james m'neill, the major's daughter, _once a week_ (bradbury and evans), 32 the relief fund in lancashire, " " 32 the morning before the massacre of st. bartholomew, " " 32 count burckhardt, " " 32 [illustration: scene from "she stoops to conquer."] english illustration the sixties, 1855-1870 chapter i: the new appreciation and the new collector the borderland between the hallowed past and the matter-of-fact present is rarely attractive. it appeals neither to our veneration nor our curiosity. its heroes are too recent to be deified, its secrets are all told. if you estimate a generation as occupying one-third of a century, you will find that to most people thirty-three years ago, more or less, is the least fascinating of all possible periods. its fashions in dress yet linger in faded travesties, its once refined tastes no longer appeal to us, its very aspirations, if they do not seem positively ludicrous, are certain to appear pathetically insufficient. yet there are not wanting signs which denote that the rush of modern life, bent on shortening times of waiting, will lessen the quarantine which a period of this sort has had to suffer hitherto before it could be looked upon as romantically attractive instead of appearing repulsively old-fashioned. for the moment you are able to take a man of a former generation, and can regard him honestly, not as a contemporary with all human weakness, but with the glamour which surrounds a hero; he is released from the commonplace present and has joined the happy past. therein he may find justice without prejudice. of course the chances are that, be he artist or philosopher, the increased favour bestowed upon him will not extend to his subjects, or perhaps his method of work; but so sure as you find the artists of any period diligently studied and imitated, it is almost certain that the costumes they painted, the furniture and accessories they admired, and the thought which infused their work, will be less intolerable, and possibly once again restored to full popularity. not very long ago anything within the limits of the century was called modern. perhaps because its early years were passed in yearnings for the classic days of old greece, and later in orthodox raptures over the bulls of nineveh and the relics of dead pharaohs. then by degrees the middle ages also renewed their interest: the great gothic revival but led the way to a new exploration of the queen anne and georgian days. so in domestic life england turned to its chippendale and sheraton, america to its colonial houses, and the word 'antique,' instead of being of necessity limited to objects at least a thousand years old was applied to those of a bare hundred. now, when the nineteenth century has one foot in the grave, we have but to glance back a few years to discover that what was so lately 'old-fashioned' is fast attaining the glamour of antiquity. even our immediate progenitors who were familiar with the railway and telegraph, and had heard of photography, seem to be in other respects sufficiently unlike our contemporaries to appear quite respectably ancestral to-day. it is true that we have compensations: the new photography and electric lighting are our own joys; and the new criticism had hardly begun, except perhaps in the far west, during the time of this previous generation--the time that begins with a memory of the project for the great exhibition, and ends with an equally vivid recollection of the collapse of the third empire. in those days people still preserved a sentimental respect for the artist merely because he was 'an artist,' quite apart from his technical accomplishment. it was the period of magenta and crinoline--the period that saw, ere its close, the twin domes of the second international exhibition arise in its midst to dominate south kensington before they were moved to muswell hill and were burnt down without arousing national sorrow--in short, it was 'the sixties.' only yesterday 'the sixties' seemed a synonym for all that was absurd. is it because most of us who make books to-day were at school then, and consequently surveyed the world as a superfluous and purely inconsequent background? for people who were children in the sixties are but now ripening to belief in the commonplace formulæ dear to an orthodox british citizen. to their amazement they find that not a few of the pupils of the 'seventies,' if not of the 'eighties,' have already ripened prematurely to the same extent. have we not heard a youth of our time, in a mood not wholly burlesque, gravely discussing the æsthetic movement of the 'eighties' as soberly as men heretofore discussed the movement of a century previous? were the purpose of this book phrase-making instead of a dull record of facts, we might style this sudden appreciation of comparatively recent times the new antiquity. to a child the year before last is nearly as remote as the time of the norman conquest, or of julius cæsar. possibly this sudden enlightenment respecting the artistic doings of the mid-victorian period may indicate the return to childhood which is part of a nonagenarian's equipment. at seventy or eighty, our lives are spent in recollections half a century old, but at ninety the privilege may be relaxed, and the unfortunate loiterer on the stage may claim to select a far more recent decade as his golden age, even if by weakening memory he confuses his second childhood with his first. to-day not a few people interested in the arts find 'the sixties' a time as interesting as in the last century men found the days of praxiteles, or as, still more recently, the middle ages appeared to the early pre-raphaelites. these few, however, are more or less disciples of the illustrator, as opposed to those who consider 'art' and 'painting' synonymous terms. not long since the only method deemed worthy of an artist was to paint in oils. to these, perhaps, to be literally exact, you might add a few pedants who recognised the large aims of the worker in fresco, and a still more restricted number who believed in the maker of stained glass, mosaic, or enamel, if only his death were sufficiently remote. now, however, the humble illustrator, the man who fashions his dreams into designs for commercial reproduction by wood-engraving or 'process,' has found an audience, and is acquiring rapidly a fame of his own. for those who recognise most sincerely, and with no affectation, the importance of the mere illustrator, this attempt to make a rough catalogue of his earlier achievements may be not without interest. yet it is not put forward as a novel effort. one of the most hopeful auguries towards the final recognition of the pen-draughtsmen of the sixties quickly comes to light as you begin to search for previous notices of their work. it was not mr. joseph pennell who first appreciated them. it is true that he carried the report of their powers into unfamiliar districts; but, long before his time, mr. j. m. gray, mr. edmund gosse, and many another had paid in public due tribute to their excellence. nor can you find that they were unappreciated by their contemporaries. on the contrary, our popular magazines were filled with their work. despite mr. ruskin's consistent 'aloofness' and inconsistent 'diatribes,' many critics of their own day praised them; their names were fairly well known to educated people, their works sold largely, they obtained good prices, and commissions, as the published results bear witness, were showered upon them. but, until to-day, the draughtsman for periodicals was deemed a far less important person than the painter of academy pictures. now, without attempting to rob the r.a. of its historic glory, we see there are others without the fold who, when the roll-call of nineteenth-century artists is read, will answer 'adsum.' there are signs that the collector, always ready for a fresh hobby, will before long turn his attention to the english wood-engravings of this century, as eagerly as he has been attracted heretofore by the early woodcuts of german and italian origin, or the copper-plates of all countries and periods. it is true that bewick already enjoys the distinction, and that cruikshank and leech have also gained a reputation in the sale-rooms, and that blake, for reasons only partly concerned with art, has for some time past had a faithful and devout following. but the prices realised, so far, by the finest examples of the later wood-engravings, in the moxon edition of _tennyson's poems_, in _once a week_, and messrs. dalziels' books, are not such as to inspire faith in the collector who esteems his treasur